Chamber and committees

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-00554

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 21 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will list those circumstances in which grants paid to grazing committees from public funds for agricultural and environmental schemes should be distributed in the first instance to individual shareholders, and what safeguards there are to ensure that public funds allocated in this way are used for the intended purposes.

Common grazings regulations, which are individual to a specific common grazing, may include provisions on the disbursement of funds. Generally, common grazings regulations are made by the grazings committees themselves and are confirmed, with or without modifications, by the crofting commission.

The crofters (Scotland) Act 1993 does not require the immediate disbursement of funds by a grazings committee.

As regards to the specific safeguards in place, this would depend on the type of funding involved. For Scottish Government administered schemes such as the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme, there are a number of safeguards in place in terms of administrative and inspection checks.

The Scottish Government carries out a range of administrative checks that funding from our support schemes is being used correctly. These checks are in addition to those that are made when an application is submitted and assessed. Some cases may also be subject to further detailed inspection checks.

More information on administrative and inspection checks is available on the rural payments website: https://www.ruralpayments.org

Question reference: S5W-00620

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 21 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the greater number of passengers than anticipated on the Borders Railway line, what Transport Scotland is doing to adjust its passenger forecasting formula.

There will always be an element of uncertainty present with forecasting, particularly considering the unique nature of the borders railway, which is the longest stretch of new railway line to be built in the UK in the last 100 years.

The forecasting methodology used for the borders railway was in line with industry practice and incorporates evidence gathered in the borders region. Transport Scotland keeps forecasting methodology under constant review to ensure best practice and we will draw on evidence, including evidence from the borders railway, to inform future appraisals.

Question reference: S5W-00619

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 21 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) most recent and (b) forecast passenger numbers are on the Borders Railway at (i) Edinburgh Waverley, (ii) Newcraighall, (iii) Shawfair, (iv) Eskbank, (v) Newtongrange, (vi) Gorebridge, (vii) Stow, (viii) Galashiels and (ix) Tweedbank station.

The most recent and forecast passenger numbers by station for the first six months of operation on borders railway are as follows.

Borders Railway six months in - Single trips

Stations	Forecast single trips for first six months of operation	ScotRail actual single trips for first six months of operation
Tweedbank	18,978	183,918
Galashiels	20,567	104,593
Stow	5,129	24,365
Gorebridge	79,014	39,400
Newtongrange	46,449	50,480
Eskbank	114,568	65,672
Shawfair	54,298	9,398
Brunstane/Newcraighall	865	11,344
Edinburgh Waverley	228,156	205,203
Totals	568,023	694,373	+22%

Question reference: S5O-00044

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 June 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to support families accessing children's services.

Question reference: S4W-30223

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 March 2016
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 18 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many Basic Payment Scheme applications for amounts (a) up to £5,000, (b) from £5,000 to £10,000, (c) from £10,001 to £15,000, (d) from £15,001 to £20,000, (e) from £20,001 to £30,000, (f) from £30,001 to £40,000, (g) from £40,001 to £50,000, (h) £50,001 to £60,000, (i) from £60,001 to £70,000, (j) from £70,001 to £80,000, (k) from £80,001 to £90,000, (l) from £90,001 to £100,000 and (m) in excess of £100,000 were settled by 29 February 2016 and how many were awaiting processing on that date.

I can confirm the following is a breakdown of the 2015 Basic Payment Scheme first instalment payments made by 29 February 2016:

Amount	Number of producers
Up to £5,000	4,069
£5001 to £10,000	1,383
£10,001 to £15,000	894
£15,000 to £20,000	653
£20,001 to £30,000	707
£30,001 to £40,000	306
£40,001 to £50,000	127
£51,000 to £60,000	77
£61,000 to £70,000	36
£70,001 to £80,000	15
£80,0001 to £90,000	5
£90,0001 to £100,000	7
over £100,001	12
Total	8,291

As at 29 February 2016, 50% of business were still to receive a first instalment payment.

Question reference: S4W-30472

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 March 2016
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 18 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications it has received under the Scottish Upland Sheep Support Scheme, and what the predicted payment is per head.

Question reference: S4W-30473

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 March 2016
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 18 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) budget and (b) actual spend was for the Crofting Agricultural Grant Scheme in (i) 2014-15 and (ii) 2015-16.

Question reference: S4W-30222

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 March 2016
Current Status: Answered by Aileen McLeod on 15 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-29286 by Aileen McLeod on 26 January 2016, how much was awarded to Voluntary Action Barra and Vetersay in (a) 2013-14 and (b) 2014-15 to develop options for a community-led approach to managing the Sound of Barra Special Area of Conservation; how much of each grant remains available for use, and when the report is due to be published.

Question reference: S4T-01360

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 March 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to ensure that every household in Scotland will have access to high speed broadband.

Question reference: S4W-30115

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 10 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made on increasing freight on the Far North Line, in particular from distillers, timber operators and retailers, and encouraging gas traffic bound for Caithness and domestic waste being taken from the Highlands to use rail instead of road.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of the rail freight sector in moving vital goods and materials across the country in a safe and sustainable way. A transformative programme of investment in the railway infrastructure to 2019, including the dedicated £30 million Scottish Strategic Rail Freight Investment Fund will support significant improvements in the capacity and capability of the railway infrastructure for freight services.

Freight traffic on the Far North Line has remained broadly stable in the last 10 years, largely based around the movement of fuel and pipes. Since 2002, the Scottish Government Freight Facilities Grant has supported the movement of 113,500 tonnes of fuel from Grangemouth to Lairg by rail rather than by road.

Following an extensive consultation period we expect to publish Scotland's Rail Freight Strategy later this month. This will set out a number of measures to support the rail freight sector to better exploit key market opportunities across Scotland, including forestry products, fuels, waste products, whisky and broader retail traffic.