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Personal injury accidents occurred at the following time periods at A90 Toll of Birness between 1 January 2014 and 4 May 2024. Transport Scotland only holds accident information which is provided to us by Police Scotland. Transport Scotland does not hold information relating accidents or incidents not involving an injury.

The Scottish Government does not collate data on dog attacks broken down by local authority area.

However, Public Health Scotland collects data provided by NHS Health Boards on the number of inpatient and day case admissions to hospital where a diagnosis of dog attack (bite or strike) was recorded.

I would refer you to the answer given to question S6W-24486 on 24 January 2024 for the available data from 2004 to 2022.

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 .

There are powers available under a range of legislation that can be used depending on the specific situation. This is ultimately a matter for those involved in enforcing the law to decide based on the facts and circumstances of each individual case.

However, a dog that attacks and injures someone faces being seized, and could ultimately be destroyed. For example, where a dog owner has been found guilty of possessing a dangerously out of control dog under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991, the court has a range of options available to it when sentencing. This includes imposing a destruction order in relation to the dog in question. These are matters for the independent court to decide upon in any given case.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on whether dogs involved in incidents were wearing a harness or lead at the time of the incident.

There are various research papers that that can be found online that are relevant in this area. This includes : Dog Pulling on the Leash: Effects of Restraint by a Neck Collar vs. a Chest Harness - PMC (nih.gov) .

In addition, there are papers on the behavioural and biomechanical effects of using harnesses from a welfare perspective, for instance: Effect of harness design on the biomechanics of domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) — SRUC, Scotland's Rural College

This is an operational matter for ScotRail. The member may wish to contact ScotRail directly.

The Scottish Government High Level Output Specification for Network Rail required Network Rail to develop a Scottish signalling strategy. This work considered the costs and benefits of ETCS carefully, but did not recommend immediate adoption in Scotland.

The ScotRail rolling stock procurement plan has not been paused.

The Rail Services Decarbonisation Action Plan, which was published in July 2020 is currently being refreshed which will include consideration of the timescales for removal of ScotRail diesel stock.

No orders were placed in 2023 for a new fleet of Suburban electric and battery multiple units.

Plans for the procurement of a new fleet of EMU and BEMU Suburban trains are ongoing.

The movement of freight is a commercial matter and the Scottish Government’s leadership in support for rail freight is outlined in our 2016 rail freight strategy, and put into practice with significant investment, a freight-first approach, and through our regulatory rail freight growth targets. The 2020 timber by rail trial in the Far North of Scotland proved the concept and provided lessons for the industry on the Scottish timber market, rolling stock/wagon capability and availability, operational considerations and the finances/economics of moving timber by rail. It is for the industry to lead on any follow up activities and Network Rail remains engaged with the industry through the Scotland Freight Joint Board and works with Freight Operating Companies and Freight End Users to enable modal shift to rail.