Tim Eagle

8 Jan 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications were (a) approved and (b) not approved for an award from the Regional Food Fund in the (a) 2021, (b) 2022, (c) 2023 and (d) 2024 round.

Answer · Mairi Gougeon: A breakdown of successful and unsuccessful applications for the last four financial years has been provided in the following table as requested: Approved ApplicantsNot Approved Applicants202142149202223492023225320241745Information on approved applicatio…

6 Jan 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many of the buildings within the Highlands and Islands region that fall under the scope of the Housing (Cladding Remediation) (Scotland) Act 2024 do not have an identified developer and will require it to take responsibility for any remediation work, under the provisions within the A…

Answer · Paul McLennan: I refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-32859 on 20 January 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-an…

6 Jan 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many buildings within the Highlands and Islands region fall under the scope of the Housing (Cladding Remediation) (Scotland) Act 2024, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Paul McLennan: We can currently only provide accurate information on whether buildings are within scope of the Housing (Cladding Remediation) (Scotland) Act 2024 if they have been entered into the pilot phase of our Cladding Remediation Programme. There are no buildings wit…

3 Jan 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-31124 by Jim Fairlie on 19 November 2024, whether it will provide an update on when Transport Scotland will outline its plans for the future service design of the Gourock-Dunoon route, including whether it will order new vessels for the route.

Answer · Jim Fairlie: Transport Scotland has received considerable feedback and input through the Community Needs Assessment report, user survey, and community engagement events. This information has now been reviewed and a decision on the future service design for the Gourock-Dun…

30 Dec 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government in what ways is it liaising with CalMac Ferries Ltd to increase ferry capacity to and from the Isle of Mull, in light of reports that the inflatable emergency evacuation slides fitted to the MV Isle of Mull vessel failed an inspection, resulting in its operational capacity being reduced …

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: Whilst this is an operational matter for CalMac, given the significant reduction in passenger capacity Transport Scotland officials have been updated by CalMac on the timeline for repairs and will be kept appraised of any capacity issues relevant to the route…

19 Dec 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many community pharmacies there were in NHS (a) Highland, (b) Grampian, (c) Orkney, (d) Shetland and (e) Western Isles areas on 31 December (i) 2021, (ii) 2022, (iii) 2023 and (iv) 2024.

Answer · Jenni Minto: The number of community pharmacies in each Health Board requested are shown in the following table.NHS Board(i) 2021(ii) 2022(Iii) 2023(iv) 2024(a) Highland132132131130(b) Grampian83858381(c) Orkney4444(d) Shetland5555(e) Western Isles3333

19 Dec 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much was spent on (a) foreign travel, (b) foreign accommodation and (c) other expenses associated with official overseas visits for the (i) Lord Advocate and (ii) Solicitor General in the calendar year, 2024.

Answer · Dorothy Bain: All costs associated with overseas visits undertaken by the Lord Advocate and Solicitor General in their roles as heads of the systems of prosecution and deaths investigation are paid by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service budget.In the calendar ye…

19 Dec 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-21099 by Jenni Minto on 19 September 2023, how many of its pharmacist pre-registration training places were (a) available and (b) filled on 31 December (i) 2019, (ii) 2020, (iii) 2021, (iv) 2022, (v) 2023 and (vi) 2024.

Answer · Jenni Minto: The following table shows the number of pre-registration training places available and filled on each of the requested dates. Date Posts Available Posts Filled 31 December 2019 200 200 31 December 2020 215 215 31 December 2021 235 214 31 December 2022 235 223…

19 Dec 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it monitors the efficacy of its Distress Brief Intervention service.

Answer · Maree Todd: In setting up of the DBI pilot programme in 2017, the Scottish Government created a dedicated DBI Central team to support and monitor implementation of this innovative programme. The Central team works closely with Public Health Scotland to provide monitoring…

19 Dec 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding Creative Scotland has distributed to organisations registered in the European Union in each year since 2021-22.

Answer · Angus Robertson: Since 2021-22, Creative Scotland distributed £251k to organisations registered in the EU (plus Norway). Full breakdown as follows:Financial YearNumber of ApplicationsAwarded Amount*2021-22125,000.00France125,000.002022-23585,197.00France230,000.00Luxemb…

19 Dec 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what cost-benefit analysis Creative Scotland carries out of the organisations that it provides (a) single-year and (b) multi-year funding to.

Answer · Angus Robertson: As per Creative Scotland’s (CS) Regular Funding Organisation (RFO) handbook, CS works with organisations to ensure that expectations such as contribution to the development of the sector, best practice governance, management and leadership, and resilien…

19 Dec 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have waited longer than 24 hours for an initial call through its Distress Brief Intervention service each year, broken down by health and social care partnership area.

Answer · Maree Todd: In total, between June 2020 and May 2024, initial contact was not made within 24 hours for 216 people out of 58,657 referrals (less than 0.4%). The following table breaks this down by percentage due to the small number of cases in each area.Health & Socia…

19 Dec 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many new houses have been built as a direct result of funding from the Investing in Communities Fund Programme in the (a) Argyll and Bute, (b) Highland, (c) Western Isles, (d) Orkney Islands, (e) Shetland Islands and (f) Moray local authority area in each year since 2021.

Answer · Tom Arthur: The Scottish Government’s Investing in Communities Fund (ICF) is a revenue fund which aims to empower communities by supporting them to deliver activity that helps tackle poverty, inequality and rural disadvantage on their own terms.The ICF is not inten…

19 Dec 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many staff Creative Scotland employ (a) nationally and (b) in the Highlands and Islands region.

Answer · Angus Robertson: Creative Scotland, as the national development body for the arts, currently employ 143 staff across Scotland. This figure includes four Creative Scotland staff members located in the Highlands and Islands region.

19 Dec 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding Creative Scotland has distributed to organisations registered in (a) England, (b) Wales and (c) Northern Ireland in each each year since 2021-22.

Answer · Angus Robertson: Since 2021-22, Creative Scotland has distributed £19.1m to organisations registered in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Funding distributed to organisations with a base outside Scotland will either have an office in Scotland and/or the funded activ…

19 Dec 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many 16-years and over are registered as being opted-in to the system for organ and tissue donation after death.

Answer · Jenni Minto: As at 29 December 2024, the total number of people resident in Scotland, aged 16-years and over, who have registered an opt in decision on the NHS Organ Donor Register since its inception is 2,738,077.

19 Dec 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will review its decision not to proceed with any of the fixed link options proposed in the second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2), in light of its announcement that it will make specific funding available to support connectivity in the Northern Isles, as set out in…

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The Scottish Government remains committed to taking forward work on the three proposed fixed links identified as part of the second Strategic Transport Review (STPR2) under Recommendation 41. Noting that STPR2 is a long term plan, the next step is in determin…

19 Dec 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many 16-years and over have registered to opt-out of organ and tissue donation after death in each year since March 2021.

Answer · Jenni Minto: Since March 2021 and each financial year thereafter, the following number of people aged 16-years and over resident in Scotland have registered an opt out decision on the NHS Organ Donor Register:2021-22 17,5392022-23 12,2642023-24 4,5582024-25* 3,514*1 April…

19 Dec 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many penalties has the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator issued to charities for each year since 2021.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: This is a matter for the Scottish Charity Regulator. It is a non-ministerial office and its operations are independent of Scottish Ministers. The information requested is not held centrally and questions about any operational matters should be put directly to…

19 Dec 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many civil servants were allocated to (a) prepare and (b) draft its Scottish Right to Work pilot proposal.

Answer · Kaukab Stewart: In November 2024, the Scottish Government published its Asylum Right to Work pilot proposal. It proposes a number of changes to current UK policy with regards to the right to work for people seeking asylum.Policy officials from both the Asylum & Refugee I…

19 Dec 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much drafting its Scottish Right to Work pilot proposal cost in civil service time.

Answer · Kaukab Stewart: There is no business requirement for officials to record the time spent on specific tasks or their work more generally. These are completed as part of normal duties, along with other tasks appropriate to roles as civil servants. As such, the Civil Service doe…

19 Dec 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many school breakfast clubs there are in the (a) Argyll and Bute, (b) Highland, (c) Western Isles, (d) Orkney Islands, (e) Shetland Islands and (f) Moray local authority area.

Answer · Natalie Don-Innes: In 2024, the Scottish Government commissioned the Improvement Service with support from Assist FM, to map breakfast provision across Scotland. The results of this survey indicate that almost half of all primary and special schools in Scotland currently provid…

19 Dec 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on building new houses using the Islands Programme Capital Funding Scheme in each year since 2021.

Answer · Mairi Gougeon: The Islands Programme awarded £120,000 in 2021-22, £72,000 in 2022-23 and £700,000 in 2023-24 to infrastructure projects supporting the delivery of housing units on islands.Housing developments are not commonly the focus of proposals submitt…

19 Dec 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many existing croft houses have been brought back into use through the Croft House Grant Scheme for each year since 2016, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Jim Fairlie: The information as requested is not available. The house improvement option enables crofters to make both minor and significant improvements to their croft house. In 2023, we introduced energy efficiency measures, allowing crofters to apply for 80% grants of…

19 Dec 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many new houses have been built as a direct result of funding from the Islands Programme Capital Funding Scheme in the (a) Argyll and Bute, (b) Highland, (c) Western Isles, (d) Orkney Islands, (e) Shetland Islands and (f) Moray local authority area in each year since 2021.

Answer · Mairi Gougeon: Housing developments are not commonly the focus of proposals submitted for Islands Programme funding.Since 2021-22, four awards made through the Islands Programme have had the development of housing units among their deliverables. For some of these projects, …

19 Dec 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many mobile phones have been confiscated from prisoners and offenders in HMP Inverness in each month since May 2021.

Answer · Angela Constance: I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:The following table provides the number of mobile phone handsets that have been confiscated at HMP Inverness, each month, since May 2021…

19 Dec 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to enable Creative Scotland to allocate more funding to projects in the Highlands and Islands region.

Answer · Angus Robertson: The Scottish Government has committed a further £34m to the culture sector next financial year. This includes an additional £20 million for Creative Scotland’s multi-year funding programme. This will enable Creative Scotland to roll-out its …

19 Dec 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on building new houses using the Vacant and Derelict Land Investment Programme in each year since 2021.

Answer · Tom Arthur: The Vacant and Derelict Land Investment Programme (VDLIP) is available to local authorities which bring forward suitable project proposals associated with remediating and unblocking long-term vacant and derelict land, supporting place based approaches to deli…

19 Dec 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many new houses have been built as a direct result of funding from the Strengthening Communities Programme in the (a) Argyll and Bute, (b) Highland, (c) Western Isles, (d) Orkney Islands, (e) Shetland Islands and (f) Moray local authority area since 2021.

Answer · Tom Arthur: The Scottish Government’s Strengthening Communities Programme (SCP) is a revenue fund which provides support to community anchor organisations to build capacity and sustainability.No new houses have therefore been built as a direct result of funding fro…

19 Dec 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what potential knock-on economic benefits to the Highlands and Islands region might arise from the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Answer · Neil Gray: The 2026 Commonwealth Games will be delivered by the Glasgow 2026 Organising Company, in partnership with the Commonwealth Games Federation and Commonwealth Games Scotland. Glasgow 2026 Ltd is the corporate vehicle established to deliver the Games. The event …