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: S6W-15538

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on progress implementing the recommendations made by Sir Lewis Ritchie in his 2018 report, Independent External View of Skye, Lochalsh and South West Ross Out of Hours Services.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-15536. on‎ 17 March 2023. Any update of progress of this independent review would require to come from NHS Highland as the responsible agency for implementation.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Question reference: S6W-15539

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it anticipates all of the recommendations made by Sir Lewis Ritchie in his 2018 report, Independent External View of Skye, Lochalsh and South West Ross Out of Hours Services, will be fully implemented.

Question reference: S6W-15541

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care last met (a) Sir Lewis Ritchie and (b) NHS Highland to discuss the implementation of the recommendations made by Sir Lewis Ritchie in his 2018 report, Independent External View of Skye, Lochalsh and South West Ross Out of Hours Services.

Question reference: S6W-15535

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether Sir Lewis Ritchie has made any recommendations, further to those in his original 2018 report, following his four review visits to Portree Hospital, in 2018, 2019 and twice in 2022, and the virtual meeting assessment of progress in 2020.

Further meetings with Professor Sir Lewis Ritchie, NHS Highland, elected members of Skye, Lochalsh and South West Ross and the wider public community have built on the recommendations in the original (2018) report. Professor Sir Lewis Ritchie issued his written view of assessment of progress, with further recommendations and qualifications to the respective local Chairs of Implementation of the SLSWR OOH Review Report and NHS Highland Board, following in-person visits to Skye in December 2018 and May 2019 and a virtual assessment of progress in October 2020, during the height of the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Question reference: S6W-15054

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 16 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many years behind the original timetable, published in 2011, the project to complete the dualling of the A9 between Perth and Inverness is.

The 2025 target date for completion of the full programme represented an ambitious challenge. It was reliant on the timely and positive outcome of a range of factors such as completing public and stakeholder consultation; statutory approval processes; sufficiency of market capacity; supply chain availability and availability of funding, all of which have been significantly impacted by Brexit, the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. As I confirmed to Parliament on 8 February 2023, this has made the 2025 date unachievable.

Transport Scotland is urgently considering a range of different options to provide Ministers advice on the most efficient way in which to dual the remaining sections. Work to determine the most suitable procurement options for these sections is a complex exercise which looks at a number of factors including how the project can be delivered most efficiently by the industry, whilst minimising disruption to road users and helping to support economic recovery post-COVID. This work is expected to conclude in Autumn 2023 and I will provide an update on a new timescale for completion to the Scottish Parliament at that time.

Question reference: S6W-15057

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 16 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government on what date Transport Scotland first raised concerns with the Scottish Ministers that the 2025 deadline for completing the dualling of the A9 between Perth and Inverness was not achievable.

Question reference: S6W-15534

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 16 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the average ambulance response time has been in NHS (a) Highland, (b) Orkney and (c) Shetland in each year since 1999, also broken down by individual station.

Question reference: S6W-15542

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 16 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care last met NHS (a) Highland, (b) Orkney and (c) Shetland.

Question reference: S6W-15533

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 16 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the total number of beds available at Portree Hospital has been in each year since 1999.

A set of data tables for the most recent and historical hospital bed numbers is available in the annual PHS publication, which was released on 27 September 2022. The publications can be found at: https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/acute-hospital-activity-and-nhs-beds-information-annual/acute-hospital-activity-and-nhs-beds-information-annual-annual-year-ending-31-march-2022/

Data is available from financial year 2012-13 to financial year 2021-22. Data is not available as far back as 1999. Data is not yet available for financial year 2022-23.

Hospital beds data is presented in Table 4 – beds data file, and the measure of interest is Average Available Staffed Beds, the indicator is Location of Interest, and you will need to Sub-Filter for All Specialties. The data for Portree Hospital will be listed under NHS Highland. The following table is an excerpt from the dataset which includes the Average Available Staffed Beds for All Locations of Treatment, NHS Highland, and Portree Hospital.

	Average Available Staffed Beds
Indicator	2020 Q2	2020 Q3	2020 Q4	2021 Q1	2021 Q2	2021 Q3	2021 Q4p	2022 Q1p
All Locations of Treatment	20084	19827	19991	20155	20158	20193	20434	20570
NHS Highland	943	904	896	939	890	912	941	925
-Portree Hospital	7	6	6	7	7	7	8	10

Question reference: S6O-02050

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many school pupils in the Highlands and Islands are currently being taught in schools that are not of a "good" or "satisfactory" suitability.