Chamber and committees

The public service contract for the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services was signed on 22 August 2016 and Cal Mac, as the successful bidder, is subject to the terms and conditions of that contract. The contract will be made available in due course, on the Transport Scotland website. Commercially sensitive data will be redacted from the published contract. The Scottish Government has no plans at present to ask Cal Mac to release the commercially sensitive information requested in S5W-01335, or to ask Cal Mac Ferries to provide more detail regarding the precise commercial risks that are anticipated, if the requested information was made available to communities. The Scottish Government will continue to engage with Cal Mac on those issues in pursuance of the delivery of the contract and the formulation of ferries policy. As part of that process, the Scottish Government notes Cal Mac’s intention to improve levels of engagement with the communities served by the company.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-02076 on 7 September 2016. 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

It is the duty of every education authority to provide adequate and efficient provision of school education without payment of fees. An education authority may charge fees for the provision of an extra-curricular activity that it is not legally obliged to provide.

The Scottish Government considers music tuition in schools that takes place during the course of the school day to constitute 'school education'. Regardless of who is teaching the pupils, such tuition should therefore be provided free of charge.

CalMac Ferries Limited, as the current operator of the Clyde & Hebrides Ferry Services collect a range of data to forecast and evaluate demand on all the services they provide. Much of this data is, however, commercially confidential. Evaluation reports of the impact of the Road Equivalent Tariff pilots have been published on the Transport Scotland website. Transport Scotland will continue to monitor the impact of the network-wide roll out of Road Equivalent Tariff in October 2015 and discuss this with the operator.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-01298 on 2 August 2016. 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

The date for the announcement about goose management payments for 2016-17 has still to be agreed. It was noted at the last National Goose Management Review Group meeting that the Scottish Government would not be in a position to have State Aid approval secured ahead of the new Scheme year starting in October. Therefore, it is likely that single-year Scheme agreements will be needed, following a similar approach to that used last year. The Schemes are expected to have the same budget and levels of financial support as last year.

The Scottish Government does not have any plans to establish a new scheme to assist farmers and crofters on Islay with goose management. The Islay Goose Management Strategy was developed with the full participation of farming representatives on Islay and implementation of the Strategy was started last year, through adaption of the current local goose scheme. The Strategy aims to reduce agricultural damage in the long term through a process of controlled population reduction alongside a range of other management actions to ensure the conservation status of populations of goose are not put at risk. The Scottish Government remains committed to the Management Strategy and believes it provides the best long-term solution for maintaining a balance between protecting internationally important populations of geese which support an important economic sector for the island, alongside a productive agricultural sector.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-01298 on 2 August 2016. 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

BBC Scotland informed Scottish Government Officials on the day of the announcement. The Scottish Government have subsequently sought a meeting with the Director in Scotland to address our immediate and clear concerns on this issue.

We believe that it is a backwards step that will place the Director for Scotland further from significant decision–making structures at a critically important time for the BBC. We are disappointed that the BBC has made this decision and would argue that a loss of a distinct and representative voice from Scotland on the Executive Team is an unhelpful response to the political and social realities of devolution across the U.K. and one which so clearly counters the consensus that has emerged in Scotland around the requirement for greater and fairer representation across the operations of the BBC.

Nonetheless, we would expect to have substantive consultation with the new Director of Nations but have yet to receive any guarantees about such consultation from the Director General. This is especially disappointing given his assertion before the Scottish Parliament Culture and Education Committee, earlier in January, that he wanted the Director of Scotland to have a ‘powerful voice in determining what the BBC does as a whole’. This decision appears to undermine that ambition.

The Highland Self Build Loan Fund is a £4 million, two-year pilot that began operating in April 2016 and will be regularly reviewed to understand the limitations and opportunities it provides. A full evaluation will be carried out to help inform whether this funding mechanism should be expanded to other parts of the country in 2018-19.