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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-21181

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 30 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to tackle sheep worrying in North Ayrshire.

Dog attacks on sheep, wherever they occur, is an issue that the Scottish Government takes very seriously.We fully support the work to tackle this matter being undertaken by the Scottish Partnership Against Rural Crime (SPARC), chaired by Police Scotland, including their 5 month campaign to highlight the issue, launched on 8 January 2019. We have also commissioned Ipsos MORI to undertake research investigating the incidence and impact of dog attacks on sheep in Scotland and looking at potential strategies to prevent it happening.

Question reference: S5F-02933

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 January 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 January 2019

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to tackle antisemitism.

Question reference: S5W-20391

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 21 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of demand for the 2018-19 flu vaccination in the NHS Ayrshire and Arran area, and whether the NHS board has sufficient supplies of the vaccine to meet this.

NHS Procurement undertakes the seasonal flu vaccine procurement on behalf of NHS Scotland each year. Forecasting for the coming flu season is important to support the effective delivery of the seasonal flu programme and this is done on the basis of population data for each of the eligible groups, historical uptake rates and the World Health Organisation uptake target.

For 2018 -19 we? have more flu vaccine overall than compared with last year. NHS Ayrshire and Arran have advised that they are not aware of any current issues in the area regarding the supply of flu vaccine.

Question reference: S5W-20052

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 20 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has carried out of resilience across the CalMac fleet.

Question reference: S5W-20356

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 13 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is regarding replacing the seawall at Saltcoats railway station.

Operational and safety matters on Scotland’s rail infrastructure are a matter for Network Rail, carried out in accordance with their licence from the Office of Rail and Road.

Network Rail advise that they completed major upgrade work on the sea wall at Saltcoats railway station in 2015 to improve the resilience of the coastal defence, including measures to mitigate the effects of sea spray on train operations and the overhead electrical wires.

Question reference: S5W-20345

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 13 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of a train on a ScotRail service decoupling at Uphall station on 26 November 2018, whether (a) any similar incidents have occurred since 2007 and (b) it has received any warnings that such an issue could occur, including the safety systems failing.

Railway safety is a matter reserved to the UK Government.

The incident on 26 November which involved the decoupling of a passenger service at Uphall is currently under investigation. The Office of Rail and Road and the Rail Accident Investigation Board have been informed, but as yet have not intimated an intention to investigate. When concluded, a report of ScotRail’s own internal investigation will be provided to these organisations if requested.

The ScotRail Alliance advised that a) Two similar incidents have occurred since 2007 and b) No warnings that such an issue could occur have been received.

Question reference: S5W-20347

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 13 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many and (b) what percentage of ScotRail services (i) on 1 December 2018 and (ii) in each of the last 12 months at (A) Saltcoats railway station and (B) on each route were (1) cancelled and (2) delayed, also broken down by the average length of delay, because of (aa) flooding on the tracks and (bb) other reasons.

Our franchise agreement does not obligate the franchisee to provide information in the format requested by the Member. The franchise specifies that the information to be provided by ScotRail to Transport Scotland, is by Sector Level.

Performance information for ScotRail is available on-line, at the ORR Data Portal (Table 3.57). An on-line link to this table can be found here:http://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/displayreport/report/html/88127b42-8507-4261-bef7-c65527ada55d .

It includes ScotRail’s Public Performance Measure (PPM) information by operating sector and overall, on both a by-period and a moving-annual-average basis.

Also, ScotRail publishes quite detailed information for each four week period on by-station and by-sector PPM. This information is published at stations, and is also available on-line, at this URL: https://www.scotrail.co.uk/performance-and-reliability

Question reference: S5W-20058

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 13 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government which CalMac ferries can berth at ports outside of their designated routes, broken down by port.

Question reference: S5W-20054

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 13 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what contingency plans there are should (a) one and (b) more than one ferry in the CalMac fleet be removed from operation.

Responsibility for the deployment of vessels in the fleet is a matter for the operator, CalMac Ferries Limited. CalMac will prioritise the deployment of vessels, taking into consideration the circumstances and vessel availability at that time. In the event of a vessel being unavailable, CalMac will look to implement an amended timetable to ensure every community continues to receive vital lifeline services. That is subject to the expected timescale for any period of unavailability. Planning any redeployment of vessels also needs to take into account vessel certification requirements, regulatory requirements, harbour infrastructure design and vessel capabilities.

The Scottish Government recently announced a £3.5 million Resilience Fund for the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services, which will be used to upgrade or replace key equipment to reduce the risk of vessels breaking down.

Furthermore, this Government has committed to develop an Action Plan jointly with the ferry operators, to improve the resilience of the services.

Question reference: S5W-20060

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 13 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many health incidents have been recorded on each CalMac ferry in each year since 2009-10, also broken down by (a) route served and (b) type of incident.