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 1074 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S3W-35321

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 July 2010
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 6 August 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to take forward its Designing Streets initiative.

Question reference: S3W-35320

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 July 2010
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 6 August 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been spent on its Designing Streets initiative, broken down by item of expenditure.

Question reference: S3W-35174

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 July 2010
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 6 August 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what the customer satisfaction rates for Scottish Water have been in each year since its inception, also broken down by local authority area.

The Scottish Government does not hold this data centrally. However, based on the overall performance measure, which covers a range of customer service measures, Scottish Water''s performance has improved dramatically since 2006. Scottish Water''s Annual Reports show that there has been an 80% improvement from 162 points in 2006 to 291 points by 2010 and that the customer satisfaction rate, which is measured independently twice a year, has increased to 82% by the end of 2009-10, an all time high in customers'' satisfaction with the outcome of their contact. More detailed information about Scottish Waters performance, including customer satisfaction rates, is available from Scottish Water and I have asked the chief executive to reply to you directly.

Question reference: S3W-34928

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 June 2010
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 4 August 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) reported accidents, (b) injuries and (c) fatalities there have been on the roads in each year since 1997, also broken down by road.

The following table shows a summary of the information requested. A detailed breakdown of these categories by road can be found in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 51328).

Reported Road Accidents and Casualties Killed or Injured on Scottish Roads Since 1997

	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002
Accidents	16,646	16,519	15,415	15,131	14,723	14,343
All Casualties*	22,629	22,467	21,002	20,517	19,910	19,275
Fatalities	377	385	310	326	348	304

	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
Accidents	13,918	13,919	13,438	13,110	12,506	12,158	11,538
All Casualties	18,757	18,502	17,885	17,269	16,238	15,590	15,014
Fatalities	336	308	286	314	281	270	216

Note * including fatalities

Question reference: S3W-34929

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 June 2010
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 4 August 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many cyclists have been (a) involved in reported accidents, (b) injured and (c) killed on the roads in each year since 1997, also broken down by road.

The following table shows a summary of the information requested. A detailed breakdown of these categories by road can be found in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 51329).

Pedal Cyclists Involved, Killed or Injured in Reported Road Accidents on Scottish Roads Since 1997

	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002
Involved in Accidents	1,309	1,167	1,062	900	942	852
All Casualties*	1,272	1,140	1,017	884	916	828
Fatalities	9	13	8	12	10	8

	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
Involved in Accidents	840	794	808	801	740	768	822
All Casualties*	802	776	781	781	714	730	804
Fatalities	14	7	16	10	4	9	5

Note * including fatalities

Question reference: S3W-35175

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 July 2010
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 2 August 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have become ill as a result of drinking tap water in each year since 1997.

Question reference: S3W-35176

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 July 2010
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 2 August 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what tests are undertaken to establish the safety of drinking water and what the outcomes of these tests have been in each year since 1997, also broken down by local authority area.

The Water Supply (Water Quality) (Scotland) Regulations 2001 set out the standards and testing frequencies for 51 different parameters to establish the safety of public drinking water supplies. Additional sampling is also undertaken for cryptosporidium.

There are similar requirements for private water supplies, which serve approximately 3% of the population, and these are set out in the Private Water Supplies (Scotland) Regulations 2006.

Both the public and private water supply regulations are publicly available on the OPSI website at http://www.opsi.gov.uk/legislation/scotland/ssi2001/20010207.htm and http://www.opsi.gov.uk/legislation/scotland/ssi2006/20060209.htm respectively.

A summary of all water quality results is published each year by the Drinking Water Quality Regulator for Scotland in the Drinking Water Quality in Scotland series of publications. Copies are available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre, and Bib. numbers are listed in the following table:

	Bib. Number
Drinking water quality in Scotland 1997	19165
Drinking water quality in Scotland 1998	19163
Drinking water quality in Scotland 1999	17148
Drinking water quality in Scotland 2000	20065
Drinking water quality in Scotland 2001	26009
Drinking water quality in Scotland 2002	31063
Drinking water quality in Scotland 2003	34052
Drinking water quality in Scotland 2004	37158
Drinking water quality in Scotland 2005	40187
Drinking water quality in Scotland 2006	43430
Drinking water quality in Scotland 2007	46426
Drinking water quality in Scotland 2008	51377

Prior to 2002, the data is not broken down by local authority, but by water authority area.

Question reference: S3W-35203

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 July 2010
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 30 July 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many train drivers have been breathalysed and, of those, how many were found to be over the legal drink-drive limit in each year since 1997, also expressed as a proportion of total tests undertaken.

Data on the number of train drivers who have been breathalysed, and the number of those who were found to be over the legal drink-drive limit is not available centrally.

The information provided by the police refers to the number of cases recorded where an individual endangers rail passengers. This offence includes, but is not restricted to, driving a train while unfit through drink or drugs. Because there are several different preliminary tests (preliminary breath test, preliminary impairment test, and preliminary drug test), and the police officer involved may administer any one or more of these, the number of such incidents does not relate directly to the number of times that a breathalyser test has been carried out. Furthermore, the data is collected at an aggregate level, so details of individual crimes, such as the occupation of the individual, are not available.

Section 27 of the Transport and Works Act 1992 makes it an offence to drive (or guard or signal) a train, tram or other guided vehicle either when unfit through drink or drugs or when the quantity of drink or drugs exceeds the prescribed limit. Section 38 sets out the prescribed limit which is the same as the one for road vehicle drivers.

The tables below show the number of offences of endangering rail passengers recorded by the police by local authority since 1997-98.

(i) 1997-98 to 2002-03

Local Authority Area	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03
Aberdeen City	-	-	-	-	-	-
Aberdeenshire	-	-	-	-	-	-
Angus	-	-	-	-	-	-
Argyll and Bute	-	-	-	-	-	-
Clackmannanshire	-	-	-	-	-	-
Dumfries and Galloway	-	-	-	-	-	-
Dundee City	-	-	-	-	-	-
East Ayrshire	-	-	-	-	-	-
East Dunbartonshire	-	-	-	-	-	-
East Lothian	-	-	-	-	-	-
East Renfrewshire	-	-	-	-	-	-
Edinburgh City	-	-	-	-	-	-
Eilean Siar (W.Isles)	-	-	-	-	-	-
Falkirk	-	-	-	-	-	-
Fife	-	-	-	-	-	-
Glasgow City	-	-	-	-	-	-
Highland	-	-	-	-	-	-
Inverclyde	-	-	-	-	-	-
Midlothian	-	-	-	-	-	-
Moray	-	-	-	-	-	-
North Ayrshire	-	-	-	-	-	-
North Lanarkshire	-	-	-	-	-	-
OrkneyIslands	-	-	-	-	-	-
Perth and Kinross	-	-	-	-	-	-
Renfrewshire	-	-	-	-	-	-
Scottish Borders	-	-	-	-	-	-
Shetland Islands	-	-	-	-	-	-
South Ayrshire	-	-	-	-	-	-
South Lanarkshire	-	-	-	-	-	-
Stirling	-	-	-	-	-	-
West Dunbartonshire	-	-	-	-	-	-
West Lothian	-	-	-	-	-	-
British Transport Police¹	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Scotland	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

(ii) 2003-04 to 2008-09

Local Authority Area	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09
Aberdeen City	-	-	-	-	-	1
Aberdeenshire	-	-	-	-	-	-
Angus	-	-	-	-	-	-
Argyll and Bute	-	-	-	-	-	-
Clackmannanshire	-	-	-	-	-	-
Dumfries and Galloway	-	-	-	-	-	-
Dundee City	-	-	-	-	-	-
East Ayrshire	-	-	-	-	-	-
East Dunbartonshire	-	-	-	-	-	-
East Lothian	-	-	-	-	-	-
East Renfrewshire	-	-	-	-	-	-
Edinburgh City	-	-	-	-	-	-
Eilean Siar (W.Isles)	-	-	-	-	-	-
Falkirk	-	-	-	-	-	-
Fife	-	-	-	-	-	-
Glasgow City	-	-	-	-	-	-
Highland	-	-	-	-	-	-
Inverclyde	-	-	-	-	-	-
Midlothian	-	-	-	-	-	-
Moray	-	-	-	-	-	-
North Ayrshire	-	-	-	-	-	-
North Lanarkshire	-	-	-	-	-	-
OrkneyIslands	-	-	-	-	-	-
Perth and Kinross	-	-	-	-	-	-
Renfrewshire	-	-	-	-	-	-
Scottish Borders	-	-	-	-	-	-
Shetland Islands	-	-	-	-	-	-
South Ayrshire	-	-	-	-	-	-
South Lanarkshire	-	-	-	-	-	-
Stirling	-	-	-	-	-	-
West Dunbartonshire	-	-	-	-	-	-
West Lothian	-	-	-	-	-	-
British Transport Police¹	N/A	N/A	N/A	62	45	29
Scotland	N/A	N/A	N/A	62	45	30

Notes:

1. The British Transport Police figures can be provided only at Scotland level. Prior to April 2006 figures for specific offences were not held centrally.

N/A = Not available.

- = zero.

Question reference: S3W-34984

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 June 2010
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 30 July 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what it anticipates the total cost of the Borders railway project will be and how much it plans to contribute to the scheme in each year between now and the estimated date of completion..

As I stated to the Parliament on 5 March 2008, the Borders Railway is expected to cost between £235 million and £295 million (at 2012 prices).

The Borders Railway will be designed, built, financed and maintained by a newly created, Transport Scotland-backed single purpose vehicle (SPV), using a design, build, finance and maintenance contract. The SPV will enter into a contract with Transport Scotland for the delivery and maintenance of the Borders Railway over a 30 year period. Repayments will be made throughout the 30 year duration by the Scottish Government via a not for profit distributing procurement model via an annual unitary charge.

Transport Scotland provides the initial capital required to purchase the land and undertake required early activities. The Transport Scotland budget for these activities, broken down on a year by year basis up to the date of construction completion in 2014, is shown in the table below:

Financial Year	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	Total
Cost (£ million)	28.072	9.446	7.714	7.387	6.424	6.363	2.090	67.497

Question reference: S3W-35202

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 July 2010
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 29 July 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many bus or coach drivers have been breathalysed and, of those, how many were found to be over the legal drink-drive limit in each year since 1997, also expressed as a proportion of total tests undertaken and broken down by local authority area.

Data on the number of bus or coach drivers who have been breathalysed, and the number of those who were found to be over the legal drink-drive limit is not available centrally.

The information provided by the police refers to the number of cases recorded where an individual is in charge of a motor vehicle while unfit through drink or drugs, or has failed to provide a specimen for testing. Because there are several different preliminary tests (preliminary breath test, preliminary impairment test, and preliminary drug test), and the police officer involved may administer any one or more of these, the number of such incidents does not relate directly to the number of times that a breathalyser test has been carried out. Furthermore, the data is collected at an aggregate level, so details of individual crimes, such as the occupation of the individual, are not available.

I also refer the member to the answer to question S3W-35201 on 29 July 2010. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

Policy development	£99,875
Design and publication costs	£12,742
Management, web conversion, cataloguing and indexing	£1,251