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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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S5W-11707

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 02 October 2017
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 16 October 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of planned improvements to the A9, what it is doing to upgrade rail infrastructure and encourage more freight onto the Far North Line.

The Far North Line Review Team was established by the Cabinet Secretary for the Rural Economy and Connectivity in December 2016 to consider opportunities to improve overall performance and make the most of this important asset for passengers, for sustainable freight transport, and for the communities and businesses along its length. As part of its remit, the Review Team is considering whole system rail improvements which can be considered for the rail investment strategy beyond 2019. The Scottish Government is also promoting rail freight through its rail freight strategy Delivering the Goods which looks at new and efficient ways of transporting goods in addition to building strong and lasting partnerships to grow existing and new markets.

Question reference: S5W-11425

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 September 2017
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 28 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government when its report into community land purchases will be published.

Question reference: S5W-11426

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 September 2017
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 28 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many community land purchases have been made in each local authority area; when each purchase took place and what the acreage was of each.

Question reference: S5W-10568

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 31 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-09837 by Fergus Ewing on 29 June 2017, whether it will provide updated figures for the last two years; how much funding has been given to (a) grant applicants and (b) Community Broadband Scotland for providing grants, in each of the last five years, and whether, in each year, Community Broadband Scotland had an overspend or underspend in its grant budget.

Since financial year 2013-14, Community Broadband Scotland has allocated £3,703,000 of Scottish Government funding towards payment of grants. Of that total, £3,553,946 has been issued, leaving Community Broadband Scotland with an underspend of £149,054. The breakdown per year is as follows:

Year	SG Core Grant Budget	CBS Grants	Research & Development (West Coast Backbone)	Project planning/procurement support	Budget balance
2013-2014	£515,000	£384,087			£130,913
2014-2015	£1,500,000	£474,562		£300,000	£725,438
2015-2016	£1,000,000	£1,336,694	£276,000	£450,000	-£1,062,694
2016-2017	£688,000	£313,383			£374,617
2017-2018		£19,220			-£19,220
Total	£3,703,000	£2,527,946	£276,000	£750,000	£149,054

Question reference: S5W-10555

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 23 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many seafarer (a) Officer Cadets and (b) Deck and Engine Rating apprentices have been recruited by Caledonian MacBrayne in each year since 2006.

Cadets are sponsored by CalMac Ferries Limited and are recruited and employed on CalMac Ferries Limited’s behalf by Clyde Marine Training Limited. Since January 2006, CalMac Ferries Limited has sponsored a total of 128 Deck, Engine and Electrotechnical Officer Cadets, details as follows:-

	Current	Previously	Total
Deck Officer Cadets	16	57	73
Engine Officer Cadets	16	33	49
Electrotechnical Officer Cadets	4	2	6
Total	36	92	128

There are a further 9 Officer Cadets due to start their respective courses before the end of September 2017.

Since January 2006, CalMac Ferries Limited has also recruited a total of 46 Deck, Engine and Retail Rating Trainees, details as follows:-

	2006	2010	2013	2014	2015	2016	Total
Deck Rating Trainees	4	2	6	6	0	6	24
Engine Rating Trainees	0	0	4	4	0	4	12
Retail Rating Trainees	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	10	10
Total	4	2	10	10	0	20	46

In addition, CalMac Ferries Limited are hoping to recruit a further 6 Deck Rating Trainees, 4 Engine Rating Trainees and 10 Retail Rating Trainees to start their respective course in mid-September 2017.

Question reference: S5W-10099

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 03 July 2017
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 28 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason there is a difference in the levels of money paid out between the Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (LAFSS) and the basic payments under the CAP scheme of 2015.

Question reference: S5W-10097

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 03 July 2017
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 27 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-09476 by Fergus Ewing on 28 June 2017, how much is still to be paid to farmers who are waiting for payments from the 2015 tranche of CAP applications.

2015 -

Basic Payment Scheme (including Greening and Young Farmers Payment) – £36,043.81 (0.10%) is unpaid

Rural Development - £0.50 million (1.52%) is unpaid – no loans made for these schemes

LFASS – £6.4 million (10%) is unpaid - of this £5.1 m is covered by loans - £1.3 m not covered by loans.

Scottish Suckler Beef Support Scheme - all eligible claims paid – no loans made for this scheme.

Scottish Upland Sheep Support Scheme - all eligible claims paid – no loans made for this scheme

2016 - not all claims are validated so it is not currently possible to calculate the total amount which is unpaid. Loans to the value of £372.36 million have been issued to provide support to farmers and crofters

2017 – no payments have been made for scheme year 2017 – applications for these payments have just been received via the Single Application Form 2017 and the payments cannot be made until the payment window opens on 1 December 2017.

Question reference: S5W-10161

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 July 2017
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 27 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government which of its initiatives referred to in the most recent Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) budget has HIE given funding to; how much funding was given to each initiative, and what the funding was used for.

Question reference: S5W-10163

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 July 2017
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 19 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish the Rural Scotland Key Facts publication.

The next edition of the Rural Scotland Key Facts is due to be published in July 2018. Rural Scotland Key Facts follows the publication of the updated Scottish Government Urban Rural Classification. The Scottish Government Urban Rural classification is based on NRS Settlements and Localities data which is due to be published in December 2017. Following this, the 2016-17 Scottish Government Urban Rural Classification will be due in February 2018.

When the exact publication date for Rural Scotland Key Facts is confirmed it will be added to the Forthcoming Publications section of the Scottish Government website: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/ForthcomingPubs

Question reference: S5W-10098

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 03 July 2017
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 19 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many calendar days in took to respond to question S5W-09476.