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: S4W-20839

Asked by: Jamie McGrigor, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 April 2014
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 9 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-20487 by Keith Brown on 22 April 2014, how many passengers the MV Coruisk carried on the 28 occasions.

Question reference: S4W-20840

Asked by: Jamie McGrigor, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 April 2014
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 9 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the (a) costs to Argyll Ferries Ltd and (b) net costs to Transport Scotland of the MV Coruisk's deployment on the Gourock to Dunoon route.

Question reference: S4W-20843

Asked by: Jamie McGrigor, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 April 2014
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 9 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) scheduled sailings, (b) sailings completed on schedule, (c) sailings cancelled due to weather conditions and (d) sailings cancelled due to technical issues there were on Scottish Government-subsidised ferry services between 19 December 2013 and 11 March 2014.

Please see the information below for services subsidised by the Scottish Government through the Clyde and Hebrides, Northern Isles and Gourock-Dunoon Ferry Services contracts:

scheduled sailings	30,536
sailings completed on schedule	29,969
Sailings cancelled due to weather conditions	2,249
Sailings cancelled due to technical issues	177

In addition, 1,095 scheduled sailings were completed but were late and 46 scheduled sailings were cancelled for reasons other than weather conditions or technical issues.

Question reference: S4W-20844

Asked by: Jamie McGrigor, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 April 2014
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 9 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-20487 by Keith Brown on 22 April 2014, on how many of the 28 occasions that the MV Coruisk was used the MV Ali Cat and the MV Argyll Flyer were both unable to operate.

Question reference: S4W-20842

Asked by: Jamie McGrigor, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 April 2014
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 9 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will confirm that the replacement bus service will continue to operate between Gourock and Dunoon using the Western Ferries service when the Argyll Ferries Ltd service is suspended for the remainder of the contract.

Question reference: S4W-20838

Asked by: Jamie McGrigor, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 April 2014
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 9 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-20524 by Keith Brown on 22 April 2014, for what reason the costs for the Argyll Ferries Ltd public service contract have risen compared with the figures provided in response to question S4W-08559 in 2012.

A number of revisions have been made to the financial base case of the contract with Argyll Ferries Ltd. These changes are all in accordance with the provisions of that contract:

SPT have reduced the level of grant payable for the carriage of concessionary card holders.

Funding was provided for training to meet the requirements of the EU regulation on maritime passenger rights.

A bus replacement service has been introduced to improve the resilience of the service when it is affected by bad weather.

The MV Argyll Flyer has been made the lead vessel, again in order to improve the resilience of the service;

Passenger numbers have fallen against the forecasts underpinning Argyll Ferries’ initial basecase.

Additional services have been provided on the Saturday of the Cowal Games.

Question reference: S4O-03226

Asked by: Jamie McGrigor, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 May 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve the condition of the road network in the Highlands and Islands.

Question reference: S4W-20663

Asked by: Jamie McGrigor, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 April 2014
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 30 April 2014

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the potential impact on communities and tourism, what its position is on the continued operation of unstaffed petrol stations on islands, and what support it provides if unmanned stations no longer comply with regulations.

Question reference: S4W-20662

Asked by: Jamie McGrigor, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 April 2014
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 30 April 2014

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the potential impact on the community and tourism, what action it is taking to support the continued operation of the petrol station on Jura.

The Scottish Government recognises the unique challenges that face Scotland’s island communities and is committed to maintaining a supportive business environment to enable them to take full advantage of the opportunities available, including the development of both existing and new businesses.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), our economic and community development agency for the Highlands and Islands, has a strengthening communities remit, which recognises that social and economic development are complementary in achieving growth in remote and sparsely populated areas.

There are a number of unmanned petrol stations which operate across the Highlands and Islands. HIE has already given support to a number of rural petrol stations, including two on islands, to upgrade to allow automated dispensing of fuel whilst meeting regulations and standards. While consideration of support is an operational matter for HIE, with all projects considered on a case by case basis through its normal appraisal mechanisms, HIE will continue to engage with the community on Jura to consider what assistance might be available to support the continued operation of the island’s petrol station.

Question reference: S4O-03151

Asked by: Jamie McGrigor, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 April 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 April 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that dialysis services are accessible.