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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.

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Question reference: S4W-24970

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Aileen McLeod on 25 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what unannounced inspections are carried out on fish farms.

Question reference: S4W-24747

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 19 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with (a) Ofgem and (b) the UK Government regarding the 2p-per-unit surcharge on SSE customers in the Highlands and Islands and, in light of its potential impact on fuel poverty in the region, what representations it has made to the UK to consider legislating to allow such charges to be removed.

I am aware that customers in the North of Scotland face some of the highest electricity prices in the country and I have long argued for greater fairness in the way network charges are applied.

I have raised this issue with the Chief Executive of Ofgem directly and written to the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change – urging them to do more to ensure the market works in the best interests of all consumers. Both Ofgem and the Department of Energy and Climate Change have committed to investigating the matter further but as yet this work has not been made public.

I have also asked the Competition and Markets Authority to address this issue as part of their current energy market investigation, highlighting concerns about the impact of the current arrangements for recovering the costs of delivering electricity on consumers and the apparent slow pace of progress in terms of Ofgem’s further investigation into the matter.

In February 2015, the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee recommended that Ofgem and the UK Government publish an analysis of the benefits and costs of a national network charge and the Scottish Government will continue to press for a timely, effective and equitable resolution for Scottish consumers.

Question reference: S4O-04178

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 March 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding the establishment of a spaceport.

Question reference: S4W-24765

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 13 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to develop a deep-water port and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

Question reference: S4W-24779

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 06 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 13 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take to reinstate the pathway extending between Forres and Brodie on the A96.

Question reference: S4W-24715

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 13 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government, in road collisions involving (a) vehicles and pedestrians and (b) cyclists and pedestrians in the last 12 months, in what percentage of cases the (i) driver, (ii) cyclist and (iii) pedestrian was at fault, broken down by local authority area.

No information is held on those at fault in injury road accidents.

However, information on contributory factors to road accidents is available from the police as part of the GB wide “STATS 19” road accident data collection. The data collection allows the reporting officer to include up to 6 pre-defined factors that give an indication of the circumstances that lead to the accident occurring based on information available at the time. The latest statistics available cover the year 2013.

Percentage of contributory factors in each category for accidents involving at least one motor vehicle and at least one pedestrian, by local authority, 2013

	Road Environment	Vehicle defects	Driver / Rider	Pedestrian	Special cases	other
Aberdeen City	1%	0%	28%	69%	1%	1%
Aberdeenshire	1%	0%	35%	63%	0%	0%
Angus	0%	0%	53%	44%	0%	3%
Argyll and Bute	0%	6%	44%	44%	0%	6%
Clackmannanshire	0%	0%	29%	67%	0%	5%
Dumfries and Galloway	5%	0%	24%	71%	0%	0%
Dundee City	1%	0%	29%	68%	0%	2%
East Ayrshire	0%	0%	15%	85%	0%	0%
East Dunbartonshire	6%	0%	48%	46%	0%	0%
East Lothian	0%	0%	40%	60%	0%	0%
East Renfrewshire	0%	0%	45%	55%	0%	0%
Edinburgh, City of	1%	0%	35%	61%	0%	2%
Eilean Siar	8%	0%	15%	77%	0%	0%
Falkirk	6%	0%	48%	44%	0%	2%
Fife	1%	1%	35%	62%	0%	0%
Glasgow City	2%	1%	31%	65%	0%	2%
Highland	0%	0%	40%	57%	1%	1%
Inverclyde	0%	0%	27%	73%	0%	0%
Midlothian	0%	0%	26%	74%	0%	0%
Moray	3%	0%	50%	48%	0%	0%
North Ayrshire	1%	1%	30%	62%	1%	4%
North Lanarkshire	1%	0%	33%	65%	1%	1%
Orkney Islands	0%	0%	71%	29%	0%	0%
Perth and Kinross	6%	0%	40%	53%	1%	0%
Renfrewshire	2%	1%	34%	59%	1%	2%
Scottish Borders	0%	0%	37%	60%	0%	3%
Shetland Islands	0%	0%	67%	33%	0%	0%
South Ayrshire	3%	0%	35%	62%	0%	0%
South Lanarkshire	5%	0%	26%	60%	7%	2%
Stirling	6%	2%	46%	42%	2%	2%
West Dunbartonshire	4%	0%	26%	68%	2%	0%
West Lothian	0%	0%	31%	65%	0%	4%
Scotland	2%	0%	34%	62%	1%	1%

Source: Reported Road Casualties Scotland 2013, Transport Scotland

Notes:

1. Based on 2,613 contributory factors from 1,297 reported injury road accidents that included at least one motor vehicle and at least one pedestrian, where an officer attended the accident.

2. Due to rounding, individual figures may not sum to 100.

3. Motor vehicle includes cars, goods vehicles, motor cycles and electric vehicles.

Percentage of contributory factors in each category for accidents involving at least one pedal cyclist and at least on pedestrian, by local authority, 2013

	Vehicle defects	Driver/Rider	Pedestrian
Aberdeen City	0%	100%	0%
East Ayrshire	0%	100%	0%
Edinburgh, City of	0%	0%	100%
Fife	0%	0%	100%
Glasgow City	20%	60%	20%
Highland	0%	100%	0%
North Lanarkshire	0%	75%	25%
Scotland	6%	65%	29%

Source: Reported Road Casualties Scotland 2013, Transport Scotland

Notes:

1. Based on 17 contributory factors from 17 reported injury road accidents that included at least one pedal cyclist and at least one pedestrian, where an officer attended the accident.

2. Only authority areas where at least one accident occurred involving a pedal cyclist and pedestrian are included.

3. Due to small numbers involved percentages may be subject to relatively large variation.

Question reference: S4W-24714

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 13 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many road collisions took place in each local authority area in the last 12 months involving a (a) motor vehicle and a cyclist and (b) cyclist and a pedestrian.

Reported road casualties Scotland provides information on injury road accidents reported to the police. The latest statistics available cover the year 2013.

The following table shows the number of injury road accidents involving motor vehicles and cyclists and cyclists and pedestrians by local authority area for 2013. The numbers for accidents involving cyclists and pedestrians are small and should be treated with caution when making any comparisons.

Number of injury road accidents by local authority, 2013

	At least one motor vehicle and at least one cyclist	At least one cyclist and at least one pedestrian
Aberdeen City	46	1
Aberdeenshire	16	0
Angus	10	0
Argyll and Bute	8	0
Clackmannanshire	16	0
Dumfries and Galloway	10	0
Dundee City	25	0
East Ayrshire	13	1
East Dunbartonshire	6	0
East Lothian	18	0
East Renfrewshire	13	1
Edinburgh, City of	228	7
Eilean Siar	0	0
Falkirk	24	0
Fife	59	1
Glasgow City	130	4
Highland	24	2
Inverclyde	8	0
Midlothian	7	0
Moray	7	0
North Ayrshire	15	0
North Lanarkshire	29	4
Orkney Islands	2	0
Perth and Kinross	14	0
Renfrewshire	21	0
Scottish Borders	9	0
Shetland	0	0
South Ayrshire	16	0
South Lanarkshire	27	0
Stirling	18	0
West Dunbartonshire	12	0
West Lothian	21	0
Total	852	21

Source: Reported Road Casualties Scotland 2013, Transport Scotland

Note: Motor vehicle includes cars, goods vehicles, motor cycles and electric vehicles.

Question reference: S4W-24680

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 6 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what actions it plans to promote greater use of Freight Facilities Grants.

We will continue to promote all our freight mode-shift grant schemes, including Freight Facilities Grants, through regular engagement with the road, rail and waterborne freight industries and their representative bodies. This will be achieved through information on the Transport Scotland website, emails to a large database of stakeholders and direct contact with potential applicants.

We focus promotion of our freight mode-shift grant schemes on the freight industry as it is best placed to identify where rail and waterborne freight solutions offer a practical alternative to road and then promote these to potential customers.

Question reference: S4W-24678

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 6 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications there have been to the Mode Shift Revenue Support Scheme for (a) rail and (b) sea freight in each year since 2011 and how many were awarded.

Mode Shift Revenue Support applications and awards since 2011.

Applications¹

Year

Rail

Scotland only services²

Scotland-England cross-border services³

Inland Waterways⁴

2011	3	9	1
2012	3	13	1
2013	2	9	0
2014	2	9	0
2015	2	8	0

Awards¹

Year

Rail

Scotland only services

Scotland-England cross-border services

Inland Waterways

2011	3	9	1
2012	3	13	1
2013	2	9	0
2014	2	9	0
2015	2	8	0

Notes:

1. Awards of Mode Shift Revenue Support (MSRS) are made for a maximum period of one financial year, with annual application required.

2. Scotland-only services are administered and funded by the Scottish Government.

3. Scotland-England cross-border services are administered by either the Scottish Government or the UK Government depending on which country the majority of environmental benefits of services are generated. These services are funded jointly by the Scottish Government and the UK Government with contributions based on the share of environmental benefits generated in Scotland and England.

4. MSRS is available to rail and inland waterways movements only.

Question reference: S4W-24679

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 6 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications there have been for a Waterborne Freight Grant in each year since 2011 and how many were awarded.