- Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 2 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, following the nationalisation of Ferguson Marine in 2019, whether responsibility for the contract to build MV Glen Sannox and MV Glen Rosa was transferred from CMAL to the Scottish Government.
Answer
Following the nationalisation of Ferguson Marine in 2019, ownership of vessels 801 (MV Glen Sannox) and 802 (MV Glen Rosa) was transferred to Scottish Ministers. As part of the restructuring arrangements, new contracts for the construction and completion of each vessel were entered into between Scottish Ministers and Ferguson Marine (801 & 802) Limited.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 04 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 2 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many young people have been removed from child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) waiting lists in each NHS board area in each year since 1999.
Answer
This data is not held centrally; aggregated data for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) is sent to Public Health Scotland from individual NHS Boards. This data reports on the following:
- number of referrals to CAMHS services;
- numbers waiting to start treatment;
- total waiting;
- numbers starting treatment;
- number of referrals that were not accepted
People who have started treatment, as well as those whose referral has not been accepted, will be removed from the waiting list, in line with the CAMHS Specification. The National CAMHS specification includes a clear expectation that children and young people whose referral is not accepted for CAMHS are sensitively and appropriately signposted to a more suitable service.
CAMHS waiting times statistics are published quarterly by PHS: https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/child-and-adolescent-mental-health-services-camhs-waiting-times/child-and-adolescent-mental-health-services-camhs-waiting-times-quarter-ending-december-2024/
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 04 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 2 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many international students have accessed child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) in each NHS board area in each year since 1999.
Answer
This data is not held centrally; aggregated data for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) Waiting Times is sent to Public Health Scotland from each NHS Board. This data does not contain specific information about the number of young people accessing CAMHS who are international students.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 24 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 1 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, as part of its consideration of any potential assisted dying legislation, what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding the possible need for a section 30 order to advance any such legislation in Scotland.
Answer
The Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill is a Member’s Bill, not a Scottish Government Bill.
The UK Government will be aware of the Scottish Government’s view, as set out in the Memorandum submitted to the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, that the Bill as introduced is outside the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament and that further processes would have to be gone through in order to bring it within competence. That Memorandum sets out that the issue of what steps will be required to bring the Bill within competence will require to be revisited should the Bill pass the Stage 1 vote.
The memorandum to the Committee can be found on the Scottish Parliament’s website at: Assisted Dying Bill for Terminally Ill Adults SG Memorandum.
- Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 1 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the recently published Evaluation of Regional Inshore Fisheries Groups (RIFG), which highlighted that a majority of marine stakeholders believe that the 15-year-old RIFG model is not delivering on its remit, whether it is considering other co-management models, including English IFCAs, and what the reasoning is for its decision.
Answer
At the current time the RIFGs remain our chosen mechanism for providing inshore fishers a strong voice in matters which affect them and a forum to discuss fisheries management issues. We will utilise the findings of the review to help address stakeholder concerns. This will complement changes that have been implemented to our Fisheries Management and Conservation (FMAC) group and subgroups following their own review, strengthening our two key stakeholder engagement networks.
In the longer term, the Scottish Government’s Inshore Fisheries Management Improvement (IFMI) programme seeks to transition our inshore fisheries management to a more agile model with co-management at its heart. We recently held a twelve week Call for Evidence to gather the expert input needed to help inform development of this landmark policy. The responses and supplementary evidence received during this call will be considered alongside an internal review of other international models of inshore fisheries management, including the English IFCAs. Together these will inform the development of a new model of inshore fisheries management for Scotland.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 1 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its strategy is for ensuring that Scotland’s coasts remain safe and sustainable, in light of reported evidence showing significant gaps in vessel tracking and monitoring.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-37121 on 1 May 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/questions-and-answers.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 1 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish a breakdown of running costs for each of its buildings in which average desk occupancy fell below 50% in the last year.
Answer
No. This information is not proactively published. Information on running costs for Scottish Government buildings has been previously provided, under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Angus Robertson on 1 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether any civil servants are still working full or part time on independence-related work, and, if so, how many, and in which directorates they are based.
Answer
The Scottish Government has set out its commitment to giving people information about independence. Across the Scottish Government, a range of civil servants provide input to developing and communicating this information. We do not routinely record details of individual tasks carried out by civil servants, including the number of hours spent on research and compilation, as there is no business need to do this.
- Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 17 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Siobhian Brown on 1 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what additional funding it has allocated to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service in the Highlands and Islands to enhance its capacity to respond to wildfires.
Answer
The allocation of resources within the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) is an operational matter for the Chief Fire Officer and SFRS Board. Scottish Government has not allocated funding to SFRS for the specific purpose of tackling wildfires, the £422.2 million budget is allocated to support the whole range of SFRS functions.
The budget for 2025-26 provides SFRS with an additional £18.8 million in support of front line services.
Scottish Government is supportive of the SFRS Wildfire Strategy which was launched in 2023 and is supported by a planned spend of around £1.6 million over the course of three years. SFRS responds to wildfires using a tiered system of fire stations which include the latest technology and techniques to safely bring any incident to a conclusion.
SFRS remains ready and able to respond to any instance of wildfire that occurs across Scotland.
- Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 17 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Siobhian Brown on 1 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to introducing a specific retention package for retained firefighters in remote and island areas.
Answer
Recruitment and retention of Wholetime and On Call firefighters is a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) Chief Fire Officer and Board.
Terms and Conditions and pay of all firefighters are negotiated on a UK wide basis under a well-established collective bargaining process. Through this process there is a new nationally agreed pay banding system which offers far more flexibility in the contracts SFRS can offer to Retained Firefighters which SFRS hope will allow people who may not previously have been able to provide the requisite commitment to contribute to protecting their communities whilst maintaining a better work/life balance.