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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: S5O-02793

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 January 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how Transport Scotland supports and promotes tourism.

Question reference: S5W-20715

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 16 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how much The Moray Council has received in (a) revenue support /general revenue grant, (b) non-domestic rate income and (c) specific revenue grants in each of the last 10 years, also expressed in real terms.

Total revenue funding split by general revenue grant, non-domestic rate income and specific revenue grants provided by the Scottish Government to Moray Council in each of the last 10 years, is set out in a document that has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre, Bib number 60402.

It should be noted that funding for Police and Fire transferred out of the local government finance settlement with effect from 1 April 2013. As a result the years before 2013-14 and the years from 2013-14 are not comparable.

The figures for the years 2009-2018 are all final outturn figures, for 2018-19 the figures are near final and for 2019-20 they are budget figures.

The real terms figures were calculated using the November 2018 GDP deflators.

Question reference: S5W-20720

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 15 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many wind turbine planning applications it is currently considering, also broken down by (a) local authority area and (b) size of turbine.

The Scottish Government’s Energy Consents team, who are responsible for managing applications made to Scottish Ministers for wind farms exceeding 50 megawatts, currently has 27 applications under consideration for new, extended or varied wind farms. Further details can be found at www.energyconsents.scot The following table provides a breakdown of those applications;

Wind Farm	Type	Local Planning Authority	Height
Glendye	New Wind Farm	Aberdeenshire	149.9m
Airigh	New Wind Farm	Argyll & Bute	149.5m
Blarghour	New Wind Farm	Argyll & Bute	136.5m
Killean	New Wind Farm	Argyll & Bute	149.9m
Tangy IV	Re-Powering	Argyll & Bute	149.9m
Upper Sonachan	New Wind Farm	Argyll & Bute	136.5m
North Lowther Energy Initiative	New Wind Farm	Dumfries and Galloway	149m
Sandy Knowe Wind Farm	New Wind Farm	Dumfries and Galloway	125m
Shepherds Rig	New Wind Farm	Dumfries and Galloway	149.9m
Stranoch 2	New Wind Farm	Dumfries and Galloway	175m
Windy Standard III	Extension	Dumfries and Galloway	177.5m
Enoch Hill	New Wind Farm	East Ayrshire	130m
Corriemollie	S36 Consent only	Highland	125m
Drum Hollistan	New Wind Farm	Highland	140m
Glenshero	New Wind Farm	Highland	135m
Golticlay	New Wind Farm	Highland	130m
Limekiln	New Wind Farm	Highland	139m
Strathy Wood	New Wind Farm	Highland	145m
Clash Gour	New Wind Farm	Moray	176m
Pauls Hill II	Extension	Moray	149.9m
Dulater Hill	New Wind Farm	Perth and Kinross	125m
Fallago Rig	Extension	Scottish Borders	126.5m
Crystal Rig IV	Extension	Scottish Borders/East Lothian	200m
Viking Variation	Variation	Shetland Islands	155m
Hagshaw Hill	Re-Powering	South Lanarkshire	200m
Harry Burn	New Wind Farm	South Lanarkshire	149.9m
Kype Muir	Extension Variation	South Lanarkshire	220m

Question reference: S5W-20716

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 11 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made with the delivery of reduced fares on Orkney ferry services.

The Scottish Government is engaging with the European Commission following a complaint made on 8 June 2018 regarding our plans to reduce ferry fares to the Northern Isles.

Scottish Government Officials met with European Commission officials in Brussels on 12 November 2018. The Scottish Government are awaiting a formal view from the Commission regarding the next steps in addressing the complaints.

The Scottish Government remains committed to pursuing all legally complaint avenues to deliver reduced fares for Orkney and this point has been communicated to Orkney Islands Council.

Question reference: S5W-20714

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 10 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what savings could be made from Highlands and Islands Airports Limited’s plan to centralise air traffic control towers.

Question reference: S5W-20722

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 10 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how Highland and Islands Airports Limited’s plans to centralise air traffic control (ATC) towers could impact on (a) safety, (b) the resilience of ATC services, (c) employment and (d) the economies of the communities near the airports.

HIAL’s Air Traffic Management 2030 Strategy aims to ensure that air services can continue to operate in the future in a safe and efficient way. The Air Traffic Management project will improve upon safety margins by introducing controlled airspace and centralised surveillance over the airspace which HIAL currently manages. The project will improve resilience in a number of areas, including the supply of air traffic management training, recruitment, connectivity and overall levels of redundancy in the system, not currently available. Current employment levels within HIAL will be maintained with better career development and progression prospects for staff. If HIAL do nothing then, in the longer term, air services will be compromised as reliable Air Traffic Control cover would no longer be able to be provided. The long term prospects of the economies of the communities that HIAL’s airports serve will be improved through ensuring that commercial air services will be able to continue operating in the future.

Question reference: S5W-20718

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 9 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what the annual economic impact on (a) Orkney and (b) Shetland has been of reduced fares on ferry services.

Scottish Ministers remain committed to pursuing all avenues to deliver Road Equivalent Tariff (RET) ferry fares for Orkney and Shetland. However, an official State aid complaint was made to the European Commission on 8 June 2018, which has to be dealt with first.

On 30 June 2018, a 20% reduction of passenger and car fares was implemented on ferry services to Shetland, which is the most that can be done until the complaint is resolved. It is not currently possible to reduce ferry fares to Orkney.

The April 2018 Northern Isles STAG report considered the potential demand, capacity and socio-economic impacts of RET, and set out proposals for monitoring and evaluation. The intention is to evaluate the socio-economic impacts of reduced fares in due course, similar to the evaluations on the Clyde & Hebrides network, once the position on future fare levels is clear.

Question reference: S5W-20717

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 9 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with ferry operators regarding the delivery of reduced fares on Northern Isles' services.

Extensive discussions regarding the planned delivery of reduced fares by June 2018 took place with all the relevant ferry operators prior to an official State aid complaint being made to the European Commission.

Since the complaint was made, the Scottish Government has been engaging with the Commission to establish the way forward.

Because of the complaint, no recent discussions have taken place with ferry operators regarding the delivery of reduced fares. We need to await the views of the European Commission on the complaint before resuming those discussions with operators.

Question reference: S5W-20723

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 8 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will list those policies and positions that were set out in its 2013 white paper, Scotland’s Future: Your Guide to an Independent Scotland, which are no longer its current policy or preferred options.

Scotland’s Future set out the Scottish Government’s arguments for independence to inform the referendum held in 2014. There have been significant and material changes of circumstances since the publication of Scotland’s Future , most crucially the prospect of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU against the wishes of the people of Scotland. Those changes of circumstances will of course affect and strengthen the arguments for independence today and in the future.

Question reference: S5W-20724

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 8 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether its 2013 white paper, Scotland’s Future: Your Guide to an Independent Scotland, continues to reflect its policy.