- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 February 2025
-
Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 27 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many projects funded by the Freight Facilities Grant (FFG) are directly linked to the development of intermodal transport facilities, and what the expected benefits of these developments are.
Answer
Detailed below is a table containing Freight Facilities Grant awards linked to the development of intermodal transport facilities with the commodities that were removed from being transported by container from road onto rail or water instead.
Award | Commodities Moved by Rail or Water Instead of by Road | Mode of Transport |
Russells Transport, Hillington. | Food, scrap metal and alcohol. | Rail. |
Safeway Stores Mossend, Inverness, Nairn Elgin, Buckie. | Groceries. | Rail. |
Safeway Stores Mossend, Thurso, Wick, Kirkwall and Ullapool. | Groceries. | Rail. |
WH Malcolm Ltd, Grangemouth. | Glass and alcohol. | Rail. |
Forth Ports. | General cargo. | Water. |
Asda Stores, Grangemouth. | Groceries. | Rail. |
WH Malcolm Ltd, Phase 2 at Grangemouth | Rubber and alcohol. | Rail. |
WH Malcolm Ltd, Phase 3, Grangemouth to Aberdeen. | Paper and groceries. | Rail. |
WH Malcolm, Phase 4, Elderslie. | General cargo. | Rail. |
WH Malcolm Phase 5, Kirkby Thore to Elderslie. | Plasterboard. | Rail. |
Eddie Stobart (Tesco), Daventry to Grangemouth. | Groceries. | Rail. |
Eddie Stobart, Grangemouth, Inverness | Groceries. | Rail. |
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 February 2025
-
Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 27 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how the Freight Facilities Grant (FFG) contributes to the reduction of carbon emissions in Scotland, and what quantifiable impact has been recorded in terms of emissions reductions from FFG-funded projects in each year since 2021.
Answer
The Freight Facilities Grants (FFG) is intended to bring about a number of benefits from the removal of freight from roads to other modes of transport. This includes but is not limited to emissions reduction.
The impact of Freight Facility Grant awards is measured in terms of the number and distance of road vehicle miles displaced onto other forms of transport. As the emissions impact will vary depending on the type of vehicle, the duty cycle and other factors, this is not recorded separately.
To date, Freight Facility Grant awards have resulted in the reduction of over 50 million heavy goods vehicle miles on Scotland’s roads.
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 February 2025
-
Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 27 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether the Freight Facilities Grant (FFG) has supported projects aimed at improving the efficiency of inland waterways and, if so, which projects have been funded.
Answer
Since the introduction of Freight Facilities Grant in 1997, the Scottish Government has received no applications for an inland waterways project.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2025
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to reduce waiting times for community audiology services in (a) NHS Grampian and (b) Aberdeen.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-34203 on 27 February 2025. 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
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2025
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what the average waiting time is for community audiology services in (a) NHS Grampian and (b) Aberdeen, and how this compares with the national average.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-34203 on 27 February 2025. 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
- Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Friday, 21 February 2025
-
Current Status:
Answered by Siobhian Brown on 27 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to taxi licensing, testing and retesting, which local authorities currently use delegated powers for licensing committees.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-35156 on 27 February 2025. 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.
The information requested is not held by the Scottish Government. These are operational matters for individual licensing authorities.
More generally, the Scottish Government continues to engage directly with local licensing authority representatives through engagement with the Society of Local Authority Lawyers and Administrators in Scotland (SOLAR). Scottish Government participation at the SOLAR Licensing Group meetings provides a platform to discuss a variety of licensing policy issues, including the taxi and PHC licensing regime.
- Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Friday, 21 February 2025
-
Current Status:
Answered by Siobhian Brown on 27 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has considered any impact of requiring specific MOT testing for licensed taxi (a) licensing, (b) testing and (c) retesting.
Answer
I refer the member to the answers given for S6W-35156 and S6W-35159 on 27 February 2025.
It is for independent licensing authorities to consider their own approaches on requirements for MOT testing, subject to meeting legal requirements.
Chapter 5 (vehicles) of the Scottish Government best practice guidance for local licensing authorities and taxi and private Hire Car (PHC) operators on the licensing of taxis and PHCs and their drivers, provides examples of best practice that independent licensing authorities may wish to consider in relation to MOT testing for taxis and PHCs: https://www.gov.scot/publications/taxi-private-hire-car-licensing-best-practice-licensing-authorities-taxi-private-hire-car-operators-3rd-edition/pages/7/
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
- Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Friday, 21 February 2025
-
Current Status:
Answered by Alasdair Allan on 27 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has provided to the Just Transition Commission to date.
Answer
The details of the budget we have provided to the Just Transition Commission to date is as follows:
Financial Year | Spend |
2022-2023 | £102,000 |
2023-2024 | £138,591 |
2024-2025 | £215,214* |
2025-2026 | |
*Final spend will be available end March 2025
The budget includes payment of a daily fee, which is set at Tier 2 by Public Sector Pay Policy as well as travel and subsistence, meeting costs and procurement of other services (such as research and website).
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 February 2025
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how much it allocated to public health campaigns for stroke awareness in each of the last five years.
Answer
The Scottish Government has not allocated funding to stroke awareness campaigns in the last five years.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 February 2025
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jim Fairlie on 27 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how much peatland has been restored since 2021, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
The amount of peatland restored through the Peatland ACTION partnership since 2021, broken down by local authority area, can be found in the following table.
Local Authority | Hectares restored through Peatland ACTION since 2021 |
Aberdeen City Council | 0 |
Aberdeenshire Council | 1209.9 |
Angus Council | 577 |
Argyll and Bute Council | 2126.1 |
City of Edinburgh Council | 0 |
Clackmannanshire Council | 0 |
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar | 331 |
Dumfries and Galloway Council | 451.3 |
Dundee City Council | 0 |
East Ayrshire Council | 322 |
East Dunbartonshire Council | 0 |
East Lothian Council | 0 |
East Renfrewshire Council | 0 |
Falkirk Council | 11.4 |
Fife Council | 4 |
Glasgow City Council | 0 |
Inverclyde Council | 150 |
Midlothian Council | 0 |
North Ayrshire Council | 161.2 |
North Lanarkshire Council | 78.7 |
Orkney Islands Council | 0 |
Perth and Kinross Council | 1095.4 |
Renfrewshire Council | 3.2 |
Scottish Borders Council | 810.6 |
Shetland Islands Council | 178 |
South Ayrshire Council | 0 |
South Lanarkshire Council | 335 |
Stirling Council | 1244.1 |
The Highland Council | 17750.2 |
The Moray Council | 113 |
West Dunbartonshire Council | 0 |
West Lothian Council | 36.4 |
Total | 26988.5 |
This information is publicly available through the Peatland ACTION spatial data mapping tool found here: https://www.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=31eaa69a03014972b7888bc927714bbc
Guidance on using the tool can be found here: https://www.nature.scot/climate-change/nature-based-solutions/peatland-action/peatland-action-data-research-and-monitoring/peatland-action-data-mapping-portal