- Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2015
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Current Status:
Answered by Derek Mackay on 6 March 2015
To ask the Scottish Government how many applications there have been for a Freight Facilities Grant for (a) rail and (b) sea freight in each year since 2011 and how many were awarded.
Answer
Freight Facilities Grant applications and awards since 2011.
| Year | Rail | Coastal Shipping | Rail | Coastal Shipping |
| 2011 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 2012 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2013 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2014 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2015 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
- Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 March 2015
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 12 March 2015
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with NHS Western Isles about the Well North and Keep Well programmes.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 12 March 2015
- Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 February 2015
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Current Status:
Answered by Derek Mackay on 4 March 2015
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce the amount of freight transported on Highland roads.
Answer
We operate four freight mode shift grant schemes which enable the transfer of freight from road to rail or water where road is the cheaper option. Since 2007 we have invested over £6.9 million in shipping and rail projects in the Highlands which have already removed over 11 million lorry miles from Scotland’s roads. The most recent award of grant was made in August 2014. This award of Waterborne Freight Grant of £959,773 to Boyd Brothers enabled the launch of a new shipping service between Corpach and Tilbury in London transporting sawn-timber from BSW’s Kilmallie sawmill by sea rather than road.
Forestry Commission Scotland’s Strategic Timber Transport Fund supports the sustainable transport of timber in rural areas of Scotland. In the Highlands to date 24 projects have been awarded a total of over £3.6 million in grant support including four which have directly contributed to the reduction of timber lorries on public roads.
As part of our £3 billion of capital investment programme in rail to 2019, work will take place to deliver enhancements on the Highland Main Line and Aberdeen to Inverness Line, which will benefit both passenger and freight services by improving journey times, frequency and capacity. In addition, a £30 million Scottish Strategic Rail Freight Investment Fund has been made available over and above the funding for the rail network which will provide targeted investment to help grow the rail freight market in Scotland.
Taken together, these initiatives will continue to encourage the transfer of freight from road to rail and water throughout Scotland and support our vision for a greener and more efficient transport network.
- Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 February 2015
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Current Status:
Answered by Derek Mackay on 4 March 2015
To ask the Scottish Government what the best improvement to journey times is, expressed in minutes, that ScotRail has achieved in both directions for its (a) Inverness to Glasgow/Edinburgh, (b) Aberdeen to Edinburgh/Glasgow, (c) Perth to Inverness and (d) Edinburgh to Glasgow passenger services in the last three years.
Answer
Best improvement to journey times in the last three years taken from ScotRail (December 2011 v December 2014 timetables) – does not include other operator services.
(a) Inverness to Glasgow/Edinburgh
| Origin | Destination | Service departure | Improvement (min) |
| Inverness | Glasgow | 12:45 (Sunday) | 10 |
| Inverness | Edinburgh | 12:53 | 4 |
| Glasgow | Inverness | 18:11 | 17 |
| Edinburgh | Inverness | 13:56 (Sunday) | 16 |
(b) Aberdeen to Edinburgh/Glasgow
| Origin | Destination | Service departure | Improvement (min) |
| Aberdeen | Glasgow | 13:31 (Sunday) | 21 |
| Aberdeen | Edinburgh | 20:09 | 2 |
| Glasgow | Aberdeen | 09:37 (Sunday) | 7 |
| Edinburgh | Aberdeen | 16:28 | 2 |
(c) Perth to Inverness
| Origin | Destination | Service departure | Improvement (min) |
| Perth | Inverness | 10:51 (Sunday) | 16 |
| Inverness | Perth | 12:45 (Sunday) | 11 |
(d) Edinburgh to Glasgow
| Origin | Destination | Service departure | Improvement (min) |
| Edinburgh | Glasgow | 10:00 (Sunday) | 6 |
| Glasgow | Edinburgh | 08:30 (Sunday) | 5 |
- Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 February 2015
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Current Status:
Answered by Derek Mackay on 4 March 2015
To ask the Scottish Government what average improvement in journey times, expressed in minutes, ScotRail has achieved in both directions for its (a) Inverness to Glasgow/Edinburgh, (b) Aberdeen to Edinburgh/Glasgow, (c) Perth to Inverness and (d) Edinburgh to Glasgow services in the last three years, also broken down by (i) weekday peak time, (ii) weekday off-peak and (iii) weekend service.
Answer
Average minutes improvements to journey times in the last three years taken from ScotRail (December 2011 v December 2014 timetables) – does not include other operator services.
(a) Inverness to Glasgow/Edinburgh
| Origin | Destination | (i) weekday peak (min) | (ii) weekday off-peak (min) | (iii) weekend service (Sunday) (min) |
| Inverness | Glasgow | 8 | Nil | 5 |
| Inverness | Edinburgh | Nil | Nil | 4 |
| Glasgow | Inverness | Nil | 5 | 1 |
| Edinburgh | Inverness | Nil | 6 | 8 |
(b) Aberdeen to Edinburgh/Glasgow
| Origin | Destination | (i) weekday peak (min) | (ii) weekday off-peak (min) | (iii) weekend service (Sunday) (min) |
| Aberdeen | Glasgow | Nil | Nil | 3 |
| Aberdeen | Edinburgh | Nil | Nil | Nil |
| Glasgow | Aberdeen | Nil | Nil | 1 |
| Edinburgh | Aberdeen | Nil | 4 | Nil |
(c) Perth to Inverness
| Origin | Destination | (i) weekday peak (min) | (ii) weekday off-peak (min) | (iii) weekend service (Sunday) (min) |
| Perth | Inverness | 11 | 6 | 8 |
| Inverness | Perth | 3 | Nil | 3 |
(d) Edinburgh to Glasgow
| Origin | Destination | (i) weekday peak (min) | (ii) weekday off-peak (min) | (iii) weekend service (Sunday) (min) |
| Edinburgh | Glasgow | Nil | Nil | 1 |
| Glasgow | Edinburgh | Nil | Nil | 1 |
- Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 February 2015
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Current Status:
Answered by Derek Mackay on 4 March 2015
To ask the Scottish Government what the average journey time is, expressed in minutes, in both directions for the (a) Inverness to Glasgow/Edinburgh, (b) Aberdeen to Edinburgh/Glasgow, (c) Perth to Inverness and (d) Edinburgh to Glasgow passenger rail service.
Answer
Average journey times taken from the current ScotRail (December 2014) timetable – does not include other operator services:
(a) Inverness to Glasgow/Edinburgh
| Origin | Destination | Weekdays (min) | Sundays (min) |
| Inverness | Glasgow | 203 | 195 |
| Inverness | Edinburgh | 212 | 199 |
| Glasgow | Inverness | 195 | 195 |
| Edinburgh | Inverness | 205 | 205 |
(b) Aberdeen to Edinburgh/Glasgow
| Origin | Destination | Weekdays (min) | Sundays (min) |
| Aberdeen | Glasgow | 159 | 163 |
| Aberdeen | Edinburgh | 151 | 151 |
| Glasgow | Aberdeen | 160 | 161 |
| Edinburgh | Aberdeen | 146 | 155 |
(c) Perth to Inverness
| Origin | Destination | Weekdays (min) | Sundays (min) |
| Perth | Inverness | 128 | 127 |
| Inverness | Perth | 133 | 127 |
(d) Edinburgh to Glasgow
| Origin | Destination | Weekdays (min) | Sundays (min) |
| Edinburgh | Glasgow | 52 | 52 |
| Glasgow | Edinburgh | 52 | 52 |
- Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 February 2015
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Current Status:
Answered by Derek Mackay on 4 March 2015
To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with Network Rail and the Highlands and Islands Transport Partnership (HITRANS) about increasing the amount of double track in the Highland rail network.
Answer
Transport Scotland has regular meetings with Network Rail to take forward phase two of the Highland Main Line improvements and phase one of the Aberdeen to Inverness improvements projects. Transport Scotland also has regular meetings with the Highlands and Islands Transport Partnership to discuss their proposals and priorities for enhancing the Highland rail network.
- Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 February 2015
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Current Status:
Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 26 February 2015
To ask the Scottish Government what the funding arrangements are for the Scottish Driving Assessment Service.
Answer
Based on total service costs, NHS Lothian will seek reimbursement for the driving assessment service from each health board from 1 April 2015.
- Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 February 2015
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Current Status:
Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 26 February 2015
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on reintroducing the mobile Scottish Driving Assessment Service.
Answer
The recommendation to provide the service from a single site was made by the NHS board directors of planning which was subsequently agreed by the NHS board chief executives.
Scottish Government has requested that NHS Lothian undertake a review of the single site to measure performance, service delivery and patient experience. We expect the review to be completed in autumn 2015.
- Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 February 2015
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Current Status:
Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 26 February 2015
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it has stopped the joint funding for the Scottish Driving Assessment Service (SDAS), and in light of the only SDAS centre being located in Edinburgh, what support it will provide to people from remote areas who need to be assessed.
Answer
Scottish Government funding for the driving assessment service was historically based on grant funding that was always intended to cease when the boards took ownership for the service.
Under the Patient Travel Scheme, financial assistance is provided to those in receipt of certain DWP benefits, or those on a low income. A separate Highlands and Islands Patient Travel Scheme operates in the Highland and Islands area, where those patients who are required to travel 30 miles or more to hospital may claim repayment of travelling expenses.
NHS boards have the discretion to help with the travel costs of patients who do not otherwise qualify for help under the patient travel scheme, but where those costs are deemed to be an extension of the cost of treatment.
