Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S5W-07254

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will still continue to hold competitive tendering processes for routes if the review into ferry tendering recommends that the Teckal exemption, or any other process that allows ministers to award contracts to publicly-owned operators without a competitive tendering process, should apply, and, if so, what action it will take to ensure that the process will be transparent, based on objective criteria and not weighted in favour of publicly-owned companies.

Question reference: S5W-07253

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has given assurances to any publicly-owned ferry operator that, if the review into ferry tendering recommends that the Teckal exemption, or any other process that allows ministers to award contracts to publicly-owned operators without a competitive tendering process, should apply, publicly-owned companies would automatically win these contracts.

Question reference: S5W-07101

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its planned programme to replace all unprotected lay-bys on dual carriageway sections of the trunk road network with the latest protected designs, and when this programme will be completed.

There is no set programme for the replacement of lay-bys on dual carriageways on the trunk road network. The programming of lay-by improvement schemes are considered based upon; condition inspections, whether there are other improvement schemes planned adjacent to the lay-by, and whether the annual review of road safety statistics has identified a lay-by replacement as a priority scheme. All trunk road works are developed and programmed against competing priorities across the network.

Question reference: S5W-07099

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 28 February 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it ensures that any lay-bys that are situated on the approach to a junction have signs for the junction that appear before the sign for the lay-by.

The design of new lay-bys on the Trunk Road Network are required to adhere to the standards detailed within the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB) which states that lay-bys must not be sited between a junction advance direction sign and the junction diverge. It should be noted however that, as standards within the DMRB are regularly reviewed and updated, existing lay-bys with historical layouts may not conform to the current requirements for new laybys.

Question reference: S5W-07100

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 28 February 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what policies are in place to ensure that lay-bys on dual carriageways are not situated on right-hand bends or on the approach to a junction.

Question reference: S5W-07006

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 23 February 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an outline of the procurement process that it uses when purchasing vessels for Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd.

The Scottish Government does not purchase vessels for Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd.

Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd procures vessels for use by CalMac Ferries Ltd on the Clyde and Hebrides ferry network. The requirements, and abilities, of the vessels are specified by the operator.

The Scottish Government provides loans to Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd for this purpose which are repaid over a 25 year period.

In Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd’s most recent procurement process they advertised the design and build contract for the 100 metre vessels in the Official Journal of the European Community (OJEC) on 15 October 2014. The contract was awarded to Ferguson Marine Engineering Ltd on 16 October 2015.

In this case a 2 stage restricted procurement process was used, the first stage restricting the number of tenderers to 6. The second stage required the tenderers to submit 22 separate documents covering technical, commercial and contractual matters relating to the vessels. These documents were used to assess the shipyard’s tenders using a predetermined scoring matrix that was made available to the shipyards and described in detail in a Tender Instructions document.

Question reference: S5W-07252

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 23 February 2017

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the managing director of CalMac has rescinded his decision to resign, and whether it played a role in him persuading him to reach this conclusion.

Question reference: S5W-06960

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 23 February 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its statement on Scottish ferry services on 2 February 2017, and in light of its stated preference for an "in-house provider" of these services, whether this also applies to its rail policy.

In my Statement to Parliament I announced a policy review to identify and consider the legal, policy and financial implications relevant to the procurement of ferry services. I made clear that we could not pre-judge the outcome of that review. If the Teckal exemption applies, if the approach complies with state-aid rules and, crucially, if communities agree, then the Government is minded to make a direct award to an in-house provider in respect of ferry services.

Railway services operate in a different legal context – a specific, largely reserved legal framework, primarily governed by the Railways Act 1993. In 2016, the 1993 Act was amended to lift the prohibition on public sector bodies bidding for rail franchises in Scotland. The Scottish Government has initiated work with relevant stakeholders to consider the potential suitability of various parts of the public sector to bid for a rail franchise. Any such bid would be subject to relevant public procurement requirements and would be in competition with any private sector bids that came forward. The Scottish Ministers, as franchising authority, would evaluate all such bids fairly and properly, in accordance with those requirements. On railway infrastructure, I continue to press the UK Government to provide greater operational devolution of Network Rail functions to Scotland to ensure that our rail industry is better placed to deliver the best possible outcomes for passengers.

Question reference: S5W-06959

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 22 February 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its statement on 2 February 2017 on Scotland's ferry services, whether it will provide further details of its plans relating to "an in-house provider without the need for competitive tendering".

Question reference: S5W-06961

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 22 February 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the cost of taking ferry services into public ownership.