- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 22 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many road surface repairs have been conducted on the A90 in each of the last five years, broken down by location.
Answer
Over the last 5 full financial years there has been the following number of surface repairs on the A90 trunk road:
Financial Year | No. of Road Surface Repairs |
2019-20 | 423 |
2020-21 | 674 |
2021-22 | 607 |
2022-23 | 693 |
2023-24 | 847 |
For location details please see information which has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre under Bib. No. 65602.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 22 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many lay-bys and rest areas are located along the A90, and what plans there are to expand these facilities.
Answer
There are 241 laybys on the A90 trunk road (including bus stops). There are currently no plans to expand these facilities at this time.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 22 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how the role of justices of the peace contributes to the overall efficiency of the justice system.
Answer
Justice of the peace courts deal with less serious summary crimes such as speeding, careless driving and breach of the peace. Being a Justice of the Peace is a voluntary role that is filled by lay people from within the local community who receive training in criminal law and procedure. They are assisted by lawyers who can provide advice on the law and procedure.
These courts help improve the overall efficiency of the justice system as they reduce the number of cases that need to be considered at Summary Sheriff level (the next most senior court). Justice of the Peace cases are also less expensive to run than Summary Sheriff cases saving public money which can be spent elsewhere in the justice system. Additionally, by hearing less serious criminal cases in a Justice of the Peace Court this helps prevent backlogs in the Sheriff courts.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 22 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how it evaluates the economic impact of projects funded by Transport Scotland.
Answer
Evaluation is essential to the work of Transport Scotland to assess whether policies and interventions are being delivered as intended, and to help identify ways to improve them.
Monitoring and evaluation typically use a mixture of qualitative and quantitative methodologies to gather evidence and understand different aspects of an intervention’s operation, including economic impacts. These will vary and will be tailored to ensure measurement against the specific objectives of each project as opposed to adopting a singular approach.
In setting the criteria for evaluation, in addition to the particular objectives of the project, Transport Scotland refers to a range of published guidance which includes specific guidance on assessing economic impacts. This includes UK Government guidance on evaluation design and Transport Scotland guidance on evaluation of road and rail projects. These resources are publicly available on the UK and Scottish Government websites respectively.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 22 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how much employment has been generated by Transport Scotland-funded projects in each of the last five years.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-33099 on 22 January 2025. 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: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 22 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many street lamps are installed along each stretch of the A90, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
There is a total of 2,297 street lights on the A90 broken down by local authority area as follows:
Aberdeenshire Council - 637
Aberdeen City Council - 154
Angus Council - 405
Dundee City Council - 474
Edinburgh City Council - 411
Fife Council - 41
Perth & Kinross Council - 175
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 22 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its policy is on the disposal by Police
Scotland of unexploded ordnance found in coastal waters, and what discussions
it has had with (a) SEPA, (b) the Ministry of Defence and (c) other
stakeholders on this matter.
Answer
The disposal of unexploded ordnance is an operational matter for Police Scotland.
Unless unexploded ordnance causes a civil contingencies emergency in Scotland that requires co-ordination on a national level, such incidents are not handled through any Scottish or UK Government mechanisms. Consequently, discussions have not taken place with SEPA, the Ministry of Defence or other stakeholders on this matter. In the highly unlikely event of this threshold being met, the Scottish Government Resilience Room (SGORR) would activate to co-ordinate the Scottish Government’s response to the incident, including by liaising closely with the Ministry of Defence and any other relevant stakeholders.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 22 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how it works with (a) the Ministry of Defence and (b) other UK Government departments in responding to unexploded ordnance.
Answer
Incidents relating to unexploded ordnance are Police operational matters. Unless unexploded ordnance causes a civil contingencies emergency in Scotland that requires co-ordination on a national level, such incidents are not handled through any Scottish or UK Government mechanisms. In the highly unlikely event of this threshold being met, the Scottish Government Resilience Room (SGORR) would activate to co-ordinate the Scottish Government’s response to the incident, including by liaising closely with the Ministry of Defence and any other relevant UK Government departments.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 22 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how it is collaborating with the UK Government to address any gaps in spectrum availability for any rural and underserved communities in Scotland.
Answer
Spectrum allocation and management, as with all aspects of telecommunications policy, is a reserved matter and one in which the Scottish Government has no formal role.
Scottish Government has regular engagement with UK Government and Ofcom on spectrum issues, focusing in particular on how this impacts the availability of mobile and wireless services across Scotland.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 22 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how it is working with British Transport Police to address theft from railway lines and depots in Aberdeen.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-33028 on 22 January 2025. 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