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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-20579

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 8 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many people who have registered for alternative routes into teaching are within (a) 10 and (b) 11 to 20 years of the state retirement age.

Question reference: S5W-20577

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 8 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the report in the TES on 10 December 2018 of a shortfall in the uptake of alternative routes into teaching, and what additional measures it is taking to increase the number of STEM teachers in light of the reported shortfall in that area.

A total of eleven alternative routes were announced in November 2016 and an additional two routes have since been added to that package.

The focus of these programmes includes attracting new teachers into the classroom more quickly for priority Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) subjects by combining post-graduate education with the teacher probation year, providing targeted help for former teachers looking to return to the profession, and developing teachers able to work in both primary and secondary schools.

Each of the universities delivering these programmes are working to projected intakes rather than targets. Where appropriate, actual student intakes for some have been included in overall primary and secondary undergraduate and postgraduate numbers reported by the universities, which complicates the public reporting of their impact.

To be clear, for academic year 2017-18 those universities offering alternative routes have confirmed that a total of 388 students started on these programmes. Given each varies in terms of start date and length, we will not be in a position to confirm the total 2018-19 student intake until April 2019 at the earliest. We do, however, expect the number of graduates from these programmes to exceed the target that was set when the alternative routes initiative was announced, which was to support more than 200 new teachers to join the profession in Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-20445

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 18 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many Cabinet sub-committees there are; what the membership of each is, and when each last met.

There are three current Cabinet Sub-Committees: the Cabinet Sub-Committee on Legislation; the Cabinet Sub-Committee on Public Service Reform Delivery; and the Cabinet Sub-Committee on Climate Change. Their memberships and the dates of their last meetings are as follows.

CABINET SUB-COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATION
Last meeting: This Sub-Committee considers its business in correspondence.

Membership:
Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills (Chair)
Cabinet Secretary for Government Business and Constitutional Relations
Minister for Parliamentary Business and Veterans
Lord Advocate

CABINET SUB-COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SERVICE REFORM DELIVERY
Last meeting: 18 September 2018

Membership:
Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills (Chair)
Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Local Government
Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Economy and Fair Work
Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport
Cabinet Secretary for Justice
Cabinet Secretary for Social Security and Older People
Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity

CABINET SUB-COMMITTEE ON CLIMATE CHANGE
Last meeting: 31 October 2017

Membership:
Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform (Chair)Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Local Government
Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Economy and Fair Work
Cabinet Secretary for the Rural Economy
Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity
Minister for Energy, Connectivity and the Islands
Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning

Question reference: S5W-20407

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 14 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish the responses received to the Scottish 4G Infill Programme Consultation, and when it will respond to the results of the consultation.

The Scottish Government will publish responses to the Scottish 4G Infill Programme consultation by the end of January 2019.

We are currently working with the Scottish Futures Trust, WHP Telecoms and technical advisors to the programme to analyse consultation responses. In parallel, WHP is assessing the potential candidate sites with the mobile network operators to determine viability. We will also announce additional sites to be added to the programme in early 2019.

Question reference: S5W-20342

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 13 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its work plan from March 2018 in response to the recommendations by the Education and Culture Committee regarding its 2015 inquiry into attainment of pupils with sensory impairment, when the final guidance on the presumption of mainstreaming will be published, and whether a (a) survey with local authorities on habilitation has been undertaken, (b) working group has been set up to respond to the results of the survey and (c) working group has been set up to review the competency guidance for teachers of children and young people who are hearing and/or visually impaired.

The issue of the timing of the publication of the final guidance on the presumption of mainstreaming was answered on 4 December 2018 to question S5W-20098 from Iain Gray MSP: http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx?SearchType=Advance&ReferenceNumbers=S5W-20098&ResultsPerPage=10 .

In response to part (a) and (b) of the question, officials have recently revisited this work and have a new approach in place. A working group to take forward this work has been set up and an initial scoping meeting was held on 17 October 2018 with Scottish Government, Education Scotland and Guide Dogs for Scotland.

It was agreed that an audit undertaken by the Visual Impairment Network for Children and Young People (VINCYP) which covers: the number of habilitation specialists ; where they are located; type of habilitation service provision; when and where provision is provided; and qualifications of staff ; and research undertaken on behalf of Guide Dogs for Scotland could provide a baseline of habilitation services without the need to undertake a survey with local authorities.

The group agreed to meet again in January 2019 to discuss both of these pieces of work with a view to agreeing whether there is a need to undertake additional research or if a baseline can be established using the audit undertaken by VINCYP and research undertaken by Guide Dogs for Scotland. The group will also begin work to identify good practice and explore habilitation models outwith Scotland.

In response to part (c) of the question, a working group has been set up to review the competency guidance for teachers of children and young people who are hearing and/or visually impaired, with representation from key stakeholders such as Scottish Sensory Centre and the General Teaching Council for Scotland. The group held its first meeting on 24 September 2018 and is due to next meet on 14 January 2019. We aim to publish the updated guidance before summer 2019.

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 .

Question reference: S5W-20093

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 6 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-19820 by Kevin Stewart on 21 November 2018, in light of section 8 of the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018, which states that an islands communities impact assessment must be carried out if a policy "is likely to have an effect on an island community which is significantly different from its effect on other communities (including other island communities) in the area in which the authority exercises its function", whether it will confirm what the provisions are of that Act that do not oblige it to prepare such an assessment with regard to the Fuel Poverty (Target, Definition and Strategy) (Scotland) Bill.

The provisions of the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 ("the Act") relating to island communities impact assessments ("ICIA"), do not apply to the Fuel Poverty (Target, Definition and Strategy) (Scotland) Bill because it was laid before Parliament on 26 June 2018, prior to the Act coming into force on 6 July 2018. However, as we confirmed in S5W-19820, we are committed to undertaking an island communities impact assessment for the Bill as a matter of good practice.

Question reference: S5W-20167

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 23 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 6 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-19840 by Paul Wheelhouse on 21 November 2018, whether the freight vessel that will be used on the Stromness-Scrabster route will be removed from the Lerwick-Aberdeen service for this period and, if so, what the implications of this will be for freight exports between Lerwick and Aberdeen for the seafood and other sectors.

The freight vessel, the MV helliar, will provide relief cover for the MV Hamnavoe for around one week.

The operator, Serco NorthLink Ferries, has confirmed that no southbound sailings from Lerwick will be affected, thus minimising the impact on the seafood sector. The northbound sailing from Aberdeen on Wednesday 16 January has however been cancelled.

Serco NorthLink Ferries has been and will continue to work collaboratively with customers and hauliers to ensure all freight volumes from the Northern Isles are shipped timeously.

Question reference: S5O-02681

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 December 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made in repatriating ophthalmology services from NHS Grampian to island NHS boards.

Question reference: S5W-20078

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 27 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what the daily charge for car parking will be at (a) Sumburgh, (b) Kirkwall and (c) Stornoway airport in the next financial year.

Question reference: S5W-19869

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 12 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 27 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what the income from security charges for airline operators of passenger, cargo and mail flights at Inverness Airport has been in each of the last five years.