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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: S5W-27911

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 March 2020
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 24 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many ScotRail trains have stop-skipped in each reporting period of the franchise to date, also given as a percentage of all trains that ran in each period.

Question reference: S5W-27910

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 March 2020
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 24 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how much ScotRail has paid out in Delay Repay payments in each reporting period of the franchise to date.

Question reference: S5O-04286

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S5W-27635

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 10 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Caledonian Sleeper has met the passenger satisfaction targets set out in the franchise agreement since the contract began; what enforcement action has been taken in response to any failures to meet the targets, and what variations, adjustments or waivers have been made in relation to these targets.

Caledonian Sleeper has received much positive feedback from passengers, which is reflected in record levels of passenger bookings.

Notwithstanding this positive customer reaction, Caledonian Sleeper has not yet met the targets set for all aspects of the National Rail Passenger Satisfaction (NRPS) survey. In discussion with the independent body, Transport Focus, which runs the NRPS survey, it has become clear this is in part due to the mismatch of standard NRPS methodology with Sleeper operations. This has been compounded by the late delivery of new trains for the Franchise.

Caledonian Sleeper is working in partnership with Transport Focus to develop new survey metrics which will more accurately reflect the needs and expectations of passengers using sleeper services.

Question reference: S5W-27634

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 10 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-27096 by Michael Matheson on 4 February 2020, by how much the Abellio ScotRail subsidy decreased for each of the 39 full- or part-failures, also broken down by the year of each decrease.

Question reference: S5W-27654

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 28 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 10 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on recommendation 15 of the Infrastructure Commission for Scotland paper, Phase 1: Key findings report, A blueprint for Scotland; what changes it is considering in light of this recommendation, and whether these will be made in time to be incorporated in the Strategic Transport Projects Review 2 appraisal process.

The Scottish Government welcomes the Infrastructure Commission for Scotland report, published in January and the work and engagement it has undertaken to date. This is an important report and, as such, the Scottish Government is taking the necessary time to consider and reflect on its detailed recommendations carefully.

The Commission’s recommendation 15 links the transport investment decision making process with the appraisal of options using the Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance (STAG) process. STAG is a transport specific interpretation of the HM Treasury Green Book, where it describes the role of appraisal and evaluation to “ provide objective evidence and analysis that feeds information into the design, scrutiny and approval processes that support government decision making ”. Transport Scotland maintains separate published guidance on how it takes investment decisions in transport, https://www.transport.gov.scot/media/10165/idm-guidance-annex-d-business-case-guidance-for-publication-jan-2016.pdf .

In the context of the appraisal being undertaken as part of the second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2), work commenced last year to review STAG to ensure that it continues to reflect current best practice in transport appraisal. This includes work on how we appraise the benefits of a more active population, our transition to a decarbonised vehicle fleet and our net-zero emissions target. The early emerging outcomes of this work are being incorporated into STPR2 appraisal process with further potential research work anticipated this year to inform future changes to STAG.

In parallel, work is underway to ensure that Transport Scotland’s - Investment Decision Making guidance remains robust, particularly in the context of the 2045 net-zero target and the new National Transport Strategy.

Question reference: S5W-27414

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 9 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how much its Draft Budget 2020-21 allocates to the Strategic Timber Transport Fund.

Question reference: S5W-27599

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 9 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on taking account of the distance of care homes from people's registered addresses when allocating places, and what guidance it issues to local authorities on this matter.

The Scottish Government issued updated guidance on choosing a care home on discharge from hospital in December 2013 (CEL 32 (2013). The guidance recommends that people identify up to three preferred homes of choice, suitable to meet the assessed needs of the individual. Where a choice is not readily available then an interim move to a suitable, available home should be arranged.

The guidance does not provide explicit advice on how far care home placements should be from the person’s home address, however, the Scottish Government expects placements to be as close as is reasonably possible. There will be occasions when the person’s assessed need, and availability of local services, will affect the choice of suitable care homes.

Question reference: S5W-27508

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 6 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what the budget for the Strategic Timber Transport Fund has been in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S5W-27406

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 5 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of Abellio ScotRail’s claim for damages from Network Rail for disruption during upgrade works at Glasgow Queen Street station.

Financial Year	Committed Obligation penalties therefore reduction in franchise subsidy
2015-2016	£1,500
2016-2017	£875,219
2017-2018	£466,941
2018-2019	£1,348,125

Year	Strategic Timber Transport Scheme Budget £m
2015-16	3.00
2016-17	2.85
2017-18	7.85
2018-19	7.85
2019-20	7.00
2020-21 (draft)	7.00