- Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 October 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 24 October 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will outline the remit of the new Island Transport Forum.
Answer
The remit of the new Islands Transport Forum is currently being drafted, and will be agreed with the forum members at their first meeting.
Details of the remit and meetings will be published on the Scottish Government website when agreed.
- Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 October 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 24 October 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will ensure that the Islands Transport Forum consults with trade unions representing workers in the transport sector.
Answer
Membership, remit and operation of the Islands Transport Forum are still to be agreed.
However, it will be essential that the Forum considers all the issues and opportunities relevant to islands transport. This will require engagement across a broad range of sectors and stakeholders.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 October 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 24 October 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what options ministers considered for supporting Arjowiggins and the reported 360 affected jobs in Aberdeen.
Answer
The Scottish Government, through Scottish Enterprise, had been working extensively with Arjowiggins and its partners to explore all possible options to support the business, including the pursuit of a buyer for the business. Scottish Enterprise continues to work with the administrators and partners to understand the potential options for the business going forward and explore all possibilities to rescue the jobs.
The Scottish Government will continue to help those affected through our initiative for responding to redundancy situations, Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE).
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 October 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 24 October 2022
To ask the Scottish Government when Scottish Enterprise was first made aware of problems at Arjowiggins.
Answer
Scottish Enterprise has worked closely with Arjowiggins and its partners since the successful management buyout in 2019. Scottish Enterprise were aware of the challenging trading conditions faced by the company since 2020, which included the negative impact of the pandemic and more recently the significant increases in energy costs and the price of raw materials.
Most recently, Scottish Enterprise helped with detailed options analysis and the pursuit of a buyer for the business, and an initial non-binding offer was received for Arjowiggins in 2022. Scottish Enterprise were advised on 20 th September 2022 that the preferred bidder had decided not to proceed with the acquisition citing the risks associated with the current economic environment, which resulted in the company entering into administration on 22 nd September 2022.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 October 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 24 October 2022
To ask the Scottish Government when ministers were first made aware of problems at Arjowiggins.
Answer
The Scottish Government, through Scottish Enterprise, has worked closely with Arjowiggins and its partners since the successful management buyout in 2019. Arjowiggins has received Scottish Enterprise loans totalling £12m, equity investment of £100,000 and grant funding totalling £141,000.
Ministers have been routinely updated on the challenging trading conditions faced by the company since 2020, which included the negative impact of the pandemic and more recently the significant increases in energy costs and the price of raw materials. In relation to Arjowiggins entering into administration, Ministers were advised on 20 th September 2022 that a potential sale of the business would not be proceeding, which resulted in the company entering into administration on 22 September 2022.
- Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 October 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 24 October 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of the full membership of the new Island Transport Forum.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-11307 on 24 October 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: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 October 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 24 October 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-10964 by Jenny Gilruth on 26 September 2022, whether it will provide the information requested regarding what assessment it has made of any impact of not having published its 10-year islands connectivity plan on people in remote and island communities, particularly in relation to the adequacy of ferry services; for what reason it did not provide details of any such assessment in its answer, and, if no such assessment has been made, whether it will state this.
Answer
The Scottish Government is working on production of the Islands Connectivity Plan. Priority is being given to a long-term plan and investment programme for vessels and ports, with the aim of publishing a draft for consultation by the end of 2022. There are no plans to carry out an assessment of the type mentioned by the Member.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 September 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 24 October 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been killed in road accidents on the A90 between Dundee and Stonehaven in each quarter since 1 April 2017.
Answer
The following table sets out the number of fatal casualties on the A90 between Emmock roundabout Dundee and where the A957 Slug Road crosses the A90 at Stonehaven.
Year – 2017 | Number of Fatal Casualties |
April – June | 0 |
July – September | 0 |
October – December | 0 |
Year – 2018 | Number of Fatal Casualties |
January - March | 0 |
April – June | 0 |
July – September | 1 |
October – December | 0 |
Year – 2019 | Number of Fatal Casualties |
January - March | 3 |
April – June | 0 |
July – September | 0 |
October – December | 1 |
Year – 2020 | Number of Fatal Casualties |
January – March | 2 |
April – June | 0 |
July – September | 1 |
October – December | 0 |
Year – 2021 | Number of Fatal Casualties |
January - March | 0 |
April – June | 0 |
July – September | 0 |
October – December | 1 |
Year – 2022 | Number of Fatal Casualties |
January - March | 0 |
April – June | 0 |
July – September | 0 |
October – 5 October | 0 |
Source: Transport Scotland Accident Manager Database
Date data extracted: 05 October 2022
Transport Scotland only holds accident information which is provided to us by Police Scotland. Please note that the information provided is based on the current figures available at the time of retrieving the data from Transport Scotland’s accident manager system. The following are potential reasons for an accident not appearing on our system:
• Transport Scotland only holds accident information which is provided to us by Police Scotland.
• Transport Scotland does not hold information relating to damage only accidents (i.e. not involving an injury).
• Transport Scotland only holds accident information for the trunk road network.
• The accident information Transport Scotland holds is subject to change. E.g. we receive late returns from Police Scotland, who are responsible for recording details of injury accidents.
• Annual Scottish accident figures are published by Transport Scotland on a yearly basis and can be found by entering Reported Road Casualties Scotland into your search engine.
• From summer 2019, Police Scotland introduced a new system for recording traffic collisions. Due to improved recording and categorisation processes, it is expected that there will be an increase in the number of casualties and accidents on Scottish roads that are classified as serious. The evidence from other police forces within the UK that introduced the same system is that this increase will be around 20%. This increase would not reflect an actual change in the severity of accidents occurring on Scottish roads, but would instead reflect more accurate recording.
• Statisticians within the Department for Transport have devised a method for adjusting the road casualty figures to ensure that they can be compared over time on a consistent basis. Transport Scotland’s Key Reported Road Casualties and Reported Road Casualties statistics publications will present both adjusted and unadjusted figures.
- Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 September 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 24 October 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it considered commissioning up-to-date data on the potential impacts of its proposed restrictions on the promotion of food and drink high in fat, sugar or salt.
Answer
An evidence based approach is central to the development of our policy to restrict promotions on less healthy food and drink.
We are using a wide range of evidence and data sources to consider the potential impacts of restricting promotions, ensuring we have a robust and balanced evidence base to inform policy making.
Evidence gathering remains ongoing and we continue to add to our evidence base and engage with a range of stakeholders. We are undertaking analysis to inform a suite of impact assessments in order to assess whether the proposed measures are proportionate as well as to consider their impact on health inequalities. These impact assessments will be published upon introduction to Parliament of the Public Health (Restriction of Promotions) Bill.
- Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 September 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 24 October 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has considered launching a public inquiry into the practice of unlawful organ and tissue retention at Scottish hospitals between 1970 and 2000.
Answer
The Scottish Government deemed that the most sensitive way of investigating previous post-mortem practice in Scotland was the Independent Review Group on the Retention of Organs at Post Mortem Examination which was established in September 2000 by the then Scottish Executive. The final report was published in November 2001.
In addition, Audit Scotland was instructed by the then Auditor General for Scotland to undertake an exercise to validate the information provided to the Review Group by NHS trusts (now known as NHS boards). The Audit Scotland report summarises the findings from the validation exercise and the systems review undertaken during the period November 2001 to January 2002.