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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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S5W-00678

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 23 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what the final cost is of the process of the tender for the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services Contract.

Question reference: S5O-00067

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 June 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of post offices on town centre economies.

Question reference: S5W-00676

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 22 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government on what dates the current Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport has visited the Royal Alexandra Hospital and when she last visited the children's ward.

Question reference: S5W-00682

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 21 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-00318 by Humza Yousaf on 8 June 2016, whether Serco Caledonian Ferries Ltd’s final bid for the contract contained information that Transport Scotland had previously objected to or rejected during the tender period and, if so, what this was.

Question reference: S5W-00679

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 21 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-00318 by Humza Yousaf on 8 June 2016, whether it will list each proposed change to the contract that was deemed to be non-compliant, also broken down by the section of the instructions to participants that it fell under.

Question reference: S5W-00681

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 21 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-00318 by Humza Yousaf on 8 June 2016, whether Transport Scotland had advised Serco Caledonian Ferries Ltd that its interim bid for the contract was at risk of non-compliance and, if so, when.

Transport Scotland wrote to Serco Caledonian Ferries Ltd on 28 January 2016 following a meeting on 25 January 2016 to discuss their interim tender. This advised them of non-compliant elements which they subsequently addressed in their final tender, however, their final tender had new non-compliant elements. I refer the member to the answers to questions S5W-00318 on 8 June 2016 and S5W-00679 on 21 June 2016.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

Question reference: S5W-00624

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 15 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government on what dates adverse weather conditions have affected construction on the Forth replacement crossing.

Adverse weather affects construction activities in different ways ranging from the need to alter a method of work to completely cancelling a piece of work. Consequently, it is not possible to list every date where adverse weather conditions have affected the construction on the Forth Replacement Crossing. However, the contractor estimates that approximately 20% of the project programme has been impacted.

Referring to my statement on 8 June 2016, the dates on which adverse weather conditions affecting construction during April and May 2016 are the dates on which wind gusts exceeded the threshold to allow critical path activities to take place. These are as follows:

April reporting period:

26 and 27 March (2 days)

28 March (0.5 days)

4, 6, 11, 12, 17, 18, 24, 25 and 29 (9 days)

1, 5 and 26 April (3 x 0.5 days)

April Report Total = 13 days

May reporting period:

2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 20 (9 days)

5, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26 (6 x 0.5 days)

May report total = 12 days

The contractor’s reporting period cuts off on the last Friday of the month and so for the April reporting period the 13 days lost were in the period 26 March to 29 April and the 12 days in May were lost in the period 30 April to 27 May 2016.

Question reference: S5W-00529

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 06 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 15 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government when the Forth replacement crossing will be completed.

Question reference: S5W-00317

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 14 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Expert Ferry Group will advise Transport Scotland on the specifications of the next contract to operate Northern Isles Ferry Services.

There are no plans for the Expert Ferry Group to discuss the service specification for the forthcoming Northern Isles ferry services contract. A comprehensive study to inform the specification of the next Northern Isles ferry services contract is underway. This study is being overseen by a working group of key stakeholders, including Orkney and Shetland Islands Councils, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, The Highlands and Islands Transport Partnership and ZetTrans. A public consultation took place earlier this year, with a further round of consultation planned later in summer 2016.

Question reference: S5W-00316

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 14 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what the published tariff scheme has been in each year of its current contract with Serco NorthLink to operate Northern Isles ferry services.