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-26402

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 June 2015
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 13 July 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to encourage children and young people to take up swimming outside of school.

Question reference: S4W-26399

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 June 2015
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 13 July 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of withdrawing funding for Scottish Swimming’s Top Up programme on the number of children and young people swimming on a regular basis.

The Swimming Top Up programme was designed as a time limited fund to enhance the work already being done by Scottish Swimming and local authorities to provide swimming lessons for primary school children across Scotland. Over the four years since the programme began in 2011, the Scottish Government has invested a total of £1.72 million. The final annual payment of £200,000 covered the period to June 2015.

Although the top up funding has ended, the latest funding round from sportscotland has allocated to Scottish Swimming over £5 million for the four years 2015-19. This is the largest funding settlement of all the Commonwealth Games sports and will support grassroots swimming.

The Scottish Government will continue to explore with all relevant partners, including local authorities, sustainable options for helping children learn to swim.

Question reference: S4W-26400

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 June 2015
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 13 July 2015

To ask the Scottish Government which stakeholders were consulted before the decision was taken to withdraw funding from Scottish Swimming’s Top Up programme.

Question reference: S4W-26185

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 June 2015
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 8 July 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what representations it has made to UK Visas and Immigration regarding the availability of English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) qualifications through the SQA being available to applicants throughout Scotland in their locality.

In March 2015 the Scottish Government was informed by the UK Minister for Immigration that in November 2015, the UK Government will no longer recognise Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) ESOL qualifications for UK settlement and citizenship applications. The First Minister has made Scottish Government concerns about these proposed changes clear to the UK Immigration Minister and has called on the UK Government to continue to recognise SQA ESOL qualifications as evidence of English language for UK Visas and Immigration requirements.

Question reference: S4W-26184

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 June 2015
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 8 July 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it is taking to ensure that candidates in Scotland for an acceptable English language qualification under the UK Visas and Immigration requirements can take a course and sit the requisite exams in their local area.

The Scottish Government believes that those undertaking English language qualifications under UK Visas and Immigration requirements should be able to do so in their local area. After 5 November 2015, UK Visas and Immigration will only accept applications for settlement and citizenship by applicants who have an English language qualification awarded by only one of two approved providers. Each provider has only one testing centre in Scotland: one in Edinburgh and one in Glasgow. The First Minister has made the Scottish Government concerns about these proposed changes clear to the UK Immigration Minister and has called on the UK Government to continue to recognise SQA English for Speakers of Other Languages qualifications as evidence of English language for UK Visas and Immigration requirements.

Question reference: S4W-26289

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 June 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 6 July 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how the mileage rate used to determine road equivalent tariff fares is calculated, broken down by (a) fuel costs, (b) vehicle wear and tear, (c) vehicle depreciation, (d) vehicle insurance, (e) vehicle taxation and (f) each other cost.

The method of calculating the mileage rate is based on the cost of running an average car in Scotland, as set out in the report Road Equivalent Tariff Study, Halcrow (2008): http://www.gov.scot/resource/doc/935/0061364.pdf

The mileage rate for cars was updated in 2013, following analysis by Transport Scotland, from £0.60 to £0.80 per mile, to reflect the higher costs of motoring and also to take account of the range of engine sizes and fuel types. In 2014 and 2015, road equivalent tariff fares were uprated by the Consumer Price Index, in line with the provisions in the Clyde and Hebrides ferry services contract.

Question reference: S4W-26290

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 June 2015
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 2 July 2015

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-25934 by Shona Robison on 11 June 2015, in light of road equivalent tariff fares being based on a higher mileage rate, including other costs associated with running a car, for what reason people travelling to hospital by car are reimbursed for petrol costs only.

Question reference: S4W-26267

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 June 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 29 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government which managerial position in Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd is the line manager of the Sumburgh Airport Development Manager.

Question reference: S4W-26169

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 June 2015
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 25 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown by (a) NHS board and (b) type of service of the £85 million for mental health services announced in May 2015 and whether this amount is for the current financial year or future years.

The Scottish Government recently announced an additional £100 million over five years for improving mental health across Scotland. This comprised £85 million announced in May 2015, which followed the extra £15 million announced for mental health in November 2014. Decisions on how the funding announced in May 2015 is to be used are still being finalised but we will be working with NHS Scotland, local government and the third sector to ensure that we get maximum benefit from the investment, including ensuring that people get timely access to services. However, broad areas for investment will include:

Further improvement to child and adolescent mental health services to bring down waiting times;

Improved access to services and in particular psychological therapies; and

Better responses to mental health in community and primary care settings, including promoting wellbeing through physical activity and improved patient rights.

The profile of the funding is set out in the following table:

Year 1 2015-16	£12 million
Year 2 2016-17	£24 million
Year 3 2017-18	£24 million
Year 4 2018-19	£20 million
Year 5 2019-20	£20 million

Question reference: S4W-26094

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 June 2015
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 23 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the £146 million superfast broadband budget it has spent on upgrading broadband in Shetland.

The Highlands and Islands Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband contract is geared towards maximising coverage across the region, rather than having specific amounts allocated to each local authority area. There is therefore no budget allocation for Shetland and the budget is not broken down by local authority area.

By the end of June 2015 BT will have claimed, and Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) will have paid, £56 million of the project’s total £146 million costs. Much of this relates to the major subsea and land-based fibre optic cable installation which was required to provide fibre broadband to the west coast and islands of the region. This backhaul upgrade is now complete.

The project will reach at least 84% of premises in the HIE region by the end of 2016. This includes at least 76% of premises in Shetland.