In situations such as this our first thoughts are always with those Carillion employees who will be concerned for their jobs.

Carillion forms a one third part of the Aberdeen Roads Limited (ARL) consortium and its construction joint venture together with Balfour Beatty and Galliford Try. The construction partners of ARL are joint and severally liable for the completion of the works.

We understand that Balfour Beatty and Galliford Try will now take the necessary steps to jointly deliver the remainder of this project. We will continue to work closely with ARL to assess and mitigate any impacts that may arise as a consequence of this announcement, particularly in respect of those people employed by Carillion..

We are continuing an extensive exercise to gather as much information as possible with respect to public and private contracts where Carillion have been involved. Through making using of the Public Contract Scotland system where Contract Award Notices are published there are two framework/contracts which are currently live and defined as Works under Procurement Regulations.

North Glasgow Housing Association Ltd hold a Framework Agreement for the Provision of General Builders Work and Sundry Services North Glasgow which has an estimated value of (a) £1,577,115.71 and an expected completion date of (b) 9^th February 2018. To date Carillion have not been engaged on this framework.

Transport Scotland hold a contract for the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route, through Aberdeen City Council as agent, of which Carillion are a partner with Balfour Beatty and Galliford Try in a Joint Venture. This is an Non Profit Distributing contract with an equivalent capital construction value of (a) £533,000,000 and in terms of the expected completion date (b) work is well advanced and the project is due to open in Spring 2018. However, whilst the situation with Carillion does not in itself affect project delivery timescales, given the scale of the recent announcement concerning the insolvency of Carillion Construction Ltd, it is important that we now take the necessary time to work closely with Aberdeen Roads Ltd to identify any impacts on delivery. We will then consider what can be done to mitigate any issues that may arise as a consequence of this issue.

The Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act 2014 makes clear that it is the responsibility of Integration Authorities to commission and plan services and supports to meet the needs of their local population. It is expected that when commissioning services and supports that Integration Authorities extensively engage with their local communities to ensure that they best meet local need.

Additionally the Scottish Muscle Network, funded by NHS Scotland National Services Division, brings together a wide range of stakeholders across health and social care, to drive forward improvement in services and support for young disabled adults with muscular dystrophy and other neuromuscular conditions.

I did not speak with the Chief Constable on or after 7 November 2017.

Communications between Paul Johnston, Director General, Education, Communities & Justice, and the Chief Constable are set out as part of a letter from Mr Johnston to the Public Audit and Post-Legislative Scrutiny Committee at the following link: http://www.parliament.scot/S5_Public_Audit/General%20Documents/20180118_Letter_from_Paul_Johnston.pdf

The Scottish Government engages with the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner and Police Scotland on a regular basis to keep abreast of developments on a range of policing matters. Responsibility for decisions on the Chief Constable’s leave lies with the Scottish Police Authority, and as such it would be for them to communicate with the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner or the Police Scotland command team regarding the return of Chief Constable Phil Gormley.

As confirmed to the Justice Committee on 23 January 2018, Paul Johnston, DG Education, Communities & Justice, had a call with DCC Iain Livingstone on the afternoon of 9 November 2017, during which he advised him of developments in relation to the Chief Constable’s leave arrangements.

As a private company, we do not know for certain the number of people within Scotland employed by Carillion, but we believe the number to be close to 1000. We continue to work closely with the official receiver to obtain an accurate number.

The Scottish Government wants to see more people take the train and recognises that prices have to be affordable and fair. Scottish Ministers ensure that fares are kept below certain thresholds by regulating the maximum permitted annual increase for selected fares, including Anytime and Season tickets, to the level of the Retail Price Index (RPI) for regulated Peak fares and one per cent below RPI for regulated Off-Peak fares. Scotland has the lowest level of fares increase with the average regulated fares increase below the rate of inflation.

Members will be aware that ScotRail launched fares initiatives last year to provide a free week for season ticket holders and additional offers for leisure travellers. A further phase of the fares initiative, which is fully funded by the Scottish Government and ScotRail, will be launched later this month, with full details being announced shortly.

I recognise ScotRail has faced a number of challenges recently and fully expect this downward trend to be addressed immediately. This is why Alex Hynes has instigated an independent review as part of ScotRail’s recovery measures, which I very much welcome, as the sooner we can address these challenges the sooner passengers can enjoy the level of service that they desire and deserve. I will be meeting with the ScotRail Alliance team tomorrow (Friday 19 January) to discuss and hear about their plans to address poor performance.

Registers of Scotland have been unable to find any record of a good neighbour agreement having been registered under section 75D of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 since 2011-12. However, as there is no prescribed style of good neighbour agreement it is not possible to be definitive. People may have chosen to use other named deed types, such as a minute of agreement, to register a good neighbour agreement. It is also possible that parties have entered into good neighbour agreements but chosen not to register them in the property registers.

The Anti Social Behaviour etc (Scotland) Act 2004 provides a wide range of powers to address antisocial behaviour. The supporting guidance on noise nuisance provides support to local authorities as to how they adopt its provisions.

The Scottish Government is satisfied that the provisions contained within the Planning (Scotland) Bill are compliant with the Aarhus Convention, including new provisions which strengthen processes, engagement and participation in the planning system overall. The Scottish Government is not able to disclose legal advice it receives, including any legal advice that may have been considered in relation to compliance with the Arhus Convention. The policy memorandum published to accompany the Bill contains information about provisions which are relevant to the Aarhus Convention.