Mike Rumbles

1 May 2017 · Topical Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to figures showing that the average income of commercial farms decreased by 48% in 2015-16.

25 Apr 2017 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the cost of delivering 100% broadband coverage by 2021, and how much it has invested in this programme to date.

24 Apr 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of the money that it has committed to spend through the Beef Efficiency Scheme will go directly to farmers.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: £17 million will go direct to farmers.

24 Apr 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will confirm how much it has committed to spend through the Beef Efficiency Scheme in light of a freedom of information request in March 2017 suggesting that the figure was £8.2 million and an article in the Scottish Farmer in February 2017, which reported that it was £32 mill…

Answer · Fergus Ewing: Regrettably, an administrative error occurred in the preparation of the reply to the FOI request referred to in the question. The £8.2 million figure provided for BES commitment should in fact have been £28.2 million. We are contacting the FOI correspondent t…

18 Apr 2017 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what role the Lord Advocate has in determining the competency of legislation.

6 Apr 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) discussions, (b) meetings and (c) correspondence it has had with (i) Abellio, (ii) passenger groups, (iii) cycling groups and (iv) other stakeholders regarding cycle spaces on the class 125 trains that are joining the fleet, and what part the health ministers played in these.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: Transport Scotland and Abellio ScotRail (ASR) meet regularly to discuss issues around integration, including on-train cycle carriage. We are working together to understand the impact, develop options and assess how to deliver value for money solutions which w…

6 Apr 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what maximum number of cycles could be carried on the class 125 trains that are joining the ScotRail fleet; what agreement it has reached with Abellio regarding the number of cycle spaces that will be made available; whether this took account of the presentation to the Cross-Party Group …

Answer · Humza Yousaf: £54M is being invested to significantly refurbish 26 High Speed Trains (HSTs) before they enter service on Scottish inter-city routes adding 40% more seating than at present. The re-engineered HSTs will offer significant improvements in inter-city standard tr…

22 Mar 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has asked Virgin Trains East Coast for a report on the fire on the Leeds-Aberdeen high-speed train on 21 March 2017 that caused the line to be blocked at Leuchars.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: Transport Scotland officials raised this matter with Abellio ScotRail and information was provided on the incident. The incident on a Virgin East Coast HST train on 21 March was caused by an electrical machine failure in service that was 1000 hours away from …

22 Mar 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what impact the fire on the Leeds-Aberdeen high-speed train (HST) on 21 March 2017 will have on the plans for HST services to be introduced by ScotRail from 2018.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: The delivery of the Abellio ScotRail HST trains into service from 2018 is unaffected. The incident on an Virgin East Coast HST train on 21 March 2017 was caused by an electrical machine failure in service. The Abellio ScotRail HSTs will all be receiving an ov…

21 Mar 2017 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many former North Sea oil and gas workers have retrained as teachers through the Transition Training Fund and subsequently found employment in teaching, and how much has been spent delivering the scheme.

Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: Out of an initial 20 former oil and gas workers recruited to the programme, a total of 12 are progressing with training as teachers through the Transition Training Fund with 8 having left the programme for a variety of reasons such as medical grounds and acad…

13 Mar 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the comment by the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy and Connectivity on 19 January 2017 (Official Report, c. 104) that "we will therefore heed the call in the Lib Dem amendment" to establish a review group to develop options for agricultural support beyond 2020, what organ…

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Scottish Government is currently working up proposals for an external group to provide advice on future agricultural support, including how this new group should fit with the work being taken forward by the four Agriculture Champions - Education and Train…

9 Mar 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the comment by the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy and Connectivity on 19 January 2017 (Official Report, c. 104) that "we will therefore heed the call in the Lib Dem amendment" to establish a review group to develop options for agricultural support beyond 2020, when the g…

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Scottish Government is currently working up proposals for an external group to provide advice on future agricultural support, including how this new group should fit with the work being taken forward by the four Agriculture Champions - Education and Train…

28 Feb 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether investment in superfast broadband should prioritise rural blackspots and hard to reach areas to ensure that it meets its targets for 2021, and what the (a) current and (b) planned levels of relative spending are across each region.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Reaching 100% programme will promote an ‘outside-in’ approach, prioritising future public investment in the hardest to reach rural areas – those that won’t benefit from the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband programme. The Scottish Government’s draft …

28 Feb 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is making sufficient progress to meet its targets of 95% coverage of superfast broadband by 2018 and 100% by 2021.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband programme is progressing well and remains on track to meet its target of 95% fibre broadband access by the end of 2017. In 2016, Audit Scotland reviewed progress of the DSSB Programme and concluded that it was on track…

28 Feb 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the national coverage of superfast broadband (a) is and (b) has been in each of the last five years.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: Ofcom’s Connected Nations Report 2016 indicates that speeds of 30 Mbps or above are now available to 83% of premises in Scotland. Superfast broadband coverage for Scotland in each of the last five years is as follows: 2016 – 83% 2015 - 73% 2014 – 61% 2013…

28 Feb 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it expects the system for delivery of common agricultural policy payments, including basic farm payments, to return to normal in 2018-19.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: At this stage the Scottish Government expect to return to the normal payment cycle in 2018-19.

28 Feb 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many hours overtime have been accrued by staff working on common agricultural policy payments in each of the last three months, and how much this has cost.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The total hours overtime claimed by staff working on common agricultural policy payments during the period November 2016 to January 2017 is 1,335 hours. It has not been possible to breakdown this total by each month during the period due to the time and resou…

28 Feb 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many vehicles it expects will use the (a) Forth Replacement Crossing and (b) Forth Road Bridge in the 12 months after the new crossing opens, and how this compares with the current levels on the road bridge.

Answer · Keith Brown: Generally traffic volumes across the Forth Road Bridge have remained flat in the period since 2008. The latest Forth Replacement Crossing annual traffic monitoring report for the Forth Road Bridge for the period 2015-16 indicates a daily average of 67,500 veh…

28 Feb 2017 · SPCB Oral Question

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it will consider sending hard copies of payslips to Members and staff on request.

28 Feb 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of each significant incident that has had an impact on construction of the Forth Replacement Crossing.

Answer · Keith Brown: In April / May 2016 Forth Crossing Bridge Constructors (FCBC) undertook a detailed analysis of the overall impact of wind on the project to date and the effect this has had on the remaining works. Despite the mitigation measures they had implemented, unfavour…

28 Feb 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many working days on the Forth Replacement Crossing have been lost due to bad weather, and how this compares with the initial projection.

Answer · Keith Brown: The Forth Crossing Bridge Constructors (FCBC) programme allowed an average of 20% downtime for weather over the construction period. Since deck lifting operations commenced in September 2015, the downtime due to adverse weather, specifically wind, has been 40…

28 Feb 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the date the Forth Replacement Crossing will be (a) completed and (b) open to the public, and how this compares with the initial projected date.

Answer · Keith Brown: The contractual completion date for the Forth Replacement Crossing is June 2017. It is targeted to open to traffic in May 2017. Until June 2016 the contractors original target date for the opening of the Forth Replacement Crossing project was December 2016, 6…

28 Feb 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many meetings the (a) First Minister and (b) (i) cabinet secretary or (ii) minister with responsibility for transport has had each year with the directors of the Forth Replacement Crossing project, and how many future meetings are planned.

Answer · Keith Brown: Transport Scotland is part of the Scottish Government and meetings with Ministers occur regularly in the course of normal business. Transport Scotland Directors also routinely attend monthly meetings with Ministers to discuss issues including progress of majo…

28 Feb 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-04726 by Keith Brown on 25 November 2016, whether the full range of options available to commemorate the opening of the Forth Replacement Crossing have been finalised and, if (a) so, whether it will publish these; how much the commemorations will co…

Answer · Keith Brown: The arrangements for the opening events to commemorate the opening of the Forth Replacement Crossing are currently being finalised. A full range of options to commemorate the options is being considered together with the requests to participate in any events.…

28 Feb 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of each of the (a) modifications to the initial plans and (b) alternative measures that have been introduced during the construction period of the Forth Replacement Crossing, also broken down by the impact of each change on the cost of the project.

Answer · Keith Brown: The Forth Replacement Crossing has been constructed in accordance with the Forth Crossing Act 2011 without amendment or modification. When complete, it will improve the management of traffic, provide greater flexibility for routine maintenance works, permit i…

28 Feb 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what the total cost of the Forth Replacement Crossing will be and how this compares with each of its previously published estimates, and what impact (a) the inflation rate has and (b) other factors have had on these figures.

Answer · Keith Brown: The total estimated cost of the Forth Replacement Crossing is £1.325 - £1.35 billion, £245 million lower than the June 2011 estimate when construction began. The inflation element of the £245 million saving is £192 million. The remaining saving of £53 million…

28 Feb 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding the (a) average, (b) lowest and (c) highest wage paid pro rata of staff on the Forth Replacement Crossing project.

Answer · Keith Brown: It is the responsibility of the contractor FCBC to manage matters relating to its workforce and the Scottish Government does not hold this information. However, Transport Scotland has been provided with assurances from the contractor, FCBC, that contractual a…

28 Feb 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the expected (a) northbound and (b) southbound journey time on the (i) Forth Replacement Crossing and (ii) Forth Road Bridge will be in the 12 months after the new crossing opens, and how this compares with the current times on the road bridge.

Answer · Keith Brown: Current journey times vary considerably depending on the particular time, day and month considered and are reported in the annual Forth Replacement Crossing (FRC) project traffic monitoring reports published on the FRC website. They are influenced by the cong…

28 Feb 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the assessment that it has made of the economic impact of the Forth Replacement Crossing on the (a) north, (b) south and (c) rest of the country.

Answer · Keith Brown: Consideration of potential economic impacts was reported in Chapter 7.14 of the DMRB Stage 3 Scheme Assessment Report Part 2 Engineering, Traffic and Economic Assessment, published Nov 2009. The Scottish Government will provide an update on these aspects foll…

28 Feb 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been employed on the Forth Replacement Crossing project, and how this compares with the initial projection.

Answer · Keith Brown: Through the duration of the project well over 10,000 different people have been employed on site. An annual average of 1300 people have been employed on site on the Forth Replacement Crossing, which well exceeds the initial projection of a maximum of 1200 peo…