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: S5F-03376

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 May 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 May 2019

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to the report by Age Scotland that four in ten people requiring substantial or critical care were found to be waiting more than six weeks to receive it.

Question reference: S5W-23197

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 28 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many households in the (a) North Ayrshire and (b) Inverclyde local authority area have experienced fuel poverty in each of the last 10 years.

The number of households in each local authority that are experiencing fuel poverty is published annually in the Scottish House Condition Survey local authority tables.

Local Authority figures are based on a 3-year pooled sample to allow sufficient sample sizes to produce results on each local authority. The figures in Table 1 show numbers of fuel poor households and the fuel poverty rate based on the most recent 10 of the 3-year datasets from the Scottish House Condition Survey, for North Ayrshire and Inverclyde.

These estimates are based on the current definition of fuel poverty as set out in the 2002 Scottish Fuel Poverty Statement. There are proposed changes to this definition in the Fuel Poverty (Target, Definition and Strategy) (Scotland) Bill , which is currently progressing through Parliament.

Table : Fuel poverty rates and number of fuel poor households in North Ayrshire and Inverclyde over 10 periods of 3-year pooled sample datasets.

	North Ayrshire		Inverclyde
	Number of households	%	Number of households	%
2005-2008	15,000	24%	9,000	24%
2007-2009	16,000	26%	9,000	23%
2008-2010	19,000	31%	10,000	27%
2009-2011	19,000	32%	11,000	29%
2010-2012	23,000	38%	12,000	34%
2011-2013	24,000	38%	13,000	37%
2012-2014	25,000	40%	16,000	42%
2013-2015	23,000	36%	15,000	41%
2014-2016	19,000	30%	14,000	38%
2015-2017	17,000	26%	11,000	31%

Source: Scottish House Condition Survey.

1. Historical Local Authority tables prior to the 2010-2012 period continue to be available but these have not been updated, therefore there may be differences in the underlying methodology and data breakdowns compared to more recent tables.

2. 2005-2008 figures combine three years’ worth of data (2005-06, 2007 and 2008) to provide a series of tables which present estimates for key indicators important at local authority level.

Published Local Authority estimates along with confidence intervals around the survey based results, are available here: https://www2.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/SHCS/keyanalyses .

Question reference: S5W-23192

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 23 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how much ScotRail paid to passengers in compensation in each month between May 2016 and May 2019.

Question reference: S5W-23129

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 22 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made on the potential impact on public service workers of the workplace parking levy.

Question reference: S5W-23049

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 22 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many train stations are fully accessible for disabled people.

Question reference: S5W-23131

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 22 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to introduce more cycle lanes.

In 2018-19 the Scottish Government doubled its active travel budget to £80 million annually for the term of this Parliament to deliver an active nation and the vision that Scotland’s communities are shaped around people, with walking or cycling the most popular choice for shorter everyday journeys.

The Scottish Government distributes this funding to active travel delivery partners to fund a variety of projects which support and encourage people to walk and cycle. The largest grant, £51 million in 2019-20, is given to Sustrans for its Places for Everyone Programme. This programme provides grants to public and third sector organisations of up to 50% of the total cost for the creation of high quality infrastructure that enables an increased number of trips made by bicycle for everyday journeys.

Places for Everyone brings together three formerly separate funds including Community Links PLUS, which was specifically to fund large projects with segregated cycle paths. The first of these projects to be completed will be the South City Way in Glasgow at the end of this year with five more projects underway. Ten more ambitious projects will be considered for approval over the summer.

In addition, the Scottish Government is also providing £3.5 million for maintaining and extending the National Cycle Network to create more traffic-free and quiet road routes.

Suitable provision for all users, including cyclists, is an important part of the trunk road projects being taken forward by the Scottish Government, including the A9 and A96 dualling programmes. As part of the A9 Dualling programme, 35 kilometres of new cycle lanes will be delivered. In addition, the A96 Dualling Inverness to Nairn (including Nairn Bypass) proposals also include 30 kilometres of off-carriageway shared-use facilities which will improve safety for cyclists and walkers while also helping connect local communities along the route.

Question reference: S5W-23149

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 22 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government on what dates the Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity has met Hitachi regarding the late delivery of rolling stock for ScotRail.

Question reference: S5W-23202

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 22 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on legal fees in relation to the procurement of ferry vessels 801 and 802.

Question reference: S5W-23193

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 22 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many claims for compensation for journeys on the (a) Largs-Glasgow, (b) Edinburgh-Glasgow and (c) Edinburgh-Aberdeen route ScotRail received in each month between May 2016 and May 2019.

Question reference: S5O-03289

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 22 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the feasibility of introducing hydrogen technology on the rail network.

Scotland has an ambitious agenda for decarbonising the transport system, through the policies and proposals in the existing Climate Change Plan.
We have a successful rolling programme of electrification in Scotland, with the continued roll out of faster, greener electric rolling stock across parts of the network. This remains the most effective means of decarbonising rail transport.
We are also considering the most advanced options for alternative fuel technologies, including hydrogen fuel cell and battery designs. The Scottish Government has already supported the introduction of hydrogen buses in Aberdeen and lessons learnt are shared across transport modes.