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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-17999

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 17 August 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what communications it has had with NHS Grampian regarding the future of the Leanchoil Hospital in Forres.

We have not had any communication with NHS Grampian on the future of Leanchoil Hospital. Moray Integration Joint Board (IJB) is currently conducting a public consultation on reshaping older people’s services in the Forres area. We expect the IJB to ensure that any changes ensure modern, high quality care services that best support people to maintain their wellbeing and independence in their own communities.

Question reference: S5W-17996

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 9 August 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what consultation has taken place with NHS (a) Orkney and (b) Shetland ahead of closer operational relationships between the NHS boards, Grampian, Highland and Tayside, being implemented.

Question reference: S5W-17988

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 9 August 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what communications it has had with NHS (a) Orkney and (B) Shetland regarding potential mergers of any of the NHS boards for Grampian, Highland and Tayside.

Question reference: S5W-17989

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 9 August 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether NHS Orkney and NHS Shetland would be consulted regarding potential mergers of any of the NHS boards for Grampian, Highland and Tayside.

Question reference: S5W-17987

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 9 August 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what communications it has had with the NHS boards, Grampian, Highland and Tayside, regarding any proposals to merge them.

There has been no communication between Scottish Government and NHS Grampian, Highland or Tayside on proposals to merge their Boards.

We have no intention to reduce the number of Health Boards. Our focus is on strengthening collaborative working between NHS Boards and their partners through the regional planning and development of services. Each individual Health Board will retain final sign off on any proposals stemming from Regional Planning.

Question reference: S5O-02268

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 21 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of Northern Isles transport connectivity.

Transport Scotland commissioned a comprehensive transport appraisal, in line with the Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance, which involved exploring and assessing the specification of the next Northern Isles Ferry Services contract. The report was published on 25 April 2018.

Transport Scotland, in partnership with key stakeholders, jointly commissioned Inter-Island Transport Studies for Orkney and Shetland. The studies undertook a STAG appraisal across the Councils’ internal air and ferry networks and reports were published in late 2016.

I assigned Highlands and Islands Airports Limited the task of considering what air services in the Highlands and Islands could and should look like in the future. HIAL will shortly carry out a consultation seeking views on what their strategy should look like over the coming period.

Question reference: S5O-02149

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 May 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 31 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what assessments it has conducted of passenger air links to Scotland’s island communities.

Question reference: S5W-15878

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 11 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) modern, (b) foundation and (c) graduate apprenticeship places will be made available in each of the next three years.

The Scottish Government remains committed to growing Modern Apprenticeships to 30,000 new starts by 2020. On 11 January 2018, I announced that going forward Graduate Apprenticeships will be included as part of this number following successful piloting.

In addition, we are expanding the number of Foundation Apprenticeships, with our target to provide 5,000 Foundation Apprentice places by 2019.

Apprenticeship figures will be announced annually going forward. In 2018-19 we have set a target of 28,000 Modern Apprenticeship starts up from our target of 27,000 Modern Apprenticeship starts in 2017-18. For Foundation Apprenticeships we will fund a projected projected 2,600 starts in 2018-19, an increase on the 1,245 starts in 2017-18.

Question reference: S5W-15880

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 10 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how careers guidance in schools encourages young people to consider jobs in the STEM sector.

The Career Education Standard 3-18 supports children and young people to identify their own strengths and consider their aspirations earlier. It also supports them to become aware of the areas they may need to develop to pursue the careers of their choice and guides them in making important decisions about subjects, pathways, future learning and job opportunities, including those relating to STEM sectors.

A key aim of our STEM Education and Training Strategy for Scotland is to inspire young people to study STEM and develop the specialist skills they need for future careers. The Strategy makes clear reference to delivery of the Career Education Standard and includes actions to ensure that young people are provided with up-to-date advice on STEM careers. This includes the development of STEM-specific Labour Market Information by Skills Development Scotland for careers advisers, teachers and other practitioners, which will be accessed through the My World of Work web service .

The Youth Employment Strategy, Developing the Young Workforce (DYW), provides an integrated approach across education, training and employment to broaden and improve the quality of opportunities available to young people in order to equip them with the skills they need for the current and anticipated job market. The STEM Strategy aligns with DYW and commits to supporting the establishment of effective school-employer partnerships for STEM, which will help to broaden young people’s awareness of STEM careers. In addition, the impartial Skills Development Scotland careers information and guidance service aims to support young people to become career planners who can make informed and confident decisions about their future.

Question reference: S5O-02091

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 May 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how it supports older people in remote and rural areas.