Seòmar agus comataidhean

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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Criathragan Hide all filters

Displaying 2224 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S4W-29554

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 January 2016
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 9 February 2016

To ask the Scottish Government when work will begin on dualling the single track stretch of the East Coast railway line at Montrose, and when it will be completed.

Question reference: S4W-29552

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 January 2016
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 9 February 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how much it will spend on dualling the single track stretch of the East Coast railway line at Montrose in each of the next three years.

In addition to its support to the Aberdeen City Region Deal, the Scottish Government is committing an additional £200 million to increase line speeds and remove major capacity constraints along key sections of the route between Aberdeen and Dundee, including options for double tracking of Usan Junction and the South Esk Viaduct at Montrose. The additional funds will be invested over the same time period as the City Region Deal.

Question reference: S4W-29557

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 January 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 9 February 2016

To ask the Scottish Government when work will begin on the extension of the digital infrastructure in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, and when it will be completed.

Question reference: S4W-29553

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 January 2016
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 9 February 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how much it will spend on improvements to the A90/A937 south junction at Laurencekirk in each of the next three years.

Question reference: S4W-29561

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 29 January 2016
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 9 February 2016

Question reference: S4W-29555

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 January 2016
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 9 February 2016

To ask the Scottish Government when work will begin on improvements to the A90/A937 south junction at Laurencekirk, and when it will be completed.

Question reference: S4W-29559

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 January 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 5 February 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of its contribution to the Aberdeen City region deal, including (a) how much it will spend on each project and (b) in which years the spending will take place.

The Scottish and UK Governments are committed to jointly investing up to £250 million on a 50:50 basis over the next 10 years to support innovation, digital connectivity, the expansion of Aberdeen Harbour and transport projects. The Scottish Government will work with the UK Government and Aberdeen City region local partners to develop and refine proposals over the coming weeks and months. Funding will be made available when all parties agree robust detailed business cases and implementation plans. These will set out the spending profiles.

In addition the Scottish Government has committed to investing over the same time span as the City region deal, an additional £254 million in the North East’s infrastructure to help deliver better transport links, more affordable housing and better digital connectivity. We believe this will help deliver a more significant step change to the North East economy.

Question reference: S4O-05546

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 February 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 February 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many jobs in Scotland it estimates have been lost as a result of the downturn in the oil and gas industry.

Question reference: S4O-05529

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 January 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 February 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it expects to deliver the commitment that it made on 30 April 2014 that four specialist major trauma centres will be operational from 2016.

Question reference: S4W-29276

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 January 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 26 January 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-28956 by Shona Robison on 6 January 2016, if none of the additional £41.6 million being spent on the procurement of the new IT system is as a result of the system failure in October 2015, (a) what the reason is for the additional expenditure and (b) whether it will provide a breakdown of what the additional money is being spent on.

The delay of the implementation of the Future Programme from the original business case until October 2015 cost an additional £41.6 million which is broken down as follows:

Double running of legacy and new system	£11.7 million
Contract costs	£14.3 million
Implementation costs	£8 million
Scope and re-design costs	£7.6 million
Total additional costs	£41.6 million

The delay from October 2015 until the summer of 2016 will add a further £7.6 million of costs to the project. The main reasons for this further increase is additional double running costs and the costs associated with preparing for the 2016 re-launch.