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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-11608

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 1 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-10712 by Mairi Gougeon on 26 September 2022, how the Scottish Government plans to allocate the outstanding £4.7 million it previously committed to spending over this parliamentary session on the Islands Bond scheme.

Annual budgets continue to be set through the annual parliamentary budget Bill process and the annual budget will be based on the latest fiscal information to support our priorities across Scotland.

The Scottish Government remains committed to supporting islands investment and will continue to review this as part of that annual budget process.

As outlined in the response to question S6W-10712 , £300,000 had been allocated to the delivery of the Islands Bond in the 2022-23 Financial Year. This funding will support the delivery of projects that will, in turn, influence the development of our Addressing Depopulation Action Plan.

The Islands Bond was a capital funding commitment. In this context, it is important to highlight that our capital allocations have been significantly restrained as result of the UK Government’s own spending review. The impact of this is that the Scottish Government received £175 million less than we had expected. The capital allocations that Scottish Government are receiving are flat, and will fall over the course of the next few years. As such, we must prioritise as best we can within that context.

However, it is important to understand that the Islands Bond was not the sole intervention aimed at supporting our island communities. This financial year, the Scottish Government has announced a £4.45 million funding package to help improve infrastructure on Scotland’s islands.

This capital investment is supporting all six island local authorities to fund the improvement, creation or safeguarding of locally developed infrastructure projects that align with the Strategic Objectives of the National Islands Plan.

The largest single award for 2022-23 will support a major new nursery development on mainland Orkney, benefitting all of Orkney’s islands. This project is linked to population retention and growth, whilst also addressing child poverty and providing practical training opportunities for employment in an industry facing severe shortages locally.

Question reference: S6W-11357

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the implementation of the 2018 General Medical Services (GMS) Contract in Scotland, particularly in regards to rural GPs.

The Scottish Government published a summary of progress towards implementation of the 2018 GMS Contract and its associated Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in June 2022:

Primary care improvement plans: summary of implementation progress - March 2022 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

As the publication sets out, there are now 3,220 whole time equivalent (WTE) healthcare professionals, such as pharmacists, mental health workers and physiotherapists, recruited into multi-disciplinary teams supporting general practice teams. Of this total, nearly 700 are working in areas with remote and rural communities.

It should, however, be noted that it is not expected that all GP practices in Scotland will take up these NHS Board provided services. As service delivery models are designed specifically according to local population needs, there are variations in approach across the country.

The next progress update will be published in summer 2023.

We are also actively incentivising remote and rural General Practice in several ways. The Golden Hello scheme offers a one-off bursary of £10,000 to every GP taking up an eligible post in a remote and rural area.

Furthermore, ScotGEM is a four-year graduate-entry medical degree which began in 2018, with a focus on rural medicine and healthcare improvement, supporting graduates to choose careers in general practice. Students on the ScotGEM course are offered a 'return of service' bursary, a grant worth up to £16,000 in total, in exchange for working in NHS Scotland for up to four years. 70 places will be offered on the course from 2022-23 onwards, following an increase of 15 places in line with the recent PfG commitment.

The Scottish Government is also working closely with partners including the Scottish Rural Medicine Collaborative (SRMC) to find solutions for remote and rural GP recruitment. The four rural boards in the north of Scotland have piloted an innovative recruitment campaign called Rediscover The Joy (RTJ). RTJ aims to recruit experienced GPs to provide support for remote and rural practices and, to date, this has been an initiative run in NHS Shetland, Orkney, Highland and Western Isles.

Question reference: S6O-01459

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 October 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the steps it is taking to tackle violence against women.

Question reference: S6W-10802

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 02 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 11 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether Kinloch Castle, Isle of Rum, (a) has been sold, (b) is in the process of being sold and (c) has been offered to the community.

NatureScot, as custodians of the castle are in the process of negotiating a private sale and the castle estate is under offer. Private sale comes on the back of previous attempts to secure a sustainable future via other routes, including Community Asset Transfer under the provisions of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015. NatureScot are actively engaged with the Isle of Rum Community Trust (IRCT), as part of sale process.

Question reference: S6W-11184

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 23 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 6 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-10424 by Humza Yousaf on 20 September 2022, whether it will provide an indication of in which year this review will take place.

Question reference: S6W-11123

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 5 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether there have been any changes to the A83 Task Force, including (a) to its (i) attendees and (ii) meeting frequency and (b) whether it will be independently chaired.

With the exception of two additional MSPs being invited to the Taskforce meeting on 29 September 2022, there has been no changes to the recent core attendee list.

I agreed at the last Taskforce meeting on 29 September to increase the frequency of meetings to three times per year, the next Taskforce meeting will be held January 2023, after the medium term proposals have been announced. In relation to the suggestion to appoint an independent chair I put it to the Taskforce members for discussion and it was agreed at the meeting I would chair the Taskforce meetings going forward.

Question reference: S6W-11120

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 5 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what financial preparations have been put in place ahead of the selection of the medium-term solution for the A83 Rest and Be Thankful.

Question reference: S6W-11122

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 5 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when the preliminary ground investigations at the A83 Rest and Be Thankful will be completed.

Question reference: S6W-11121

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 5 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when in 2022 the medium-term solution for the A83 Rest and Be Thankful will be selected and published.

Question reference: S6W-10724

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 29 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what assistance it has given to the energy sector, including the European Marine Energy Centre, to create funding opportunities to replace the research and development funding landscape that was accessible prior to the UK leaving the EU.

The Scottish Government is committed to working with the energy sector and continues to provide support in a number of ways. For example:

£5 million provided through the Saltire Tidal Energy Challenge Fund to support tidal energy innovation and deployment.
£18.25 million funding to support the current Wave Energy Scotland technology programme, the biggest wave energy technology development programme in the world.
£10 million hydrogen innovation scheme under the Emerging Energy Technologies Fund, which will focus on innovation in hydrogen production, storage and distribution technology.
£75 million Just Transition fund to support the energy sector, including testing and promoting emerging technologies such as EV battery recycling technology, offshore green hydrogen and commissioning.

The Scottish Government has provided consistent support for Scotland’s marine energy sector for over a decade. As a result, Scotland is the most advanced hub in Europe for the testing and demonstration of marine energy technologies and is ideally placed to both shape and benefit from the potential global marine energy market. We will continue to support the sector as it grows, and Marine Scotland will continue to address evidence gaps through the Scottish Marine Energy Research Programme.