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-20055

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 13 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many onboard staff CalMac ferries have employed in each year since 2009-10.

Question reference: S5W-20058

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 13 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government which CalMac ferries can berth at ports outside of their designated routes, broken down by port.

Question reference: S5W-20054

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 13 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what contingency plans there are should (a) one and (b) more than one ferry in the CalMac fleet be removed from operation.

Responsibility for the deployment of vessels in the fleet is a matter for the operator, CalMac Ferries Limited. CalMac will prioritise the deployment of vessels, taking into consideration the circumstances and vessel availability at that time. In the event of a vessel being unavailable, CalMac will look to implement an amended timetable to ensure every community continues to receive vital lifeline services. That is subject to the expected timescale for any period of unavailability. Planning any redeployment of vessels also needs to take into account vessel certification requirements, regulatory requirements, harbour infrastructure design and vessel capabilities.

The Scottish Government recently announced a £3.5 million Resilience Fund for the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services, which will be used to upgrade or replace key equipment to reduce the risk of vessels breaking down.

Furthermore, this Government has committed to develop an Action Plan jointly with the ferry operators, to improve the resilience of the services.

Question reference: S5W-20345

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 13 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of a train on a ScotRail service decoupling at Uphall station on 26 November 2018, whether (a) any similar incidents have occurred since 2007 and (b) it has received any warnings that such an issue could occur, including the safety systems failing.

Railway safety is a matter reserved to the UK Government.

The incident on 26 November which involved the decoupling of a passenger service at Uphall is currently under investigation. The Office of Rail and Road and the Rail Accident Investigation Board have been informed, but as yet have not intimated an intention to investigate. When concluded, a report of ScotRail’s own internal investigation will be provided to these organisations if requested.

The ScotRail Alliance advised that a) Two similar incidents have occurred since 2007 and b) No warnings that such an issue could occur have been received.

Question reference: S5W-20356

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 13 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is regarding replacing the seawall at Saltcoats railway station.

Operational and safety matters on Scotland’s rail infrastructure are a matter for Network Rail, carried out in accordance with their licence from the Office of Rail and Road.

Network Rail advise that they completed major upgrade work on the sea wall at Saltcoats railway station in 2015 to improve the resilience of the coastal defence, including measures to mitigate the effects of sea spray on train operations and the overhead electrical wires.

Question reference: S5W-20347

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 13 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many and (b) what percentage of ScotRail services (i) on 1 December 2018 and (ii) in each of the last 12 months at (A) Saltcoats railway station and (B) on each route were (1) cancelled and (2) delayed, also broken down by the average length of delay, because of (aa) flooding on the tracks and (bb) other reasons.

Our franchise agreement does not obligate the franchisee to provide information in the format requested by the Member. The franchise specifies that the information to be provided by ScotRail to Transport Scotland, is by Sector Level.

Performance information for ScotRail is available on-line, at the ORR Data Portal (Table 3.57). An on-line link to this table can be found here:http://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/displayreport/report/html/88127b42-8507-4261-bef7-c65527ada55d .

It includes ScotRail’s Public Performance Measure (PPM) information by operating sector and overall, on both a by-period and a moving-annual-average basis.

Also, ScotRail publishes quite detailed information for each four week period on by-station and by-sector PPM. This information is published at stations, and is also available on-line, at this URL: https://www.scotrail.co.uk/performance-and-reliability

Question reference: S5O-02720

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 December 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met North Ayrshire Council, and what was discussed.

Question reference: S5W-20061

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 6 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government which CalMac ferries carry a defibrillator; how often these are tested; what proportion of the fleet this represents; by what date these will be rolled out across every vessel, and whether it will provide a breakdown of all other medical equipment that is carried by each craft.

All CalMac vessels carry a defibrillator. These were rolled out across the CalMac fleet in June and July 2012. These defibrillators are maintained in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions.

In regard to medical equipment kept on board CalMac vessels, CalMac comply with the requirements of the UK legislation below:

Merchant Shipping & Fishing Vessels (Medical Stores) Regulations 1995 and

Merchant Shipping & Fishing Vessels (Medical Stores) (Amendment) Regulations 1996.

For full details of these regulations, please follow the links below:

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1995/1802/made

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1996/2821/contents/made

Further information can also be found within Merchant Shipping Notice MSN 1786
(M+F), by following the link below:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment
_data/file/282054/msn1768.pdf

Question reference: S5W-20063

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 6 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) crimes and (b) incidents of antisocial behaviour have been recorded on each CalMac ferry in each year since 2009-10, also broken down by (i) route served and (ii) issue.

CalMac Ferries Ltd. do not maintain a record of crimes committed. However, since 2017 their Health, Safety, Environment, & Quality System r ecords reported incidents of violence, aggression and disorderly behaviour. The information recorded by CalMac since 2017 is shown in the following table:

Vessel & Route	Total 2017	Total 2018	Total 2017-2018	2017 Intoxicated (disorderly)	2017 Aggressive	2018 Intoxicated (disorderly)	2018 Aggressive behaviour	2018 Assault
Argyle (Wemyss Bay Rothesay)	1	2	3	-	-	2	-	1(passenger assaults crew)
Bute (Wemyss Bay Rothesay)	1	-	1	1	-	-	-	-
Caledonian Isles (Ardrossan Brodick)	2	-	2	1	1	-	-	-
Finlaggan (Kennacraig Islay)	1	-	1	-	1	-	-	-
Hebrides (Uig Lochmaddy /Tarbert)	-	1	1	-	-	-	1	-
Loch Ranza (Tayinloan Gigha)	5	-	5	-	5	-	-	-
Loch Seaforth (Ullapool Stornoway)	-	1	1	-	-	-	1
Hebridean Isles	-	1	1	-	-	-	-	-

Question reference: S5W-20059

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 3 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has carried out of the effectiveness of CalMac regarding the acquisition of new vessels.

Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) are responsible for the acquisition of new vessels.

CalMac Ferries Ltd play an important role in this process through providing a Statement of Operator Requirements and provide on-going support to CMAL throughout the procurement and build process.

CMAL and David MacBrayne Ltd (parent company of CalMac) are subject to periodic Procurement and Commercial Improvement Programme (PCIP) reviews by the Procurement and Commercial Directorate of the Scottish Government. These reviews give Ministers assurance on each company's overall procurement approach.