- Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 22 January 2020
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-25733 by Paul Wheelhouse on 30 October 2019, whether it will provide an update regarding by what date section 14 of the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 will come into force.
Answer
Guidance and templates relating to Section 14 of the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018, which refer to retrospective Island Communities Impact Assessments (ICIAs), are being developed.
We have analysed the responses received during the extensive consultation process, and policy instructions are now being drafted. Officials are also working to finalise an illustrative timetable and, ideally, the regulations will come into force prior to the Summer recess.
- Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 December 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 14 January 2020
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on when the final National Islands Plan will be published.
Answer
As set out in Programme for Government, the National Islands Plan was published on 27 December 2019.
- Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 13 January 2020
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 14 January 2020
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that the number of primary schools exceeding their capacity has increased by a third since 2009.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 14 January 2020
- Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 16 December 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 10 January 2020
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills to the Education and Skills Committee, which was referred to at the meeting of the Public Petitions Committee on 19 September 2019 (Official Report, c.10), whether officials have reviewed the guidance on home education, which the Cabinet Secretary indicated would be undertaken in 2019, and whether any changes have been made.
Answer
My officials are continuing to review the current Home Education guidance. Officials met and corresponded with local authorities and representatives of home education organisations during 2019. Their views are currently being considered and an updated version of the guidance will be prepared for consultation in 2020.
I wrote to Johann Lamont MSP, Convener of the Public Petitions Committee on 19 October 2019 and confirmed that my officials will inform the Committee when a revised version of the Home Education Guidance is published for consultation.
- Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 18 November 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 28 November 2019
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the details about which organisation has submitted the most competitive bid not being publicly available, for what reason a spokesperson for David MacBrayne Ltd was able to comment in The Herald on 12 October 2019 that CalMac had "won the tender for the Northern Isles ferry services on price".
Answer
The purpose of the tender is to attract the Most Economically Advantageous Tender, based on an evaluation criteria of 65% price and 35% quality. This was explained in the Invitation to Tender, issued to bidders on 17 January 2019. The instructions to participants, also issued to bidders on 17 January 2019, made clear how tenders would be evaluated.
As the procurement procedure remains ongoing until the contract is formally awarded, there is a limit on what we can say due to the commercially sensitive nature of the competition.
We will publish the contract on Transport Scotland's website following the completion of the procurement process, redacted as appropriate to protect matters of commercial confidentiality.
- Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 11 November 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 27 November 2019
To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made on the business case submitted by Shetland Islands Council for funding to replace the ferry, Good Shepherd IV, and associated infrastructure upgrades, which connects Fair Isle to mainland Shetland.
Answer
Shetland Islands Council (SIC) is wholly responsible for the inter-island ferry services which it provides. Consequently, SIC currently remains wholly responsible for its vessels and infrastructure, and for planning for their replacement.
However, the Scottish Government understands that significant financial challenges can fall on individual local authorities such as Shetland and, in these exceptional circumstances, we have provided additional one-year funding to SIC of £5.0m in 2018-19 and £5.2m in 2019-20, or a total of £10.2m in the last two financial years, to support the operation of SIC’s internal ferry services, in addition to grant-in-aid funding through the annual financial settlement for local government.
Transport Scotland, on the behalf of the Scottish Ministers, continues to discuss long term solutions with both SIC and Orkney Islands Council (OIC). We are now considering, the final report from the officials working group which we established to examine these issues. This report included SIC’s preferred option and estimated capital costs for investment in ensuring the sustainability of the Fair Isle service. SIC expects to finalise, and submit, its more detailed Outline Business Case for the replacement of their Fair Isle vessel in the coming weeks and we will continue to engage with SIC on the financial sustainability of Shetland’s internal ferry services.
- Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 11 November 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 26 November 2019
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the progress of the Shetland sites included in the 4G infill programme.
Answer
The Scottish 4G Infill (S4GI) Programme is working to deliver three sites in the Shetland Isles: Reawick, Foula and Bruray. A fundamental requirement for progressing any S4GI site to build is gaining commitment from at least one mobile network operator to use the mast. In addition, we also require agreements with landowners as well as securing planning permission.
At Raewick, agreement with a mobile network operator has been reached and we anticipate site build to commence in early 2020. However at this stage no firm timescale for the availability of 4G services can be provided.
Whilst the site at Foula yielded some initial interest from a mobile network operator, no definite commitment can be confirmed at this time. At present, no mobile network operator has shown interest in using the Bruray site.
Progress updates to the programme will be published on the Scottish Government’s website.
- Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 04 November 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Fergus Ewing on 18 November 2019
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-14527 by Fergus Ewing on 28 February 2018, whether it will provide an update on what meetings it has had with stakeholders regarding the seafood import provision of the US Marine Mammal Protection Act.
Answer
Since February 2018, the Scottish Government has been in frequent dialogue with stakeholders about the import provisions of the US Marine Mammal Protection Act, in order to ensure that Scotland can continue to export quality Scottish seafood to the US.
Details of specific meetings include:
- March 2018 – SFIA: Seafood Regulation Expert Group.
- July 2018 – Scottish Government internal conference call.
- May 2018 – Meeting with Scottish Government and Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation.
- October 2018 - Meeting with Officials from Canada, Chile, Norway and Scotland under the auspices of the International Memorandum of Understanding on aquaculture.
- May 2019 – Meeting with Scottish Government and Faroese Government.
- July 2019 – Conference with Scottish Government and the Department for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs.
- August 2019 - Conference call with Scottish Government and the Department for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs, Marine Management Organisation, Seafish and Joint Nature Conservation Committee.
- August 2019 – Meeting with Officials from Canada, Chile, Norway and Scotland under the auspices of the International Memorandum of Understanding on aquaculture.
- September 2019 – Meeting with Scottish Government and Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation.
- October 2019 – Meeting with Scottish Government and Genuswave.
- November 2019 – Conference call with Scottish Government and the British Trout Association.
- Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 October 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 6 November 2019
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-24895 by Maree Todd on 23 September 2019, on what date it first requested administrative data about potentially eligible households from the UK Government, and whether it will place a copy of the requests sent and responses received to date in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe).
Answer
DWP provide aggregate data to SG to estimate eligible 2s when new data becomes available. This is part of our ongoing relationship. Use of aggregate, administrative data for analytic purposes does not require creation of a new gateway. We are in regular contact with DWP on a range of data sharing issues. As outlined in my response to S5W-25751 on 6 November 2019, regular updates are requested inside our ongoing working relationship, but DWP are not currently able to provide an expected date for the supply of the latest data. 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: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 October 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 6 November 2019
To ask the Scottish Government to what extent it met the national enrolment targets for Early Learning and Childcare courses in (a) 2017-18 and (b) 2018-19.
Answer
The Scottish Government Letter of Guidance to the Scottish Funding Council for academic year 2017-18 sought an additional 650 places on Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) related HNC courses. The number of people completing ELC related HNC courses in the 2017-18 academic year was 1,564.
An additional 350 places at graduate level were also sought for the 2017-18 academic year. The number of people entering such courses in 2017-18 was 645.
Information for academic year 2018-19 will be available for graduate level courses in December 2019 and for HNC courses in January 2020.
