- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 11 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government on how many days the Campbeltown-Ardrossan ferry service has (a) been operational and (b) not been operational, during the summer timetable period in each year since 2021.
Answer
The Campbeltown service operated on 146 days between June 2021 and September 2022. There were no services beyond this date due to the need to withdraw the route since that time.
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Angus Robertson on 6 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how much funding support is available in 2025-26 for Scottish cultural organisations seeking to tour across the UK.
Answer
The Scottish Government will provide an additional £20m to Creative Scotland for its Multi Year Funding programme in 2025-26. 193 of the 251 successful organisations that will be supported by Multi Year Funding are undertaking performances, exhibitions or events which include UK-wide tour dates.
Creative Scotland’s Open Fund for Organisations, with a total budget of £6m for 2025/26 funded by the National Lottery, will also allow applications from Scottish cultural organisations for UK tours of up to three venues.
The Scottish Government is also providing £4m additional funding for Scottish Festivals in 2025/26. This includes £3m to significantly increase the value and reach of our Festivals EXPO Fund, which supports the development of work that can be taken across the UK and internationally.
The EXPO fund will also continue to support the Made in Scotland programme. So far, 104 shows have toured to 44 countries with the support of Made in Scotland’s Onward Touring fund, with some shows even touring year on year since 2009.
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Angus Robertson on 6 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many of its international offices held (a) Burns Night and (b) St Andrew’s Day celebrations in the last year.
Answer
The Scottish Government's international offices all held both Burns Night and St Andrew's Day celebrations in the past year. These cultural celebrations have proven instrumental in fostering meaningful connections with international partners and engaging with Scotland's global diaspora. They provide valuable opportunities to showcase Scotland's rich cultural heritage while simultaneously advancing our trade and investment objectives.
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Angus Robertson on 6 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to review the location of its network of international offices, with a view to adding an office in the Middle East.
Answer
There are currently no plans to open an office in the Middle East.
We will continue to work closely with Scottish Development International (SDI) and its network of trade and investment offices around the world, which includes offices in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Angus Robertson on 6 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it still plans to open an international office in Warsaw, and, if so, when it will open; how many staff will be based there, and what its annual running costs will be.
Answer
The opening of a Scottish Government office in Warsaw is currently under review given ongoing budget pressures.
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 21 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 5 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-27451 by Fiona Hyslop on 23 May 2024, what repair works have been completed, broken down by date, and what works (a) are still to be completed and (b) have since been identified, also broken down by the (i) the cost and (ii) date of completion of these works.
Answer
A revised version of the maintenance programme listing, updated February 2025, can be found in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. Number 65666).
Table A lists the works completed in 2024-25 with the recorded construction costs indicated against the month in which the works were recorded as being finished, bearing in mind that some works could have taken several months to undertake.
Table B provides an updated listing of works that have been identified and included within the forward maintenance programme along with the current estimated construction costs. Some of works are already underway and others will be programmed over the coming months/years in line with our annual prioritisation process. The timing of these works is also subject to the availability of funding and operational constraints.
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 4 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many businesses have received support through the Freight Facilities Grant (FFG) scheme in each year since 2021, broken down by parliamentary region.
Answer
Two businesses were funded in 2021-22, with payments totalling £750,000, located within Mid Scotland & Fife (Region) and North East Scotland (Region).
Two businesses were funded in 2022-23, with payments totalling £570,000, both located within Mid Scotland & Fife (Region).
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 4 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to its news release of 1 December 2017, 800 more GPs for Scotland, and the commitment set out in it that it would "aim to increase the number of GPs in Scotland by at least 800 over the next decade", how many GPs have been permanently recruited to date, broken down by NHS board.
Answer
NHS Education Scotland (NES) are responsible for the publication of GP data in Scotland.
The most recent data from 30 September 2024 that was published on 3 December 2024 includes a breakdown of GP numbers by Health Board and can be found here. NHS Scotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 4 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to its news release of 1 December 2017, 800 more GPs for Scotland, and the commitment set out in it that it would "aim to increase the number of GPs in Scotland by at least 800 over the next decade", how many GPs each NHS board will receive as a result of this.
Answer
The Scottish Government commitment to increase the number of GPs by 800 does not include commitments at Health Board level.
NHS Education of Scotland (NES) are responsible for the publication of GP workforce data. The most recent data including a breakdown of GP numbers by Health Board can be found here. NHS Scotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 28 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of Freight Facilities Grant (FFG) funding has been directed towards projects that aim to reduce freight transport’s reliance on fossil fuels, and what the anticipated outcomes of this investment are.
Answer
The Freight Facilities Grant (FFG) is intended to bring about a number of benefits from the removal of freight from roads to other modes of transport. These include environmental and social effects including improved public health through reduced local air pollution; increased road safety through reduced volumes of heavy vehicle traffic; improved traffic flows through reduced congestion; and lower overall emissions from moving freight from heavy goods vehicles to lower-emitting forms of transport.
No Freight Facilities Grant awards have been made exclusively on the basis of reduction of fossil fuel use.
To date, Freight Facilities Grant awards have resulted in the reduction of 50 million heavy goods vehicle miles on Scotland’s roads.