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The Scottish Government has had no discussions with the Department for Transport about the use of single-engine seaplanes in instrument meteorological conditions.

There has been no Scottish Government assessment of developing seaplane operations in the Highlands and Islands.

Tendering for the Northern Isles and Clyde and Hebrides ferry service contracts is a requirement under European law. The case for lengthening the six year maximum contract length for ferry services is an issue which I am continuing to raise with the European Commission.

During the last contract year, 1 October 2011 to 30 September 2012, out of a total of 1,309 scheduled sailings of the MV Isle of Lewis, 11 sailings were cancelled due to technical issues.

This proposal was submitted by CalMac to Transport Scotland on 27 August 2012.

Delivery of the Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE) is led by Skills Development Scotland with partners including Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

During August 2012, representatives from the local PACE team met with employees of HEROtsc to outline the range of support available through PACE. This was followed by individual face to face interventions to provide initial support and an assessment of ongoing support.

On 5 September 2012, the local PACE Team and representatives from HEROtsc organised a jobs fair. All employees were given the opportunity to be released from work to meet with PACE Partners, employers who were known to be actively recruiting and several recruitment organisations.

Feedback from employees was very positive and we understand that so far at least 50% of employees have secured employment or training.

The ring-fence provisions continue to provide a degree of protection for the creameries of Arran and Campbeltown, which fulfil an important economic role in the local communities as well as effectively guaranteeing a market for all the raw milk produced by the local dairy farmers.

The purpose of the ring-fence provisions is to provide a degree of protection for the island creameries which fulfil an important economic role in their local community as well as effectively guaranteeing a market for raw milk produced by local farmers.

At my request, a review of the Scottish Milk Quota Ring Fences Provisions was carried out by the Scottish Agriculture College (SAC) in December 2011. The SAC review concluded that the ring fence provisions should continue until 2015 when the milk quota system is due to be removed by the EU Commission.

During August 2012 Northern Constabulary and Tayside Police conducted a joint 10 day enforcement initiative on the A9 between Inverness and Perth that included participation by VOSA and the Safety Camera Partnerships. In addition to speeding offences detected randomly by police patrols, mobile safety cameras were deployed as part of the Scottish Safety Camera Programme at various locations established either as sites that meet specific accident and casualty criteria, or as part of a route strategy to address accidents spread over longer sections of road.

Mobile cameras were deployed on the route every day during the campaign period on no less than 32 occasions. None of the camera locations was less than about 1.5m from the end of a dual carriageway and all vehicles from which the cameras were used, were marked to national livery standards and used on relatively straight sections of road to satisfy equipment and programme conspicuity requirements.