- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 24 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 14 December 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what Transport Scotland’s annual budget is for employing workers on a consultancy basis.
Answer
Transport Scotland hasan Agency Administration Budget of £14.4 million for 2006-07 financial year, thisbudget will finance the running costs of the new Executive agency. This budget isfor all costs associated with staff, building costs and other administration costs.
Consultant costs associated withindividual projects are allocated to each of these projects as per HM Treasury guidanceon costs associated with front line delivery of programmes.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 24 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 11 December 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many rail vehicles (a) were delivered in 2006 and (b) are due to be delivered in each year to 2012, broken down by manufacturer.
Answer
(a) There were no rail vehiclesdelivered for the ScotRail Franchise during 2006.
(b) A procurement plan is inprogress to deliver fleets of new rolling stock for a range of major projects andpassenger growth initiatives from 2009 onwards.
Bids have been received froma number of manufacturers to supply trams for Edinburgh in time for use in 2010.
At this time no decision hasbeen made on the eventual suppliers/manufacturers nor the final quantities required,but Transport Scotland will ensure that sufficient vehicles are in place tomeet the predicted capacity requirements.
The procurement process for heavyrail vehicles is being carried out with the co-operation of the franchise operator,First ScotRail, in consultation with Transport Scotland, commencing 2007.
Transport Initiatives Edinburgh(TIE) is responsible for the procurement of Edinburgh trams.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 24 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 11 December 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what total value of rolling stock (a) was delivered in each year since 1999 and (b) is due to be delivered in each year to 2012, broken down by manufacturer.
Answer
(a) The total value of the rollingstock is subject to the terms of contracts between the Franchisee and the RollingStock companies, and the values attributed to these in the Franchise agreement,are commercially confidential.
(b) A procurement plan is inprogress to deliver fleets of new rolling stock for a range of major projects andpassenger growth initiatives from 2009 onwards.
At this time the total valueof rolling stock provision in each year has not been fully determined, nor eventualsuppliers/manufacturers selected, but Transport Scotland will ensure that sufficientvehicles are in place to meet the predicted capacity requirements.
The procurement process willbe carried out with the co-operation of the franchise operator, First ScotRail,in consultation with Transport Scotland, commencing 2007.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 24 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 11 December 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware of any other instances where a European state owns, or commissions the building of, vessels subject to the 1992 Maritime Cabotage Regulations and state aid rules, as in the case of the CalMac network.
Answer
The research commissioned bythe Scottish Executive on ferry services in other European Union countries (seeResearch and Advice on Risk Management in Relation to the Subsidy of FerryServices – Deliverable 1: Factual Summary of EU Member States, published bythe Scottish Executive in 2005 – Bib. number 37557) suggested that there were threeother countries within the European Union, namely, Finland, Malta and Sweden, wherevessels delivering internal ferry services are owned by national or local governmentor publicly owned companies.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 17 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 8 December 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what research it has undertaken into the effectiveness of fuel additives in reducing emissions from vehicles and what evaluation it has made of such research.
Answer
The Scottish Executive hasnot undertaken any research into the effectiveness of fuel additives inreducing vehicle emissions.
We continue to work with theDepartment for Transport on the UK-wide Powering Future Vehicles strategy,which aims to promote new vehicle technologies and fuels - technology whichcould lead to significant reductions in vehicle emissions.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 17 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 4 December 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many pedestrians have been (a) injured, (b) seriously injured or (c) killed in collisions with cyclists in each region in each of the last 12 months.
Answer
The following tables give informationabout the numbers of pedestrians who were injured, having been struck by a pedalcycle, in road accidents which were reported by the police in their Stats 19 injuryroad accident statistics returns. The figures do not include any pedestrians whowere injured in accidents which were not reported by the public to the Police. Figuresare given for each month in 2005: provisional figures for 2006 will be publishedin June 2007.
(a) Pedestrians who were injured(but not killed) in collisions with pedal cyclists in 2005
| | Northern | Grampian | Tayside | Fife | Lothian and Borders | Central | Strathclyde | Dumfries and Galloway |
| January | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| February | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| March | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| April | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| May | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| June | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| July | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| August | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| September | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| October | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| November | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| December | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
(b) Pedestrians who were seriouslyinjured (but not killed) in collisions with pedal cyclists in 2005
| | Northern | Grampian | Tayside | Fife | Lothian and Borders | Central | Strathclyde | Dumfries and Galloway |
| January | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| February | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| March | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| April | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| May | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| June | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| July | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| August | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| September | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| October | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| November | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| December | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
(c) There were no pedestrianswho were killed in collisions with pedal cyclists in 2005.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 17 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 4 December 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment has been made of the effect on the number of (a) injuries and (b) fatalities to heavy goods vehicle drivers of the compulsory introduction of speed limiting devices.
Answer
The policy relating to the fittingof speed limiting devices on HGVs is reserved to the Department for Transport (DfT).Neither the Executive nor DfT have carried out any such assessment. However, asvehicles will be limited to maximum speeds of 56 mph and 62 mph respectively theexpectation is the number of serious accidents involving these vehicles, particularlyon motorways and dual carriageways, should reduce.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 17 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 4 December 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive which train service was the most overcrowded in each of the last five years.
Answer
The Scottish Executive does not possess records for this period.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 30 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the presence of parasites of the Argulus species will be included as a matter to be notified to its Environment and Rural Affairs Department (SEERAD), as a notifiable disease or parasite, under the terms of the Aquaculture and Fisheries (Scotland) Bill; what steps are being taken to ascertain how this parasite is spreading, and whether the Executive will publish all the information held by SEERAD and other public agencies in relation to Argulus.
Answer
The bill contains provision (section4) for ministers to modify the definition of “parasite” and thereby include Argulus,if there was a need to do so.We do not believe there is sucha case at present, but together with the Fisheries Research Services (FRS) we willconsider further surveillance to update our understanding of the distribution of the parasite, information about which can be found on the FRS website
www.marlab.ac.uk.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 23 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that the restoration of Castle Tioram would provide benefits to Scotland¿s tourism industry; whether it is satisfied with Historic Scotland¿s position in respect of such a restoration, and what value it places on the significance of cross-party support from MSPs for its restoration.
Answer
There is no currentapplication for the restoration of Castle Tioram. Any application for scheduledmonument consent to restore the castle will be considered on its own meritsunder the established procedures. Since the final decision could be forScottish ministers it would not be proper for me to offer comment on the meritsof a prospective application.
