Questions and answers

Question reference: S4W-08927

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 20 August 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme announced on 4 July 2012 includes provision for the Croy Loop.

The first phase announced on 4 July does not include provision of the Croy Turnback. This infrastructure intervention is not required for four trains per hour.

Further elements of EGIP including the Croy turnback, the electrification of Stirling, Dunblane and Alloa services, Glasgow connectivity with Edinburgh Gateway station and the proposal for six trains per hour on the route via Falkirk, can be delivered in future phases. The timing and specification of future phases will be dependent on other considerations including High Speed Rail, and opportunities that presents to connect Edinburgh and Glasgow, and wider capacity and affordability issues.

Question reference: S4W-08933

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 20 August 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how many trains will stop at Croy station as a result of the Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme proposals announced on 4 July 2012.

Question reference: S4W-08931

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 20 August 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme proposals announced on 4 July 2012 will lead to an increase in passenger satisfaction for those travelling from Croy to Glasgow and Edinburgh and whether more seats will be available and there will be less overcrowding at peak times.

Question reference: S4W-08894

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 9 August 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will receive Barnett consequentials arising from the UK Government's recently announced investment in major rail and transportation infrastructure and, if so, how much it will (a) receive and (b) spend on rail infrastructure investment projects.

Question reference: S4O-01183

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 June 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made on implementing the recommendation of the Scottish Studies Working Group that opportunities to learn Scotland’s languages should be promoted.

Question reference: S4O-01169

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 June 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it gives to NHS boards on consulting patients when changes are proposed to services delivered to patients at home.

Question reference: S4O-01097

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 7 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made on implementing the recommendations of the Scottish Studies Working Group across the curriculum.

We are making good progress in taking forward the recommendations of the Scottish Studies Working Group in partnership with Education Scotland, the SQA and other stakeholders including the University of Glasgow’s Champions Group.

A package of measures including guidance, online resources and professional learning has been launched and is now supporting learning about Scotland across the curriculum. Recommendations on Scottish texts in the new National Qualifications in English have been implemented and progress is being made on the development of an Award in Scottish Studies.

Question reference: S4O-01013

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 May 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 May 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what the public consultation process is when NHS boards are considering where to locate new-build community health facilities.

Question reference: S4W-04660

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 19 December 2011
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 10 January 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what the sickness absence rate has been for staff in NHS (a) Lanarkshire, (b) Forth Valley and (c) Greater Glasgow and Clyde in each year since 2007, broken down by department.

The percentage sickness absence rates for NHS Lanarkshire, NHS Forth Valley and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde in each year since 2007 are provided in the following table along with the absence rate for NHSScotland. The breakdown of these rates by department is not held nationally.

Further information on the statistics, including information on how the data is collected and notes to aid interpretation, is given in the “Background” section of the Workforce Statistics website at http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/.

	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
Scotland	5.55	5.28	4.95	4.75	4.74
NHS Lanarkshire	6.34	5.89	5.02	4.45	4.32
NHS Forth Valley	5.80	5.48	5.43	5.28	5.53
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde	5.82	5.33	4.92	4.79	4.77

Question reference: S4W-04551

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 December 2011
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 22 December 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive (a) how many and (b) which types of chartered engineers it employs in a policy or policy advisory role and in which directorates.

Information is not held centrally for engineers employed by the Scottish Government; however, one of the Scottish Government’s agencies, Transport Scotland, employs 79 engineers covering a number of different disciplines, for example; civil, structural, highway and transportation, railway and geotechnical. All of Transport Scotland’s engineers are predominantly involved in operational delivery but do feed into the wider policy development process.

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