- Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 7 February 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the ministerial statement on strengthened fire alarm standards on 19 January 2022, whether it will provide further details of what it has done to alert the public to the new legislation on interlinked fire alarms.
Answer
Scottish Government ran a very successful five-week, multi-media marketing campaign last autumn to raise awareness of the new standard. This was supported by over 96,000 leaflets distributed to all libraries in Scotland as well as posters, website and an online campaign toolkit shared with over 500 partners.
Independent analysis showed the campaign reached 95.2% of its target audience and follow-up analysis in December 2021 showed 88% were aware of the new standard.
Furthermore, Scottish Government has published material online through social media and a dedicated website and the Cabinet Secretary has written on several occasions to MSPs with information and FAQs to support their constituents.
- Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 7 February 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what advice it has received from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service regarding compliance with the new interlinked fire alarm legislation.
Answer
We have worked very closely with partners including the SFRS throughout the legislative process and they fully welcome any measures that support fire prevention.
- Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 21 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 7 February 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether reducing opening hours at rail ticket offices will increase or decrease rail passenger numbers.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-05860 on 7 February 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers
- Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 21 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 7 February 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether closing rail ticket offices will increase or decrease rail passenger numbers.
Answer
The consultation phase of ScotRail’s review on ticket office opening hours closed on 2 February. Transport Focus, the independent watchdog for transport users, is in the process of collating responses in order to produce a report of the consultation outputs. It would not be prudent for Scottish Ministers to prejudge the outcomes of that process prior to the Transport Focus report being published.
- Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 21 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 4 February 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether the proposed closure and reduction in opening hours of rail ticket offices has been the subject of an Equality Impact Assessment, and, if so, what the outcome was.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-05834 on 4 February 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers
- Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 21 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 4 February 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many trade union representatives will be on the board of the new company that will run Scotland's Railway.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-05865 on 4 February 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers
- Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 21 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 4 February 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the appointment of (a) trade union and (b) passenger representatives on the board of the new company that will run Scotland's Railway.
Answer
a) Discussions with the Rail Trade Union representatives are underway on this topic and we have recently received a proposition from the Unions that is now under consideration.
b) There is an existing Stakeholder Board on which passenger representatives sit, that will continue with the new company, whose chair will attend the ScotRail Trains Limited Board in the same manner as they do presently.
- Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 21 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 4 February 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the proposed closure and reduction in opening hours of rail ticket offices will increase or decrease levels of (a) antisocial behaviour and (b) safety for (i) passengers and (ii) staff (A) at train stations and (B) on trains.
Answer
Abellio ScotRail has carried out an assessment of all ticket sales, passenger assistance, ticket buying facilities, waiting areas, toilets, passenger footfall, links to local schools, colleges and businesses for every station with a ticket office. In addition, Abellio ScotRail also reviewed any instances of anti-social behaviour to ensure the proposed changes would reduce anti-social behaviour, offer passengers more staff visible in the frontline, both in stations and on train whilst improving revenue collection.
Abellio ScotRail has also confirmed that no job loses would occur and any change to opening times would see every minute reused in the local area.
- Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2022
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 10 February 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what impact Brexit has had on its policies across government, including how it invests in business.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 10 February 2022
- Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Ash Regan on 2 February 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to address the reported recruitment issues in the retained fire service, and whether it will list the (a) actions that it has taken and (b) additional resources that it has provided in this regard.
Answer
Recruitment of any staff group to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) is a matter for the SFRS Board. The Scottish Government is aware of the challenges of recruiting and retaining Retained and Volunteer Duty System (RVDS) firefighters as fewer people live and work in the same location. The Scottish Government has invested an additional £9.5m in the 2022-23 budget for service delivery and modernisation of SFRS. How that money is spent is a matter for the SFRS Board.
SFRS now has 58 full time manager positions in rural locations to help with availability and recruitment of RVDS firefighters and is currently reviewing RVDS arrangements to assess what more can be done to help the situation.