Chamber and committees

Work is well advanced to provide these services to the Scottish population, although there have been some delays to installation due to the COVID pandemic. Equipment is in place in Edinburgh and Dundee and it is anticipated that Edinburgh will be granted a licence to administer PSMA by the end of March, and Dundee by end of April. Equipment is in place in Aberdeen and it is anticipated that the service will be going live in May/June 2021, the service in Glasgow will be up and running in the second half of 2021. It is also anticipated that until all sites are fully operational patients will have access to services at one of the other sites where appropriate.

B&Bs and self-catering premises are eligible for grants under the Strategic Framework Business Fund. Larger self-catering premises and exclusive use properties will also benefit from an additional £7 million fund to mitigate against the impact of the single household restrictions.

The hospitality top-up fund is targeted at restaurants, bars, pubs, licensed social and sports clubs, cafes and hotels. Scottish Government resources are limited and this means we must take targeted action. We continue to call on the UK Government to transfer the fiscal levers required to enable us to respond fully to the needs of Scottish businesses.

The marine and landside upgrade works being undertaken at these ports go much further than simply accommodating the new vessels. The works replace ageing infrastructure, provide greater resilience and reliability to the ferry links, as well as improving the travelling experience for passengers.

Ferry Terminals at Brodick and Ardrossan

The cost for the Brodick Terminal project, which was completed in early 2018, was £30 million, with a £19.16 million contribution from the Scottish Government.

The Ardrossan Harbour re-development project is estimated to cost between £35 million to £40 million. The final cost of the project will not be known until the tender and procurement process has been undertaken and a contractor appointed. Peel Ports Group and North Ayrshire Council have also committed funds to the project, along with external funding partners..

Ferry Terminals at Tarbert, Lochmaddy and Uig

The Skye Triangle project includes infrastructure improvement works to the piers and harbours at three locations - Tarbert, Lochmaddy and Uig. The project cost at all three ports estimated at around £60 million.

CMAL awarded the £14.3m contract for Tarbert which is currently under construction.

Lochmaddy is progressing towards re-tendering and Uig is currently in the tendering stage awaiting bids.

LNG bunkering facilities at the ferry terminals at Uig and Ardrossan

On 30 March 2020, Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited awarded a contract valued at £4.461m for these works.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-34435 on‎ 1 February 2021. 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 annual subsidy requirements are not broken down by individual vessels across the network.

Additional costs of operating these vessels have still to be finalised and are dependent on operational decisions around the wider fleet. In addition these will be offset in part by the additional revenue generated by the increased capacity of the vessels.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-34345 on‎ 26 January 2021 which clarifies the Scottish Government's position on neuro-electric therapy. 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

Following the 31 December publication by the UK Government of its guidance on implementation and operation of subsidy rules, we are working through this to understand what it means for Scottish Government subsidies, including ferry fares, and will discuss this with our stakeholders when we are able to discuss the implications of the new guidance.

This consideration of the new guidance will however be a complex undertaking and will take some time. For that reason we do not intend to make any immediate changes to ferries policy while the work on understanding compliance matters progresses.

People over 80 living at home are the current priority group for vaccination. Rollout of the Rollout of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine began on Monday 4 January, with the over 80's in the community being called for vaccination by their GP's. The NHS are aiming to complete the over 80’s cohort by 5 February 2021.

I refer the member to the list of published vaccination sites for January:

Delivery Sites (www.gov.scot)

and the published deployment plan:

Coronavirus (COVID-19): vaccine deployment plan 2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-33989 on‎ 29 January 2021. 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

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-34331 on‎ 29 January 2021. 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 .