Colin Smyth

11 Mar 2020 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the effectiveness of the Fair Work Framework in delivering collective bargaining and trade union recognition.

27 Feb 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on recommendation 15 of the Infrastructure Commission for Scotland paper, Phase 1: Key findings report, A blueprint for Scotland; what changes it is considering in light of this recommendation, and whether these will be made in time to be incorporated in the Strategi…

Answer · Michael Matheson: The Scottish Government welcomes the Infrastructure Commission for Scotland report, published in January and the work and engagement it has undertaken to date. This is an important report and, as such, the Scottish Government is taking the necessary time to c…

27 Feb 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Caledonian Sleeper has met the passenger satisfaction targets set out in the franchise agreement since the contract began; what enforcement action has been taken in response to any failures to meet the targets, and what variations, adjustments or waivers have been made in rel…

Answer · Michael Matheson: Caledonian Sleeper has received much positive feedback from passengers, which is reflected in record levels of passenger bookings. Notwithstanding this positive customer reaction, Caledonian Sleeper has not yet met the targets set for all aspects of the Nati…

26 Feb 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-27096 by Michael Matheson on 4 February 2020, by how much the Abellio ScotRail subsidy decreased for each of the 39 full- or part-failures, also broken down by the year of each decrease.

Answer · Michael Matheson: The decrease in Abellio ScotRail’s subsidy for each financial year is set out in the following table. Financial Year Committed Obligation penalties thereforereduction in franchise subsidy 2015-2016 £1,500 2016-2017 £875,219 2017-2018 £466,941 2018-20…

26 Feb 2020 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of universal credit on rent arrears in the South Scotland region.

25 Feb 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on taking account of the distance of care homes from people's registered addresses when allocating places, and what guidance it issues to local authorities on this matter.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Scottish Government issued updated guidance on choosing a care home on discharge from hospital in December 2013 (CEL 32 (2013). The guidance recommends that people identify up to three preferred homes of choice, suitable to meet the assessed needs of the …

20 Feb 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the £103.2 million increase in the rail franchise budget for 2020-21 is for (a) revenue and (b) profit support adjustments, and whether it will provide a breakdown of how much it has paid out in these adjustments under the current (i) ScotRail and (ii) Caledonian Sleeper fran…

Answer · Michael Matheson: The Abellio ScotRail and Serco Caledonian Sleeper forecasted payments for next year are in line with both current franchise agreements, these are contracted amounts between the Scottish Government and franchisees. The amounts are in line with the contract and…

20 Feb 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the £500 million fund to improve bus priority infrastructure will be allocated before May 2021.

Answer · Michael Matheson: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-27433 on 28 February 2020. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusine…

20 Feb 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the £500 million fund to improve bus priority infrastructure is dedicated to the Bus Partnership Fund, and whether it will provide a breakdown of how the remaining money will be allocated.

Answer · Michael Matheson: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-27433 on 28 February 2020. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusine…

20 Feb 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making with its commitment to "consult on Scotland's ambition to make the transformative shift to zero or ultra-low emission city centres by 2030", and by what date this consultation will be (a) launched and (b) completed.

Answer · Michael Matheson: A question seeking views on the shift to zero or ultra-low emission city centres by 2030 was included in the consultation on low emission zones (LEZ), which closed on 24 February. Over 300 responses have been received which are now being analysed. The analysi…

20 Feb 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the total amount set aside for active travel is in its draft budget, broken down by level 4 budget line, and how this compares with (a) 2018-19 and (b) 2019-20.

Answer · Michael Matheson: The total amounts set aside in the draft budget for 2020-21 to support active travel, by level 4 budget line, is summarised in the following table along with the totals for 2018-19 and 2019-20.   Active Travel Budget (£m) 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 From Su…

20 Feb 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it remains committed to extending the National Concessionary Travel Scheme to modern apprentices and, if so, what the timeline for this is.

Answer · Michael Matheson: We undertook a pilot of free bus travel for Modern Apprentices in Aberdeenshire, Aberdeen City and the Shetland Islands from 27 November 2019 to 29 February 2020. The results are being analysed and decisions on the next steps will be made once the analysis is…

20 Feb 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how much and (b) what proportion of the 2020-21 concessionary fares budget will cover the cost of expanding the scheme to (i) companion cards for disabled children under five and (ii) recipients of the Young Carers Grant.

Answer · Michael Matheson: The draft budget for 2020-21 provides £229.8 million for concessionary fares. This includes estimated costs of £0.3 million in respect of companion cards for eligible disabled children under five and £0.2 million for recipients of the young carers grant. Toge…

19 Feb 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the budget for the Strategic Timber Transport Fund has been in each of the last five years.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The budget for the Strategic Timber Transport fund in each of the last five years is set out in the following table.   Year Strategic Timber Transport Scheme Budget £m 2015-16 3.00 2016-17 2.85 2017-18 7.85 2018-19 7.85 2019-20 7.00 2020-21 (dra…

17 Feb 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-25873 by Roseanna Cunningham on 29 October 2019, what progress it is making with its consideration of whether to proceed with the Whitesands Flood Protection Scheme; by what date it will announce its decision, and what the reason has been for any de…

Answer · Mairi Gougeon: Ministers very much understand that there is considerable interest in the Whitesands project. They are giving full consideration to the complex issues involved and will notify the local authority of their decision as soon as possible.

14 Feb 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what financial support (a) Scottish Enterprise and (b) other public bodies have provided to Lyle and Scott in the last 10 years.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: Information regarding account management support provided by Scottish Enterprise and other public bodies is an operational matter for those agencies and is not held by the Scottish Government. I have asked the relevant Chief Executives to respond to you direc…

12 Feb 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much it is allocating to bus priority infrastructure in its 2020-21 budget.

Answer · Michael Matheson: As detailed in the Scottish Government's Draft Scottish Budget, funding of £10 million for bus priority infrastructure is included for 2020-21. Further funding for 2021-22 onwards will be prioritised through the capital spending review. The investment will ta…

12 Feb 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much its Draft Budget 2020-21 allocates to the Strategic Timber Transport Fund.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: Within the draft 2020-21 budget, £7 million is allocated for the Strategic Timber Transport Fund, which is jointly funded by Scottish Forestry and Transport Scotland. This investment supports both the Strategic Timber Transport Scheme and the TimberLINK shipp…

11 Feb 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the number of station staff employed by Abellio ScotRail reportedly decreased by over 380, or 25%, between December 2015 and March 2019.

Answer · Michael Matheson: While staffing is an operational matter for ScotRail, Transport Scotland holds them to account within the terms of the Franchise Agreement. Financial penalties can and do apply where the impact of reduced staffing means ScotRail fall below the service levels …

11 Feb 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the £520 million rail franchise budget for 2020-21 is allocated to (a) Abellio ScotRail and (b) Serco Caledonian Sleeper.

Answer · Michael Matheson: Figures for the financial year 2020-2021 are currently budget forecasts and as such are commercially sensitive. Figures for the financial year 2019-2020, once audited are due to be published in October 2020. Figures for the financial year 2018-2019, as publi…

11 Feb 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much compensation was paid to Abellio ScotRail by Network Rail in (a) 2017, (b) 2018 and (c) 2019 for claims relating to disruption during upgrade works at Glasgow Queen Street station.

Answer · Michael Matheson: Levels of compensation for disruption associated with works undertaken at Queen Street station is a commercial matter between Abellio ScotRail and Network Rail.  

11 Feb 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of Abellio ScotRail’s claim for damages from Network Rail for disruption during upgrade works at Glasgow Queen Street station.

Answer · Michael Matheson: Any claim for damages in relation to works undertaken at Queen Street station is a matter between the parties involved.  

3 Feb 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how the Bus Partnership Fund will be split between local authority bids and national priorities; what role bus service improvement partnerships will have in its delivery, and what assurances and commitments it has received from private bus operators that any increased revenue as a result…

Answer · Michael Matheson: The Bus Partnership Fund will be for local transport authorities to deliver bus priority infrastructure on local roads as part of a sustainable transport future. The Fund is aligned to the four priorities contained in the National Transport Strategy. The Fun…

3 Feb 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is considering extending the definition of a protected animal under section 16 of the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006 to include cephalopods and decapod crustaceans.

Answer · Mairi Gougeon: The Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006 allows the definition of protected animal to be extended to include invertebrates of any description but only if the Scottish Ministers are satisfied, on the basis of scientific evidence, that creatures of the…

3 Feb 2020 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s response is to reports that Police Scotland is centralising specialist surveillance officer posts away from Dumfries and Galloway.

30 Jan 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has any plans to include interstitial lung disease (ILD) and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) in the Scottish atlas of variance data monitoring.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: Information Services Division (ISD) has advised that a proposal for an Atlas of Healthcare Variation map for Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) has been considered. However, the proposal cannot proceed at this time as there are limited IPF data available. T…

22 Jan 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government which of ScotRail’s committed obligations contained in its Franchise Agreement have been met (a) in full and (b) partially, and which have not been met to date.

Answer · Michael Matheson: Of the 199 committed obligations contained in the franchise agreement with target completion dates thus far (a) 183 have been fully delivered (b) 6 have been partially met with 10 not been met. This equates to just over 92% of committed obligations already d…

22 Jan 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government against which committed obligations it has issued a payment adjustment in response to ScotRail failing (a) in full and (b) partially to meet its obligations, and how much has been paid by ScotRail to Transport Scotland in relation to this.

Answer · Michael Matheson: A payment adjustment has been applied to 39 Committed Obligations (20 full and 19 part) where the contractual timescales or full quantum have not being achieved. The list of Committed Obligations where full or part adjustments were made is available from the…

22 Jan 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many meetings its officials have had with Abellio ScotRail since the commencement of the franchise to monitor performance regarding the operator's committed obligations and franchise targets.

Answer · Michael Matheson: My officials at Transport Scotland meet Abellio ScotRail on a regular basis, as part of the routine franchise management process, to discuss a range of topics including committed obligations.

22 Jan 2020 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the decision by Dumfries and Galloway Housing Partnership to enter into partnership with the Wheatley Group.