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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: S6W-32716

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 16 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many community pharmacies there were in NHS (a) Highland, (b) Grampian, (c) Orkney, (d) Shetland and (e) Western Isles areas on 31 December (i) 2021, (ii) 2022, (iii) 2023 and (iv) 2024.

Question reference: S6W-33134

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 16 January 2025

A breakdown of successful and unsuccessful applications for the last four financial years has been provided in the following table as requested:

	Approved Applicants	Not Approved Applicants
2021	42	149
2022	23	49
2023	22	53
2024	17	45

Information on approved applications for the Regional Food Fund is published on the Scotland Food & Drink website and can be found at the following link: Regional Food Fund | Scotland Food & Drink.

Question reference: S6O-04221

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its plans for future agricultural support.

Question reference: S6W-33124

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 15 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding was awarded to businesses in (a) Argyll and Bute, (b) the Western Isles, (c) the Highlands, (d) Orkney, (e) Shetland and (f) Moray from the Regional Food Fund in the (a) 2021, (b) 2022, (c) 2023 and (d) 2024 round.

A breakdown of funding per year and requested areas for the last three financial years has been provided below as requested:

	2021	2022	2023
Argyll	£26,042	£10,000	£5,000
Western isles	-	-	£5,000
Highlands	£34,262	£10,000	£10,000
Orkney	£5,000	-	-
Shetland	£5,000	£4,957	£2,700
Moray	-	-	£9,900

Final funding for financial year 2024-25 will not be available until April 2025.

Information on funding awarded to projects from the Regional Food Fund is published on the Scotland Food & Drink website and can be found at the following link: Regional Food Fund | Scotland Food & Drink.

Question reference: S6W-32718

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 15 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many mobile community pharmacies there are in the NHS (a) Highland, (b) Grampian, (c) Orkney, (d) Shetland and (e) Western Isles area.

Question reference: S6W-32736

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 13 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what cost-benefit analysis Creative Scotland carries out of the organisations that it provides (a) single-year and (b) multi-year funding to.

As per Creative Scotland’s (CS) Regular Funding Organisation (RFO) handbook, CS works with organisations to ensure that expectations such as contribution to the development of the sector, best practice governance, management and leadership, and resilient financial health are met.

RFOs provide data and reports to CS on an annual basis and further detail on the monitoring data and information that CS gather can be found here: Project Monitoring | Creative Scotland

CS’ other funding activity to organisations is based on their Strategic Priorities and Funding Criteria, which is available on the following link: Strategic Framework and Funding Criteria | Creative Scotland

Question reference: S6W-32729

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 13 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding Creative Scotland has distributed to organisations registered in the European Union in each year since 2021-22.

Since 2021-22, Creative Scotland distributed £251k to organisations registered in the EU (plus Norway). Full breakdown as follows:

Financial Year	Number of Applications	Awarded Amount*
2021-22	1	25,000.00
France	1	25,000.00
2022-23	5	85,197.00
France	2	30,000.00
Luxembourg	1	21,197.00
Netherlands	1	4,000.00
Norway	1	30,000.00
2023-24	6	84,380.00
France	1	25,000.00
Germany	2	14,200.00
Italy	1	17,680.00
Netherlands	1	2,500.00
Norway	1	25,000.00
2024-25	4	56,800.00
Denmark	1	40,000.00
Germany	2	14,200.00
Netherlands	1	2,600.00
Grand Total	16	251,377.00

*Figures includes some COVID-19 emergency funding

Question reference: S6W-32723

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 13 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many productions organised Scottish Opera have taken place in (a) the Highlands and Islands Region and (b) nationally in each year since 2021.

Since April 2021, Scottish Opera has undertaken the following number of productions in Scotland and in the Highlands and Islands region:

Financial year	No of productions in Scotland	No of productions within Highlands and Islands	Details of engagements in Highlands and Islands
2021-2022	322	88	16 Opera Highlights; 54 outdoor pop-up performances; 12 schools performances; 6 large venue performances
2022-2023	240	66	17 Opera Highlights; 18 Pop-up performances (6 locations); 9 BambinO - Opera for Babies, 13 schools performances, 6 large venue performances
2023-2024	275	63	17 Opera Highlights; 26 pop-up performances; 16 school performances; 4 large venue performances
2024-2025	223	67	13 Opera Highlights; 11 community workshops; 20 pop-up performances; 19 school performances; 4 large venue performances

Question reference: S6W-32719

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 13 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will review its decision not to proceed with any of the fixed link options proposed in the second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2), in light of its announcement that it will make specific funding available to support connectivity in the Northern Isles, as set out in its draft Budget 2025-26.

The Scottish Government remains committed to taking forward work on the three proposed fixed links identified as part of the second Strategic Transport Review (STPR2) under Recommendation 41. Noting that STPR2 is a long term plan, the next step is in determining whether there is a robust enough business case and local support to progress these options for more detailed consideration.

The business cases for a potential Sound of Harris, Sound of Barra fixed links and a fixed link between Mull and Scottish mainland would need to consider the benefits, costs and challenges associated with these interventions and would further consider the feasibility of improving island connectivity through additional fixed links.

The funding allocated in the draft Budget is for Orkney and Shetland Councils to improve inter-island connectivity in the way that best meets local needs, therefore distinct from the STPR2 recommendation.

Question reference: S6W-32728

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 13 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding Creative Scotland has distributed to organisations registered in (a) England, (b) Wales and (c) Northern Ireland in each each year since 2021-22.

Since 2021-22, Creative Scotland has distributed £19.1m to organisations registered in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Funding distributed to organisations with a base outside Scotland will either have an office in Scotland and/or the funded activity will be related to work in Scotland. Full breakdown as follows:

Financial Year	Number of Applications	Awarded Amount
2021-22	102	8,054,015.00*
England	94	7,986,035.00
Northern Ireland	4	20,480.00
Wales	4	47,500.00
2022-23	63	2,654,155.00
England	61	2,609,065.00
Wales	2	45,090.00
2023-24	87	5,891,529.50
England	82	5,851,986.50
Northern Ireland	4	32,543.00
Wales	1	7,000.00
2024-25	49	2,513,499.00
England	48	2,499,696.00
Northern Ireland	1	13,803.00
Grand Total	301	19,113,198.50

*Figure includes some COVID-19 Emergency Funding

NHS Board	(i) 2021	(ii) 2022	(Iii) 2023	(iv) 2024
(a) Highland	132	132	131	130
(b) Grampian	83	85	83	81
(c) Orkney	4	4	4	4
(d) Shetland	5	5	5	5
(e) Western Isles	3	3	3	3