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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: S6W-08836

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 May 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 15 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will outline the changes in frequency to train services at (a) Shotts, (b) Airdrie, (c) Falkirk Grahamston, (d) Falkirk High and (e) Polmont railway station (i) from 23 May 2022 and (ii) as a result of the Fit for the Future timetable consultation.

The following table outlines the changes in frequency for the stations requested from ScotRail’s May 2022 Fit for the Future Timetable and ScotRail’s temporary timetable:-

Timetable data for standard weekday, correct as of 07 June 2022
Station	Timetable	Frequency (trains per hour [tph])
SHOTTS	May-22	To/from Glasgow - 1tph all day. ‎ To/from Edinburgh - 1tph all day. ‎ Additional services at peak times.
SHOTTS	Temporary	To/from Glasgow - 1tph all day. ‎ To/from Edinburgh - 1tph all day. ‎ Additional services at peak times.
AIRDRIE	May-22	To/from Glasgow - 4tph until evening, then 2tph. ‎ To/from Edinburgh - 2tph all day. ‎ Additional services at peak times.
AIRDRIE	Temporary	To/from Glasgow - 4tph all day. ‎ To/from Edinburgh - 2tph all day. ‎ Additional services at peak times.
FALKIRK GRAHAMSTON	May-22	To/from Glasgow - 1tph all day. ‎ To/from Edinburgh - 2tph until evening, then 1tph. ‎ To/from Dunblane - 2tph until evening, then 1tph. ‎ Additional services at peak times.
FALKIRK GRAHAMSTON	Temporary	To/from Glasgow - 1tph all day. ‎ To/from Edinburgh - 1tph until final gap of 4 hours. ‎ To/from Dunblane - 1tph all day. ‎ Additional services at peak times.
FALKIRK HIGH	May-22	To/from Glasgow - 2tph all day. ‎ To/from Edinburgh - 2tph all day. ‎ Additional Services at peak times.
FALKIRK HIGH	Temporary	To/from Glasgow - 2tph until final gap of 2 hours. ‎ To/from Edinburgh - 2tph until final gap of 2 hours.
POLMONT	May-22	To/from Dunblane - 2tph until evening, then 1tph. ‎ To/from Edinburgh - 4tph until evening, then 3tph. ‎ To/from Glasgow - 2tph all day. ‎ Additional services at peak times.
POLMONT	Temporary	To/from Dunblane - 1tph all day. ‎ To/from Edinburgh - 3tph until final gap of 2 hours. ‎ To/from Glasgow - 2tph until final gap of 2 hours. ‎ Additional services at peak times.

Question reference: S6W-08670

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 May 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 10 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will guarantee that any application for Green Freeports in Scotland, which does not include an explicit commitment to supporting the implementation of Fair Work First, will not be successful.

Question reference: S6W-08669

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 May 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 10 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the in the application for Green Freeports in Scotland, what the maximum percentage score is that is awarded for the applicants’ commitment to fair work practices.

Question reference: S6W-08668

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 May 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 10 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the overall percentage weighted score is for bids for Green Freeports in Scotland that have, or will only have, contracts with companies that have recognition agreements with trade unions.

The framework for assessing applications for Green Freeport status is described in the joint bidding prospectus published on 25 March, which can be accessed at Green Freeports in Scotland: bidding prospectus - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) . Applicants’ commitments in relation to fair work practices will be considered under the lead objective: promote regeneration and high quality job creation. Only applications which achieve a high score on this objective will be shortlisted for ministerial consideration.

Question reference: S6W-08671

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 May 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 10 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it will take in to ensure that workers in Green Freeports in Scotland will have access to trade unions with collective bargaining rights.

Question reference: S6O-01217

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce the 6,600 nursing and midwifery vacancies reported at the end of 2021.

Question reference: S6W-08600

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 May 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 8 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason ScotRail tickets that are sold as part of its half-price sale are not available from ticket offices.

During the time of the offer passengers could purchase tickets via a dedicated telephone line as well as the ScotRail website and app, and ScotRail staff were briefed to ensure they could assist passengers wanting to access the offer.

Online offers such as the recent one, enable ScotRail to undertake detailed analysis, which, if successful, can be rolled out on a wider basis. It is right and prudent that such offers not only give passengers discounts, but that as far as possible they offer value for the public sector particularly in the current financial challenges.

Question reference: S6W-08605

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 May 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 8 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-07655 by Jenny Gilruth on 27 April 2022, whether any changes were made to the draft Temporary Measures Agreement, shared with Serco on 25 February 2022, before it was agreed, and, if so, what these changes were.

Question reference: S6W-08601

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 May 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 6 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much was spent on consultants for services relating to the ScotRail franchise in (a) 2020-21 and (b) 2021-22.

Transport Scotland incurred costs associated with advisors for services associated with the Abellio ScotRail franchise for the period (a) 2020-21 and (b) 2021-22 are as follows:-

Company	2020-21 £s	2021-22 £s
Atkins	200,077.50	106,224.58
MacRoberts	364,443.39	164,843.95
Bramble Hub	218,865.45	40,630.59
Ernst & Young	239,674.51	0.00
Total	1,023,060.85	311,699.12

These costs are associated with advisors providing services associated with Abellio ScotRail Franchise in relation to Emergency Measures Agreements (EMAs) Covid response and any other business as usual.

Question reference: S6W-08604

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 May 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 6 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-07657 by Jenny Gilruth on 28 April 2022, how the Temporary Measures Agreement performance fee for Serco Caledonian Sleeper will be calculated.