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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: S4W-06658

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 April 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 24 April 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive for (a) how many and (b) what percentage of sailings per month there has been a waiting list on the Islay - Kennacraig route since January 2007.

Question reference: S4W-06662

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 April 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 24 April 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive for (a) how many and (b) what percentage of sailings per month there has been a waiting list on the Lochmaddy - Uig route since January 2007.

Question reference: S4W-06659

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 April 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 24 April 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive for (a) how many and (b) what percentage of sailings per month there has been a waiting list on the Castlebay - Oban route since January 2007.

Question reference: S4W-06465

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 26 March 2012
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 23 April 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what options were considered in relation to fulfilling contractual obligations regarding reprocessing nuclear waste at Dounreay.

As made plain in the consultation paper Dounreay Radioactive Waste Substitution, published by the Scottish and UK Governments on 3 December 2010, the following options were considered in addition to waste substitution:

leaving overseas radioactive waste in the UK until Dounreay could put it into a form that the relevant overseas facilities were ready to receive, and

designing, building, operating and eventually decommissioning a vitrification facility at Dounreay.

Question reference: S4W-06466

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 26 March 2012
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 23 April 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it took to ensure that there were no viable alternative options before agreeing to the Dounreay radioactive waste substitution policy.

Question reference: S4W-06464

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 26 March 2012
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 23 April 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration it has given to contractual obligations that allow for waste to be returned in cement form, in light of responses to the Dounreay Radioactive Waste Substitution Consultation 2010.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that the overseas radioactive waste resulting from historical Dounreay contracts signed in the 1980s and 1990s is returned as soon as possible. This will assist with the decommissioning and clean up of the Dounreay site. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) is in discussions with customers of the countries concerned regarding the form that the waste will be returned in, including cemented form.

Question reference: S4W-06467

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 26 March 2012
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 23 April 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive whether contractual obligations regarding reprocessing spent nuclear fuel could be fulfilled by Dounreay without building a vitrification plant.

The Scottish Government is confident that Dounreay will be able to meet its historic contractual obligations regarding overseas radioactive waste without the need for a new vitrification plant to be built. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is in discussions with Dounreay's overseas customers regarding the form that the waste will be returned in, including cemented form. If necessary, waste substitution will permit vitrified waste to be repatriated from Sellafield, allowing contracts to be honoured in full at the earliest possible opportunity and providing additional clarity as to the decommissioning requirements at the Dounreay site.

Question reference: S4W-06351

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 March 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 17 April 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many applications for retirement on the grounds of stress have been approved for teachers who are members of the Scottish Teachers' Superannuation Scheme in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S4O-00907

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 April 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 April 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what cost analysis was carried out prior to the ending of the road equivalent tariff for commercial vehicles travelling to the Western Isles.

Question reference: S4W-06149

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 12 March 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 28 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many times the ferry service between Oban and Lochboisdale has been subject to (a) disruption and (b) cancellation in each year since 2007.

The following table provides information relating to the number of disruptions and cancellations on the ferry service between Oban and Lochboisdale since 2002. A longer time series than that requested has been provided to illustrate the fact that the impact of weather conditions, which are responsible for the majority of cancellations and disruptions, fluctuates over time.

Year	Total Sailings	Cancelled Weather	% Cancelled Weather	Cancelled Other
2002	865	9	1.04%	1
2003	985	10	1.02%	2
2004	884	21	2.38%	5
2005	886	40	4.51%	1
2006	940	33	3.51%	4
2007	940	24	2.55%	5
2008	947	37	3.91%	8
2009	947	41	4.33%	7
2010	957	28	2.93%	1
2011	951	48	5.05%	0

Year	% Cancelled Other	Diverted Sailings	% Diverted	Total Lateness	% Total Lateness
2002	0.12%	3	0.35%	69	7.97%
2003	0.20%	6	0.60%	88	8.93%
2004	0.56%	28	3.16%	92	10.40%
2005	0.11%	9	1.01%	80	9.02%
2006	0.42%	8	0.85%	31	3.29%
2007	0.53%	3	0.31%	55	5.96%
2008	0.84%	11	1.16%	82	8.65%
2009	0.73%	11	1.16%	90	9.50%
2010	0.10%	20	2.08%	119	12.43%
2011	0.00%	22	2.31%	163	17.14%

2007-08	49
2008-09	43
2009-10	43
2010-11	36
2011-12	24