- Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 17 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many organisations, including local authorities, have applied for funding from the Ayrshire Rural and Islands Ambition (ARIA) Fund 2022-23.
Answer
Twenty seven organisations applied for funding from the Ayrshire Rural and Islands Ambition (ARIA) Fund. There were no direct applications from the Local Authorities.
- Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 17 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether local authorities should be considered as potentially suitable recipients of the Ayrshire Rural and Islands Ambition (ARIA) Fund 2022-23, whether it will provide a breakdown of the funding that has been allocated to each local authority area, and what is the definition of local authority core funding that is used to assess eligibility for the Fund.
Answer
A Local Authority cannot apply alone for funding. This funding is not intended to replace core/statutory duties of Local Authorities. Local Authorities may however allocate funding to facilitate the commissioning of recruitment, upskilling and the rebuilding of the Local Action Group (LAG) but are not direct recipients of the funding.
Funding is allocated to Local Action Groups rather than single Local Authorities areas. Local Authority area spend is ongoing and unavailable at present. The LAG allocation breakdown is provided in the following table;
LAG Area | Allocation £ |
Aberdeenshire North & South | £924,990,00 |
Angus | £288,469.00 |
Argyll & Islands | £618,889.00 |
Ayrshire | £533,604.00 |
Cairngorms | £281,606.00 |
Dumfries and Galloway | £665,492.00 |
Fife | £279,306.00 |
Forth Valley and Lomond | £213,746.00 |
Greater Renfrewshire | £115,520.00 |
Highland | £1,069,878.00 |
Kelvin Valley and Falkirk | £140,600.00 |
Lanarkshire | £282,826.00 |
Moray | £292,405.00 |
Orkney | £188,330.00 |
Outer Hebrides | £255,806.00 |
Rural Perth and Kinross | £447,098.00 |
Scottish Borders | £487,275.00 |
Shetland | £188,538.00 |
Tyne Esk | £204,382.00 |
West Lothian | £151,240.00 |
TOTALS | £7,630,000.00 |
- Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 November 2022
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 24 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Government when it last met COSLA and what issues were discussed.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 24 November 2022
- Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 28 October 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 14 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide updated figures on how many
young people to date have received a free bus pass through the Young Persons’
(Under 22s) Free Bus Travel scheme, broken down by local authority, based on
the latest information available.
Answer
The following table shows the number of cardholders under the Young Persons’ Free Bus Travel Scheme as of the end of the day on 31 October 2022, broken down to local authority level.
This data is supplied by the National Entitlement Card Programme Office (NECPO). NECPO support the 32 local authorities by assisting with the integration of various national and local public services on the National Entitlement Card (NEC) and are the joint controller with local authorities of this data. The table includes travel products collected from the Transport Scot Pass Collect mobile application.
Aberdeen City | 23,643 |
Aberdeenshire | 26,246 |
Angus Council | 7,753 |
Argyll & Bute | 6,030 |
City of Edinburgh | 66,618 |
Clackmanmanshire | 3,038 |
Comhairie nan Eilean Siar | 1,537 |
Dumfries and Galloway | 9,322 |
Dundee City | 18,782 |
East Ayrshire | 14,987 |
East Dunbartonshire | 9,315 |
East Lothian | 12,066 |
East Renfrewshire | 9,582 |
Falkirk | 10,085 |
Fife | 46,845 |
Glasgow City | 57,582 |
Highland | 15,636 |
Inverclyde | 11,016 |
Midlothian | 9,370 |
Moray | 7,590 |
North Ayrshire | 16,893 |
North Lanarkshire | 31,800 |
Orkney Islands | 1,437 |
Perth & Kinross | 12,967 |
Renfrewshire | 18,577 |
Scottish Borders | 9,664 |
Shetland Islands | 2,597 |
South Ayrshire | 7,262 |
South Lanarkshire | 32,094 |
Stirling | 7,435 |
West Dunbartonshire | 10,057 |
West Lothian | 17,405 |
Total | 535,231 |
- Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 28 October 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 11 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it (a) holds information and (b) can provide
figures on how many people currently make use of a (i) Veterans, (ii) Two
Together, (c) Senior, (d) Friends and Family, (e) Disabled Persons (f) 26-30 and
(g) 16-25 Railcard.
Answer
As all the Railcards listed are GB wide national rail products and not ScotRail products, neither the Scottish Government or ScotRail holds information on how many people make use of the cards listed.
The member may wish to contact the Rail Delivery Group for information on the number of cardholders.
- Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 28 October 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 10 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what it estimates the uptake of usage for the Young
Scot National Entitlement Card is, based on the latest information available.
Answer
As of the end of the day on 7 November 2022, there had been a total of 31,118,359 journeys made under the Young Persons’ (Under 22s) Free Bus Travel Scheme. 40.6% of these journeys were made by cardholders aged 5-15. 59.4% of these journeys were made by cardholders aged 16-21.
This data is for total journeys made through the scheme and is not split into Young Scot branded and non-Young Scot branded National Entitlement Cards.
- Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 28 October 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 8 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how much it (a) spent in 2021-22 and (b) has allocated to spend in 2022-23 on public service obligation flights, broken down by each route.
Answer
The following table provides the information requested.
Route | Spend in 2021-22 (£) | Projected outturn in 2022-23 (£) |
Glasgow to Campbeltown, Tiree and Barra | 5,243,762.91 | 5,508,045.82 |
Dundee to London City | 703,732 | 741,000 |
Wick to Aberdeen | 0 | 1,000,000 |
While the Glasgow to Campbeltown, Tiree and Barra services are separate routes, they are tendered as a package for operational efficiency and therefore spend is combined for the three routes.
The Scottish Government contributes to the Dundee to London City service along with the Department for Transport and Dundee City Council. Dundee City Council is the contracting authority.
The Wick to Aberdeen service started in April 2022. The Scottish Government contributes to the service along with Highland Council. Highland Council is the contracting authority.
- Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 October 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 7 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will set out the reasons, including any economic benefits, for its reported decision to extend the incumbent contract with Trainline Plc for the provision of web ticket issuing services for ScotRail until April 2024 without a robust procurement test.
Answer
ScotRail advises that it extended its contract with Trainline Plc as a holding position to maintain continuity of service while waiting for details of the alternative approach to ticketing which has been promised as part of the proposed Great British Railways arrangements.
You will appreciate that the UK Government has now again postponed delivery of it proposed rail reform process. Such uncertainty and delay are unhelpful.
- Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 November 2022
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 10 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on expenditure in West Scotland from the Tenant Grant Fund, including whether funding has been renewed as a result of its Programme for Government announcement to widen eligibility.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 10 November 2022
- Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 October 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 2 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Government when the procurement process will begin for the replacement of the incumbent contract novated from Abellio for a Ticket Issuing System for use by ScotRail, and what the timetable is for this process.
Answer
ScotRail novated several contracts for the provision of Ticket Issuing Systems, across all retail channels, to ensure continuity of service and a smooth transition from Abellio ScotRail to ScotRail Trains Limited.
At this time no definitive timetable for a future procurement exercise has been agreed. ScotRail Trains Limited will work with its holding company, Scottish Rail Holdings, to ensure services are procured as required to meet ScotRail’s needs going forward. I will raise this matter directly with SRT when we next meet.