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Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S5W-35539

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 16 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5T-02638 by Kate Forbes on 2 February 2021 (Official Report, c.7) and the statement by the Lord Advocate on 9 February 2021 (Official Report, c.30), whether any (a) compensation payments and (b) legal expenses that the chief constable has authorised to be reimbursed are paid out of Police Scotland’s operating budget and, if not, whether it will confirm which funding source pays for these.

Question reference: S5W-35538

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 16 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5T-02638 by Kate Forbes on 2 February 2021 (Official Report, c.7) and the statement by the Lord Advocate on 9 February 2021 (Official Report, c.30), what additional funding has been set aside for the (a) compensation payments and (b) legal expenses incurred by Police Scotland in response to the malicious prosecution cases.

Question reference: S5W-34875

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 01 February 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 15 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many prisoners there are in each COVID-19 vaccination priority group, also broken down by what proportion has received a first dose.

Vaccination of prison staff and prisoners will be consistent with the wider community and in line with the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation clinical guidance, which advises that an age-based approach continues to be the best way to protect those most at risk.

Prison staff and prisoners are eligible for a vaccination at the same time as those in the community who fall into the same JCVI priority group. We anticipate reaching everyone on the JCVI priority list by mid-April, subject to supply.

Question reference: S5W-35537

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 12 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5T-02638 by Kate Forbes on 2 February 2021 (Official Report, c.7) and the statement by the Lord Advocate on 9 February 2021 (Official Report, c.30), what authorisation it provided regarding the sums paid out in (a) compensation payments and (b) legal expenses incurred by Police Scotland in response to the malicious prosecution cases.

In relation to sums paid out by Police Scotland in relation to (a) compensation payments and (b) legal expenses, no authorisation was sought from the Scottish Government. As the Chief Constable reported during an evidence session at the Public Audit and Post-legislative Scrutiny Committee on 11 February 2021 ( Official Report c.23 ) and in supplementary information provided to the Committee, these payments were within his delegated financial limits in terms of litigation.

The Scottish Police Authority has not requested any additional funding from Scottish Government for these payments therefore no additional funding has been set aside or allocated for them. Payments have been made from the revenue budget provided to the SPA.

Question reference: S5W-35602

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 01 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 12 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what further temporary measures will be put in place to sustain the current Old Military Road and the Rest and Be Thankful while the replacement of the A83 at the Rest and Be Thankful is being agreed and built.

The Scottish Government remains committed to ensuring continuity of access to the Argyll and Bute region. We have committed to progressing a long term solution to landslide risks at the A83 Rest and Be Thankful and an announcement on a preferred corridor is due later this month.

As part of the £87M invested in maintaining the A83 since 2007, we have spent over £15M in landslide measures at the Rest and Be Thankful. This has helped to keep the A83 open for an estimated 48 days, when it would otherwise have closed.

As a result of landslide events over the recent autumn/winter period, further landslide mitigation measures have been installed including debris netting, bunds and improvements to drainage. The measures have also included the construction of a new £1M, 175m long, 6m high debris bund above the Old Military Road.

Together, the protection afforded by these other measures has meant that the A83 trunk road and the Old Military Road local diversion have been able to remain in operation for all but eight occasions (5 partial or whole nights and 3 partial or whole days) over the past 2 months, meaning traffic did not have to use the longer diversion via Inveraray and Crianlarich.

This is despite significant and well-publicised weather challenges, including formal Met Office weather warnings, significant snow-melt and storm-level rainfall totals (including an instance of 120mm over 48 hours).

Further measures to bolster the resilience of access via the Rest and Be Thankful have been progressed in recent weeks, including works to secure boulders on the A83 upslope.

As discussed at stakeholder meetings in December, we are also considering further mitigation measures for this area and the intention is to share this information with stakeholders in the coming weeks.

Question reference: S5W-35603

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 01 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 12 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government by what date in Spring 2021 a new corridor for the Rest and Be Thankful will be agreed and announced.

Question reference: S5W-35604

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 01 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 12 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how long after a preferred new corridor for the Rest and Be Thankful has been agreed and announced, a full timetable for the replacement of the Rest and Be Thankful will be published.

As with all projects, we must ensure that we follow the correct statutory process to ensure a fair and transparent assessment of options and impacts on local communities and road users. The full timetable for the project will evolve as we go through the assessment process and the route options within the preferred corridor become better defined but we will look to publish a high level timetable once consultants are procured for the next stages of the project.

A timetable for the construction phase of the project can only be set once the project is approved under the relevant statutory procedures.

Question reference: S5O-05131

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 March 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to protect jobs in the Highlands and Islands.

Question reference: S5W-35570

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 February 2021
Current Status: Answered by David Stewart MSP (on behalf of the SPCB) on 5 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what measures have been put in place to allow Members and their staff to pack up their offices before the election recess.

In responding to the Covid Pandemic, we have put in place a range of measures to keep Holyrood safe. This includes reducing how often and how many Members and staff are at Holyrood.

Special arrangements have been put in place to allow Members and their staff to pack up their offices before the election recess in a safe manner.

Members are asked to notify the FM helpdesk of the day they will be packing up their office. This information will be shared with the Cleaning team who will arrange overnight cleaning of the areas before and after the room is packed up. Additional sanitising products will be available in these areas. Crates, labels and security tags will be delivered to all floors in the Members block and Ministerial Towers for everyone to use.

Members can continue to access Holyrood during hybrid business days. If they would like a member of their staff to accompany them for the purpose of packing their office, they can do so by contacting the Chief Executive’s Office. Similarly, if a Member wishes to pack up on a Non-business day, they can also do so by notifying the Chief Executive’s Office.

Question reference: S5W-35566

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 26 February 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 4 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, whether the daily COVID-19 figures for The Highland Council area are combined with those for the Argyll and Bute Council area; what the reasons are for its position on this matter, and what its position is on whether it would be more informative and reassuring to people in both council areas if these figures were provided separately.

It is important that people can access COVID-19 data about their local area, and the Scottish Government aims to make data open and accessible wherever possible.

On the Public Health Scotland COVID-19 dashboard, all data apart from hospital and ICU admissions are available in the trends and demographics tab at local authority level. The dashboard now includes vaccination data for local authorities, which was added on Friday 26 February. It also lets people view the rate of COVID infection for their neighbourhood. Link for PHS dashboard:

COVID-19 Daily Dashboard - PHS COVID-19 | Tableau Public

The daily COVID-19 figures for hospital and ICU patients published by the Scottish Government for NHS Highland are collected at NHS Board level. Therefore, it is not possible to disaggregate the data into The Highland Council area and Argyll and Bute Council area.

The burden imposed on NHS Boards should be proportionate to the benefits arising from the use of the statistics. It may not be possible for health boards to provide timely hospital and ICU data broken down by Council areas of residence on a daily basis, and it would place an additional burden on them. Additionally, issues of statistical disclosure may arise when reporting low numbers for small Council areas.

The figures and analysis presented by the Scottish Government and partner organisations continue to evolve over time to ensure the most relevant information is included and the needs of stakeholders are met.