- Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 December 2018
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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.
Answer
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 |
- Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 December 2018
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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.
Answer
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.
- Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 December 2018
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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.
Answer
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.
- Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 December 2018
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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.
Answer
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. HIAL has not budgeted any staff savings nor a saving in staff resource. At this early stage in the process it is unknown if financial savings will be made.
- Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 December 2018
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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.
Answer
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.
- Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 December 2018
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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.
Answer
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.
- Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 December 2018
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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.
Answer
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.
- Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 December 2018
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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.
Answer
I refer the member to answer to question S5W-20723 on 8 January 2019. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx
- Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 December 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 12 December 2018
To ask the Scottish Government how many participants in the Fair Start Scotland programme have (a) been offered and (b) received Individual Placement and Support, broken down by contract area.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not currently hold data on the numbers of Fair Start Scotland (FSS) participants being offered, or taking up Individual Placement and Support (IPS) broken down by contract area. This information is held by individual service providers.
The series of official statistics collated and published by The Scottish Government on Fair Start Scotland aims to provide comprehensive information about the operation of the service. This series is under a continuous process of development and given the interest in this area, we will consider how and when IPS data can be included as part of our regular dissemination of future statistics on FSS.
- Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 December 2018
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 12 December 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made in implementing the recommendations of the Chief Medical Officer’s advisory group on maternity and paediatric services at Dr Gray’s Hospital in Elgin.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 12 December 2018
