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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: S5W-23141

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 28 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will extend the deadline for applications for single farm payments where mapping changes have recently been advised.

The closing date of 15 May has now passed and was not extended. Staff in offices across the country have provided support to producers with questions on mapping and other related issues allowing the timeous submission of some 19,500 Single Application Forms (SAFs). The numbers submitted are in line with our expectations for 2019.

Currently there are 19,561 SAFs submitted for 2019 but the application window (ends 9th June) is still open and we are still receiving applications. The total number of SAFs submitted for 2018 was 19766.

The percentage of SAFs 2018 which are submitted on-line was 88.6%, compared with 90.3% for SAFs submitted online in 2019 which is the highest percentage of on-line applications received.

Question reference: S5W-23143

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 28 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what the reasons are for the delays in it processing land inspection information from 2018.

We have been working across multiple systems to process land inspection findings. The opportunity arose to apply some land changes required to complete 2018 land inspections. The purpose of providing land inspection information is to provide additional assurance to applicants when completing their Single Application Form (SAF) 2019. Where the information was available it was provided to applicants ahead of the SAF application deadline.

Question reference: S5W-23142

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 28 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it made changes to the mapping process for single farm payments applications so close to the deadline for submitting them.

Question reference: S5O-03286

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 22 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to support health services in rural areas.

The new GP contract, developed in partnership with the BMA, is helping cut doctors' workload and make general practice a more attractive career in rural and urban practices. It enhances the GP role as Expert Medical Generalists supported by multidisciplinary teams, dedicating more time to patients most in need of their skills.

In addition, we are supporting rural general practice with a comprehensive package of measures:

We have significantly enhanced recruitment incentives from the 2004 GP contract in 2018/19 by investing £400,000 in recruitment incentives for rural GP posts across Scotland, and £200,000 for relocation costs for GPs moving to rural posts.
Since 2016 we have supported the Scottish Rural Medical Collaborative to develop recruitment and sustainability measures. In 2018/19 our investment in SRMC was £200,000 and this is recurring for 2019/20.
In 2018/19 we invested £150,000 to support IT improvements to rural Health Boards.
We have invested £500,000 in 2018/19 and £300,000 in 2019/20 to support rural dispensing practices. From 2018/19 and continuing for 2019/20, we are investing over £200,000 to support GP recruitment and resilience schemes specifically serving rural areas.

Question reference: S5O-03194

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many families in the Highlands and Islands have been awarded a Best Start Grant Pregnancy and Baby Payment since December 2018, and how many have had their applications rejected.

Question reference: S5O-03146

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 April 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Highlands and Islands Airports Limited regarding the incident on 5 April 2019 when a plane left Kirkwall Airport without air traffic control clearance.

Question reference: S5W-22443

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 01 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 15 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many rail services were (a) cancelled or (b) delayed, broken down by minutes delayed, following the breakdown of a freight train on the single track north of Dalwhinnie on 11 March 2019.

Question reference: S5W-22447

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 01 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 15 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government when double-tracking will be installed on the railway line north of Dalwhinnie to prevent blockages, such as that caused by the breakdown of a freight train on 11 March 2019.

Currently there are no plans to double track the Highland Mainline North of Dalwhinnie.

The completion, on 25 March 2019, of phase 2 of the Highland Mainline enhancements programme on time and under budget has delivered new infrastructure which provides an immediate performance and resilience enhancement onto the route. This will allow the roll out of improved ScotRail Inter7city services as the re-engineered High Speed Trains are delivered.

The long-term goal of the Highland Mainline enhancements programme seeks to achieve a fastest journey time of 2 hours 45 minutes between Inverness and the Central Belt with an average journey time of 3 hours and an hourly service by 2025.

The exact scope and timing of works for future phases has yet to be determined and will be led initially by the forthcoming refresh of the Scottish Government’s Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR). The STPR will be informed by a review of our National Transport Strategy (NTS) which is underway. To achieve these outputs, an increase in double tracking may be required, however, interventions will be determined through Network Rail’s development process.

Question reference: S5W-22302

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 4 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has carried out an islands impact assessment of the Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL) remote towers project and, if so, whether it will publish the findings.

Question reference: S5W-22301

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 3 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many jobs will be (a) directly and (b) indirectly lost because of the Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL) remote towers project, also broken down by the total value in salaries lost, and what the economic impact will be on each community affected.