Parliamentary questions
Colin Smyth
990 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
11 Apr 2018 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on providing free bus travel for young people.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: The Scottish Government is seeking to introduce free bus travel for young Modern Apprentices and for young carers in receipt of the planned Young Carer Grant (16-17 years old and up to 18 years old if still in school), as well as three months free bus travel …
27 Mar 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that livestock worrying is increasing.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Scottish Government fully supports all steps taken to protect sheep from out of control dogs. The consequences of sheep worrying can be devastating all year round and in particular in lambing season. The 'sheep-wise' video produced by Quality Meat Scotla…
27 Mar 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to update the legislation regarding dog control to help prevent livestock worrying.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Scottish Government fully supports all steps taken to protect sheep from out of control dogs. The consequences of sheep worrying can be devastating all year round and in particular in lambing season. The 'sheep-wise' video produced by Quality Meat Scotla…
23 Mar 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its commitment to introduce a dedicated Scottish wildlife crime unit.
Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Following discussions with Police Scotland it was decided that the most effective use of resources would be for the Scottish Government to provide financial support for a twelve month pilot project involving the establishment of a new group of Special Constab…
23 Mar 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will bring forward plans to increase the maximum sentence for animal cruelty to five years and, if so, when.
Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The Scottish Government has committed, in its Programme for Government 2017-18, to prepare to amend the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006 to increase the maximum penalty for the most serious offences to 5 years imprisonment. The Scottish Governme…
23 Mar 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made on its commitment to allocate additional resources to Police Scotland to tackle wildlife crime.
Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-15637 on 16 April 2018. 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/parliamentarybusiness/…
22 Mar 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to Dumfries and Galloway Council to host a permanent display of the Galloway Hoard at Kirkcudbright Art Gallery.
Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The Scottish Government is committed to support for a partnership agreement to be reached between National Museums Scotland and Dumfries & Galloway Council to ensure access to the Hoard for the wider Scottish public and visitors both in Galloway and across Sc…
22 Mar 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what support it provided to National Museums Scotland to acquire the Galloway Hoard.
Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The Scottish Government contributed £150k towards the acquisition costs of the Galloway Hoard by National Museums Scotland. The total costs were £1,982,200 and National Museums Scotland also secured funding from The National Heritage Memorial Fund (£1 million…
21 Mar 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to re-tender the contract for Northern Isles Ferry Services, and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-15508 on 29 March 2018. 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/parliamentarybusiness/…
21 Mar 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a list of meetings it has held in 2018 with officials from the European Commission to discuss public ferry contract procurement issues, and whether it will provide a summary of the (a) issues and (b) ferry contracts discussed at each meeting.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: No meetings have taken place in 2018 with officials from the European Commission to discuss public ferry procurement issues. We continue to communicate with the European Commission on these issues and have requested a meeting. We remain in correspondence with…
6 Mar 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many rail stations in Scotland are due to be upgraded to make them wheelchair accessible.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: Equality legislation is reserved to the UK Government and as such funding to make stations accessible is with the UK Government. However, the Scottish Government continues to support substantial accessibility improvements to railway stations. I can tell you …
6 Mar 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many rail stations in Scotland are wheelchair accessible.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: 253 are wheelchair accessible. Of the 106 remaining, only 76 of these stations are inaccessible to both platforms whilst 30 of them have access to one platform.
6 Mar 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many medical issues reported by passengers on ScotRail services in the last 12 months required an ambulance.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: Neither Scottish Government or Transport Scotland hold this information. However ScotRail have provided the data it records for all incidents of passengers taking ill either at station or on train. These figures confirm that of the 149 incidents recorded of …
6 Mar 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many people in the last 12 months have reported medical issues while travelling on ScotRail services and, of those, how many were wholly or partly due to travelling conditions at the time.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: Neither Scottish Government or Transport Scotland hold this information. However ScotRail have provided the data it records for all incidents of passengers taking ill either at station or on train. These figures confirm that 149 incidents have been recorded …
6 Mar 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a list of the Public Performance Measure Moving Annual Average (PPM MAA) targets for each rail period during the ScotRail Abellio franchise term.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: A table providing a detailed listing of by-period targets is available from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. Number 59592).
6 Mar 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many times trains skipped stops during the period 1 September 2017 to 31 January 2018, also broken down by (a) route and (b) train departure time.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: Between 20 August 2017 and 3 February 2018 (rail periods 6-11 inclusive), 1.06 percent of the total numbers of services planned to be run over this period were skip-stopped.
6 Mar 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the 10 busiest routes operated by ScotRail were during the period 1 September 2017 to 31 January 2018, and what the (a) maximum recorded number of users, (b) total train capacity and (c) percentage difference between the number of users and capacity was for the period.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: The Scottish Government does not hold this information in this form. The Member may care to approach ScotRail directly to ascertain if they hold this information or not.
28 Feb 2018 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government what change it forecasts in the number of support for learning staff in schools in the next year.
22 Feb 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Jobs and Fair Work on 22 February 2018 (Official Report, c. 44), whether it will provide the information that was requested regarding whether it is aware of any instances of Prestwick airport being used for rendition flights…
Answer · Keith Brown: Glasgow Prestwick Airport is operated on a commercial basis and at arm’s length from the Scottish Government in compliance with EU State Aid rules. The Scottish Government does not hold information on the purpose of the flight of any aircraft using Scottish a…
22 Feb 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Jobs and Fair Work on 22 February 2018 (Official Report, c. 44), how many military flights it expects at Prestwick airport in each of the next 10 years.
Answer · Keith Brown: Glasgow Prestwick Airport is operated on a commercial basis and at arm’s length from the Scottish Government in compliance with European Union state aid rules. Securing a larger share of military business is part of the 5 year Strategic Plan 2017-2022 publish…
21 Feb 2018 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made towards ensuring that the Galloway Viking Hoard is displayed in Dumfries and Galloway.
19 Feb 2018 · Topical Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that ScotRail has had to pay a record amount in financial penalties in the last nine months.
24 Jan 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many registered blind or partially-sighted people there have been in each local authority area in each year since 2010.
Answer · Maureen Watt: There are no national figures on the number of people registered as blind or partially sighted since 2010 as the statistics and associated data collection have been under review. In 2010, 34,492 people were identified as being registered as blind or partiall…
24 Jan 2018 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Government, whether it will provide an update on what plans it has to provide further funding for the Schools for the Future programme.
23 Jan 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what efforts it has made to prevent large-scale culls of mountain hares this winter.
Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The Scottish Government opposes large-scale culls of mountain hares. There is no current evidence to indicate that large scale culls are taking place but if evidence emerges that points to large-scale culls taking place that could cause significant population…
23 Jan 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to its announcement on 24 November 2017, what plans are in place to engage (a) stakeholders and (b) the public in the work of the independent group for ensuring grouse moor management practices are sustainable and legally compliant.
Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: During the review process, the group will engage with, and take advice from, external stakeholders as and when necessary. A public consultation process may be required following the completion of the review, if any regulatory changes are proposed by the Sco…
23 Jan 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to its announcement on 24 November 2017, what progress has been made by the independent group for ensuring grouse moor management practices are sustainable and legally compliant; what the remit of the group is, and what timetable it is working to.
Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The review group has now been established and it met for the first time on 16 January 2018. The group’s remit is to examine how to ensure that grouse moor management continues to contribute to the rural economy while being environmentally sustainable and co…
10 Jan 2018 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Government when the full membership of the interim board for the South of Scotland Enterprise Agency will be announced.
21 Dec 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, whether it will provide an update on its plans to increase the maximum sentence for animal cruelty, in light of the UK Government publishing a bill proposing that this should be increased to five years.
Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The Programme for Government 2017-18 made a commitment to prepare to amend the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006 to increase the maximum penalty for the most serious offences to 5 years imprisonment. The Scottish Government is considering the mo…
20 Dec 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on registration figures for blind and partially sighted people in each year since 2010.
Answer · Maureen Watt: There are no national figures on the number of people registered as blind or partially sighted since 2010 as the statistics and associated data collection have been under review. In 2010, 34,492 people were identified as being registered as blind or partially…