Questions and answers

Chamber and committees

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 ��˿�� 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: S6W-08242

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 12 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its work to minimise disruption on the A83 at the Rest and Be Thankful.

The Scottish Government remains committed to an infrastructure solution to address the A83 Rest and Be Thankful landslip risks.

Work continues on the design of the long term options along with data gathering. The Government recently awarded a £1.8 million ground investigation works contract to best inform the design process and are working towards announcing a preferred route for a long term solution in 2023.

At the same time work is also progressing on the medium term resilient route and with formal proposals scheduled for late 2022.

In terms of short term measures since August 2020, Engineers have installed various landslide mitigation measures including drainage improvements, debris fences, a catch pit and material barriers. The mitigation has been augmented by the construction of a 175m long, 6m high debris bund, which further protects the Old Military Road. As a result of the major landslides in August and September 2020, and to mitigate a similar event from recurring, a further catch pit is being formed to be completed in summer 2022.

The catch pits and fences are designed to ‘capture’ debris material from a landslip and prevent it from reaching the road. To reduce disruption while keeping all road users and roadworkers safe, temporary traffic light system has replaced the convoy operations on the A83 and now remain in operation. A convoy system is only used, where ground readings or heavy rain forecasts would determine such requirement.

The protection afforded by these measures has meant that the A83 and the Old Military Road local diversion have been able to remain in operation for all but eight occasions during 2021 and 2022 to date, meaning traffic did not have to use the longer diversion via Inveraray and Crianlarich.

Question reference: S6W-08241

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 12 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will outline the circumstances in which a Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance (STAG) appraisal must take place.

As set out in the , an appraisal using Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance (STAG) is required whenever Scottish Government funding, support or approval is needed to change the transport system. It may also offer a suitable framework for other funders.

STAG is applicable to all transport interventions. Option generation as part of STAG should be unconstrained and should fully reflect the range of multi-modal options available. Typically, the STAG process is not used for developing and comparing alternative designs for the same mode-specific option, for example alternative corridors for a new road project, however the principles for appraisal and evaluation are similar and the basis of determining socio-economic impacts derive from

A transport appraisal in accordance with STAG aligns with the Strategic Business Case (SBC) stage, the initial stage of business case development in line with Transport Scotland’s , where a decision is taken to progress any option to the next stage.

Certain transport options which emerge from the STAG process may then require further consideration using mode-specific guidance at the next stages of business case development, for example:

Project Acceleration in a Controlled Environment (PACE) – for rail projects; and
Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB) – for roads schemes.

STAG is not usually adopted when considering maintenance issues of an existing asset which will not significantly change or affect the operation of the transport system.

Question reference: S6W-08240

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 12 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason a Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance (STAG) appraisal of proposed enhancements to the A82 between Tarbert and Inverarnan has reportedly not been undertaken.

Question reference: S6W-07866

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 3 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-06190 by Jenny Gilruth on 4 March 2022, whether it will provide updated figures on how many young people have now received a free bus pass through the Young Persons’ (Under 22s) Free Bus Travel scheme, broken down by local authority, based on the latest information available.

The following table shows the number of cards produced for the Young Persons Scheme (YPS) by close of business 25 April 2022, broken down to local authority level. This information was supplied by the National Entitlement Card Programme Office (NECPO). NECPO support the 32 local authorities by assisting with the integration of various national and local public services on the National Entitlement Card (NEC) and are the joint controller with local authorities of this data. Please note this data might include a small number of cards produced without the travel product.

Aberdeen City	15,249
Aberdeenshire	14,750
Angus Council	3,878
Argyll and Bute	3,046
City of Edinburgh	42,142
Clackmannanshire	1,683
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar	677
Dumfries and Galloway	4,763
Dundee City	14,151
East Ayrshire	9,574
East Dunbartonshire	4,146
East Lothian	7,761
East Renfrewshire	5,013
Falkirk	5,240
Fife	23,938
Glasgow City	25,066
Highland	8,178
Inverclyde	10,966
Midlothian	5,321
Moray	4,126
North Ayrshire	4,091
North Lanarkshire	13,060
Orkney Islands	596
Perth and Kinross	6,775
Renfrewshire	10,270
Scottish Borders	5,628
Shetland Islands	1,509
South Ayrshire	3,451
South Lanarkshire	7,881
Stirling	3,833
West Dunbartonshire	8,166
West Lothian	9,400

Question reference: S6T-00630

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 March 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that decisions about the procurement of vessels 801 and 802 were rushed "for political purposes".

Question reference: S6W-07240

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 24 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what equality impact assessment has been undertaken in relation to the proposed ScotRail station ticket office closures and reduced opening times.

Question reference: S6O-00943

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 March 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 31 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what response it has received to the external affairs secretary’s letter to the Russian Ambassador on 26 February.

Question reference: S6W-06565

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 21 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government (a) what the timescale is and (b) which groups it will consult for its “national conversation” about the future of ScotRail.

Due to the local elections period, it is expected that the national rail conversation will get underway after 5 May local elections. Decisions on a more definitive timescale will be arrived at when agreement has been reached with Trade Union partners and other interested stakeholders.

It is envisaged that the national conversation will engage a wide ranging group of stakeholders including passengers, regional transport partnerships, rail unions, disability groups, businesses and educational interests.

Transport Scotland officials are currently considering the details on the most effective and productive engagement programme to deliver the national rail conversation.

Question reference: S6W-06882

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 25 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 18 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether the consultation on women’s safety will be (a) open to all or (b) closed, with identified stakeholders only.

In addition to taking forward a National Conversation on rail, we will be consulting specifically on women’s safety when using public transport.

The specific means by which we carry out this engagement are yet to be determined and will be informed by initial discussions with groups representing women and Transport Scotland Officials. A range of options will be presented for how this engagement takes place. It is envisaged that these will include options for engagement that is open to all, focussed on specific groups or combines elements of both.

Question reference: S6W-06567

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 18 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government (a) what the timescale is and (b) which groups it will consult for its work regarding the experiences of women on public transport.

In addition to taking forward a National Conversation on rail, we will be consulting specifically on women’s safety when using public transport.

(a) Specific timescales will be outlined following the discussion underway with relevant representative groups on the preferred approach for carrying out this engagement.

(b) With regard to the groups we will engage with, we have already made initial contact with Engender. We will also engage with groups who represent women working on our public transport network to capture the views of female staff.