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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-22622

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 1 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to share charging data from ChargePlace Scotland with (a) National Grid, (b) distribution network operators and (c) commercial providers of electric vehicle charging points.

Through the ChargePlace Scotland (CPS) network, Scotland benefits from one of the most comprehensive electric vehicle charging networks in Europe. The Scottish Government is committed to expanding our electric vehicle charging infrastructure between now and 2022, whether in rural, urban or domestic settings.

We are working with the electricity network companies and other partners and providers to ensure that Scotland’s charging infrastructure develops in a way that continues to support electric vehicle uptake, minimises disruption to the energy network and creates opportunities for innovation in network operation.

To that end, the Scottish Government routinely monitors data from the CPS network, which includes details of charging events, utilisation of charge points and energy consumption. This data is used by Scottish Government and Charge Your Car, the current operators of the back-office function, to monitor the state of the public charging infrastructure and assess trends in electric vehicle use in Scotland.

In addition, the distributed network operators have access to live and historical data from the CPS network. Organisations that host charge points on the CPS network, including local authorities, businesses, public bodies and others, have access to similar data relating to their own charge points.

The Scottish Government is assessing the most appropriate mechanism for making data from the CPS back-office publicly available, with a view to publication later this year.

Question reference: S5W-22623

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 1 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to make charging data from ChargePlace Scotland publicly available, and what smart charging data is already being collected and used from the network.

Question reference: S5W-22682

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 1 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what the average time has been to complete category 1 defect repairs on the A9 trunk road in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S5W-22681

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 1 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what the average time is for repairs to be competed on trunk roads when a tar hot box is required.

The information requested is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. The general response timescale for a full repair to a Category 1 carriageway defect is 28 days. This is monitored by Transport Scotland and the independent Performance Audit Group. The use of a tar hot box for road repairs is one of a suite of repair options available to our maintenance contractors. The choice of repair type depends on a range of matters including the size and depth of the defect and whether a hot box is available for use.

Question reference: S5W-22581

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by James Wolffe QC on 1 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government which organisation or public body has ultimate responsibility if a fatality on a trunk road was found to be as a result of the road being poorly maintained, and under what circumstances would the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service subsequently consider whether to press charges under (a) the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 and (b) other legislation.

The management and maintenance of the Scottish trunk road network
is ultimately the responsibility of Scottish Ministers by the virtue of the
powers and duties conferred by the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984.

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) undertakes
the investigation of deaths and the prosecution of crime in Scotland. All
road traffic fatalities are reported to COPFS and will either result in a
criminal investigation by the Road Traffic Fatalities Investigation Unit or
a death investigation by the Scottish Fatalities Investigation Unit
depending on the circumstances. Where a fatality on a trunk road is
potentially the result of the road being poorly maintained and a case is
reported to COPFS, prosecutors will consider all the facts and
circumstances prior to making any decision as to whether or not to
prosecute for a criminal offence.

In making that decision the prosecutor will assess whether the circumstances
constitute a crime known to the law of Scotland, whether there is a sufficiency
of evidence in relation to the crime and whether proceedings are in the public
interest. The approach which prosecutors are required to take is set out in the
Scottish Prosecution Code which can be found at http://www.copfs.gov.uk
/images/Documents/Prosecution_Policy_Guidance
/Prosecution20Code20_Final20180412__1.pdf .

An offence under Section 1 of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate
Homicide Act 2007 is committed where an organisation, as defined by that
Act, caused a person’s death because its activities were managed or organised
in a way that amounted to a gross breach of a relevant duty of care owed to that
person.

Question reference: S5W-22625

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 30 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to track the Electric A9 project’s impact on (a) electric vehicle usage and (b) future air quality trends on the route.

The Scottish Government uses a range of sources of information to evaluate the impact of policies that support the uptake of electric vehicles and the development of the ChargePlace Scotland (CPS) infrastructure, including the eA9.

Data on localised electric vehicle uptake is monitored through analysis of the Department of Transport’s quarterly publications on ultra-low emission vehicle statistics (VEH0132, available online at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/all-vehicles-veh01 ).

Since the Programme for Government (PfG) announcement in 2017 to phase out the need for new petrol and diesel cars and light vans by 2032, there has been a 29% growth in Ultra Low Emission Vehicles (ULEV) sales. This rate of growth is ahead of the rest of the UK and is similar to Japan and the USA.

In addition, the Scottish Government monitors data from CPS, including the number of registered users and utilisation of charge points. This data shows that in 2018 there were 590,590 charging events across the network, using 5,589,446 kWh of electricity. This equates to well over 20 million miles travelled by electric vehicles, representing a 59% increase on 2017.

A wide range of information relating to air quality, including monitoring data, is available on the Air Quality in Scotland website www.scottishairquality.scot .

Question reference: S5W-22626

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 30 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what data it holds on localised electric vehicle uptake and associated local air quality improvements.

Question reference: S5O-03157

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 April 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on expert evidence presented to the Education and Skills Committee regarding a reduction of subject choice in schools.

Question reference: S5W-22582

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 24 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many fatalities there have been on each trunk road in each of the last five years because of the road being poorly maintained, also broken down by (a) which body or organisation was deemed responsible for maintenance and (b) whether there were any subsequent (i) prosecutions and (ii) convictions under (A) the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 and (B) other legislation.

As part of the statistical information routinely collected for injury road collisions, Police Scotland can record a number of pre-defined factors which may have contributed to how and why the collision occurred. One of these contributory factors is “poor or defective road surface”.

In the last five calendar years there has been one fatality which occurred on the A9 in 2018 for which Police Scotland recorded “poor or defective road surface” as one of the contributory factors to the collision.

(a) The management and maintenance of the Scottish trunk road network is the responsibility of Scottish Ministers, delivered via Transport Scotland through the Operating Company contracts.

(b)There were no prosecutions under section 1 of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 between 2013 and 2018 which related to a fatality on a trunk road as a result of poor maintenance of that road.

Using the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Database it is not possible to identify whether cases have been prosecuted using other legislation in the last five years in the context of fatalities on trunk roads due to poor maintenance. In order to carry out that assessment it would be necessary to manually check each case reported to COPFS.

Question reference: S5O-03122

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 April 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the way in which the Control of Dogs (Scotland) Act 2010 has been implemented.

Year	Average Hours for Temporary Repair	Average Days for Permanent Repair
2014-15	0.39	32
2015-16	10.44	23
2016-17	2.92	9
2017-18	0.41	10
2018-19	4.39	12