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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: S4W-25931

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 June 2015
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 18 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Beauly to Denny transmission line is at capacity and, if so, what plans are in place to support any future upgrade.

The Beauly to Denny transmission line is on track to become fully energised by November 2015. It will not operate at its full capacity initially as other circuits on the east coast will reach their full capacity before Beauly to Denny.

Network reinforcement requirements are kept under continual review, based on current future energy scenarios there are no immediate plans to upgrade the Beauly to Denny circuit.

Question reference: S4W-25928

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 June 2015
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 16 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects superfast broadband to be rolled out to Stronsay and the other outer north isles of Orkney.

The Scottish Government and its public and private sector partners are investing over £410 million in the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) programme to deliver fibre broadband to 85% premises by 2015-16 and 95% by 2017-18. Significant benefits are being delivered to Orkney where no commercial rollout was planned. Whilst the programme is not currently scheduled to roll out in Stronsay, delivery in Westray is expected later in 2015.

Furthermore, we are currently assessing options around a second phase of broadband funding which has the potential to further extend coverage across Orkney. We expect to announce decisions around this phase later in 2015.

Complementing the DSSB programme, Community Broadband Scotland is actively engaged with a number of community groups in Orkney – including some from the outer north isles – with a view to developing and delivering an aggregated broadband solution to areas ultimately outwith the scope of DSSB.

Question reference: S4W-25926

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 June 2015
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 16 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to replacing the air ambulance helicopter with a fixed-wing aircraft based in Orkney.

The management and deployment of air ambulance services is an operational matter for the Scottish Ambulance Service which it contracts out to a specialist provider.

The service recently completed a re-procurement programme of its air ambulance services which involved consulting with a range of stakeholders including the public in remote and rural localities. The contract was awarded to Gama Aviation in partnership with Bond Air Services Ltd and runs from 2013 to 2020 providing both rotary and fixed wing air ambulance services throughout Scotland. The present contractual model includes two fixed wing aircraft, one based in Aberdeen and the other in Glasgow, and two helicopters, one based in Inverness and the other in Glasgow.

Question reference: S4T-01060

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 15 June 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to figures suggesting that there are no head or deputy headteachers from black or minority ethnic backgrounds.

Question reference: S4W-25933

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 June 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 10 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what formula it used to calculate fares for (a) cars and (b) passengers on ferry services between Colintraive and Rhubodach.

The Road Equivalent Tariff (RET) formulae from 2013 were used to calculate the RET fares for the October 2015 roll out, of RET to the Colintraive-Rhubodach service.

For cars, this is a fixed element of £5 plus £0.80 per mile and for passengers this is a fixed element of £2 plus £0.13 per mile. The annual Consumer Price Index increases and rounding for 2014 and 2015 were then applied, to ensure that fares on new RET routes are consistent with existing RET routes.

In cases where RET would be more expensive than the standard multi-journey single equivalent, fares will be initially capped at the lower level. This is the case for the passenger fare on Colintraive to Rhubodach.

Question reference: S4W-25929

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 June 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 10 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Orkney Islands Council about when the islands' internal ferry fleet will be replaced.

Question reference: S4W-25685

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 May 2015
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 3 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it (a) has taken and (b) will take to improve mobile phone coverage in rural and island areas.

Achieving widespread 4G coverage throughout rural Scotland, whilst ensuring that the gap between those who don’t receive 3G or even 2G services doesn’t widen, is a priority for the Scottish Government. A fundamental part of our World Class Digital programme is to assess different models to address 4G coverage gaps, exemplified by our pilot project on Coll which went live in March 2015. This has delivered access to 2G/3G/4G services on the island using a community-owned mast in partnership with Vodafone.

Scottish Futures Trust, in partnership with the Scottish Government, is developing further pilots based on alternative approaches that can be conducted under current powers. These have the potential to set improved conditions to encourage commercial investment in currently unviable areas. Learning outcomes from this work will help us determine what could be scalable in future.

Question reference: S4W-25686

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 May 2015
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 3 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to the use of mobile repeaters to help extend mobile phone coverage in rural and island areas and with what conclusions.

Mobile repeaters are routinely used by mobile operators to extend their network coverage, predominantly in urban areas.

As part of our Demonstrating Digital programme, together with industry, we are exploring methods to demonstrate more cost effective rural coverage. These could include repeaters if the mobile operators consider their use to be a viable solution.

However the use of mobile repeaters independently of a partnership with a mobile operator is not viable as the unlicensed use of these devices is illegal in the United Kingdom.

Question reference: S4F-02841

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 01 June 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 June 2015

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's position is on reports that teachers are working 11 hours each week on top of their contracted hours.

Question reference: S4W-25518

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 May 2015
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 29 May 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment the National Scottish Steering Group for Educational Psychologists has made of (a) the suitability of the funding support available for students and (b) current and future staffing levels in the sector.

We are currently funding a position in Education Scotland to work with the National Scottish Steering Group for Educational Psychologists (NSSGEP) to undertake a workforce planning project for educational psychology services in Scotland. As part of this project, a workforce planning survey and work sampling exercise are underway and the data will be analysed and reported on later in 2015. This will help inform the NSSGEP of the suitability of funding support for educational psychology students and of current and likely future staffing levels in the sector.