Jamie Halcro Johnston

23 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether Scottish Enterprise has made an estimate of when it anticipates being repaid the reported £7 million in outstanding loan payments to Liberty Steel Dalzell.

Answer · Neil Gray: Liberty Steel Dalzell is currently meeting ongoing interest payments on the outstanding loan, and Scottish Enterprise continues to work closely with the Company and its parent to secure full repayment as soon as possible. This is, however, a complex situation…

23 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it has taken to secure the repayment of loans made to Liberty Steel Dalzell.

Answer · Neil Gray: Liberty Steel Dalzell is currently meeting ongoing interest payments on the outstanding loan, and Scottish Enterprise continues to work closely with the Company and its parent to secure full repayment as soon as possible. This is, however, a complex situation…

23 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on, or estimates it has made of, the number of people who have been employed at the Lochaber Aluminium Smelter in each year since 2016, including 2023.

Answer · Neil Gray: The Lochaber businesses continue to perform well and support jobs in the region. GFG has created 40 new jobs in Lochaber since 2016 – increasing direct employment in the complex to 200 jobs and supporting a valuable supply chain with hundreds of associated jo…

23 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many times its relevant department has received correspondence from Audit Scotland regarding Liberty Steel Dalzell in each year since 2016, including 2023 to date.

Answer · Neil Gray: The Scottish Government has no outstanding liabilities in respect of Liberty Steel Dalzell and has engaged with Audit Scotland in relation to this matter.  

23 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many times its relevant department has received correspondence from Audit Scotland regarding the Lochaber Aluminium Smelter in each year since 2016, including 2023 to date.

Answer · Neil Gray: The Scottish Government has engagement with Audit Scotland in relation to the Lochaber Guarantee and the year end accounts. The outcome of the most recent Consolidated accounts for the 2021-2022 financial year has been published in full on the Scottish Govern…

23 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on, or estimates it has made of, the number of people who have been employed at Liberty Steel Dalzell in each year since 2016, including 2023.

Answer · Neil Gray: The Liberty Steel Dalzell site had been mothballed prior to acquisition by GFG Alliance. The Scottish Government took action to ensure the security of high skilled, high quality jobs in our steel industry and today there are 133 people employed at Liberty Ste…

23 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of the number of jobs that have been created at Liberty Steel Dalzell as a result of the financial support that it has provided to GFG Alliance.

Answer · Neil Gray: The Liberty Steel Dalzell site had been mothballed prior to acquisition by GFG Alliance. The Scottish Government took action to ensure the security of high skilled, high quality jobs in our steel industry and today there are 133 people employed at Liberty Ste…

23 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it has taken to address any current exposure, that is backed by public funds, to any financial guarantees that it has given to GFG Alliance.

Answer · Neil Gray: Regular engagement takes place between the Scottish Government and GFG Alliance at both official and ministerial level. Officials hold quarterly meetings to monitor performance in respect of the Scottish Government guarantee and maintain frequent engagement a…

23 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of the number of jobs that have been created at the Lochaber Aluminium Smelter as a result of the financial support that it has provided to GFG Alliance.

Answer · Neil Gray: The Lochaber businesses continue to perform well and support jobs in the region – underlining just how important our intervention was.GFG has created 40 new jobs in Lochaber since 2016 – increasing direct employment in the complex to 200 jobs and supporting a…

22 Mar 2023 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many affordable homes are required to be built to meet the needs of rural communities in the Highland and Islands.

15 Mar 2023 · Portfolio Question

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.

7 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) passenger, (b) car and (c) lorry capacity increases have been achieved on each ferry route in the CalMac network in each of the last 10 years.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: The information requested is already available in the public domain on CalMac’s website by following the link: Annual Carrying Statistics | CalMac Ferries

7 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) passenger, (b) car and (c) lorry capacity increases have been achieved on each vessel in the CalMac fleet in each of the last 10 years.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Carrying statistics for passengers, cars and commercial vehicles are recorded by CalMac on a route by route basis and not by vessel and I refer the Member to the answer to question S6W-15777 on 27 March 2023. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are…

7 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the average annual maintenance cost for a CalMac vessel has been in each of the last 10 years.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: The answer to the question is provided in the following table, detailed for each vessel in the Calmac Ferries services fleet. (CY) denotes contract year and (CHFS) denotes Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Service  CHFS2*  CY1 CY2 CY3 CY4 CY5 CY6  £'000 £'00…

7 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, for each ferry in the CalMac fleet, how many vessels have had (a) Changing Places toilets, (b) other accessible toilets and (c) no accessible toilets, in each of the last 10 years.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: MV Hebrides and MV Isle of Lewis have Changing Places toilets onboard. There are 22 Accessible Toilets between the major and small vessels however, on 9 of the small vessels there are no Accessible Toilet facilities.

7 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, for each ferry in the CalMac fleet, how many days each vessel has been out of service or unable to operate in each of the last 10 years because of (a) breakdown, (b) a refit, (c) refit overruns and (d) concerns over performance of the vessel in bad weather.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: The Scottish Government do not hold all this information, and CalMac are unable to provide all the data as the question is too subjective and the data is not held in this format. Transport Scotland have provided a table, showing all weather related cancellat…

7 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, for each ferry in the CalMac fleet, what the (a) age of each vessel was at the start of 2023, (b) total length of service of each vessel has been with the CalMac fleet and any previous operators and (c) expected length of service of each vessel was at design.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: The following table provides the answer to: 1. age of each vessel was at the start of 2023 2. total length of service of each vessel has been with the CalMac fleet and any previous operators. Vessel Built Entry into CFL Service Current age (Years) Time…

7 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, for each ferry in the CalMac fleet, how much has been (a) budgeted for each vessel’s annual refit, (b) spent on each vessel’s annual refit and (c) spent in total on both the vessel's annual refit and any additional repairs carried out, in each of the last 10 years.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Scottish Government do not currently hold this information, however I will write to the member providing this detail in due course and publish a copy on Scottish Parliament Information Centre bib number 64101.

1 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what future visits Sir Lewis Ritchie plans to undertake in relation to his 2018 review of Skye, Lochalsh and South West Ross out-of-hours services.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: The Scottish Government is aware that Sir Lewis Ritchie intends to undertake further visits to Skye, Lochlash and South West Ross, within the coming 6 months, to engage with clinical colleagues, members of the local community and NHS Highland officials This w…

1 Mar 2023 · Written Question

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

Answer · Humza Yousaf: Ministers and Scottish Government officials regularly meet with representatives of all Health Boards, including NHS Highland, NHS Orkney and NHS Shetland, to discuss matters of importance to local people.  

1 Mar 2023 · Written Question

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 Servic…

Answer · Humza Yousaf: In May 2019, the then Cabinet Secretary visited the Isle of Skye, with Sir Lewis Ritchie to undertake a review of progress. Then in May 2022, the current Cabinet Secretary visited the Isle of Skye, for the official opening of the Broadford Hospital. No formal…

1 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting 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.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: The Scottish Government remains engaged with the review process, however, the responsibility for the implementation of the recommendations falls to NHS Highland, working closely with the local community, NHS 24, the Scottish Ambulance Service and other agenci…

1 Mar 2023 · Written Question

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.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: The Scottish Government is aware that there is still some substantial work to do to fully implement the recommendations of the review and would continue to encourage NHS Highland and the local communities to work together to achieve this.

1 Mar 2023 · Written Question

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.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: 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 …

1 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many 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, have been delivered in full.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: The Scottish Government is aware that, following the publication of the independent external review, 4 of the recommendations have been delivered in full. These include resolving local provision of urgent care in Glenelg & Arnisdale and Raasay, in-patient hos…

1 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide the full agendas and minutes of Sir Lewis Ritchie's four review visits to Portree Hospital, in 2018, 2019 and twice in 2022, and the virtual meeting assessment of progress in 2020.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: The review undertaken by Professor Sir Lewis Ritchie was conducted in his capacity as an independent reviewer. The programme of engagement resulted in around 70 meetings with the Board and other key stakeholders. Due to the number of meetings, confidentiality…

1 Mar 2023 · Written Question

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.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: 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 writt…

1 Mar 2023 · Written Question

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.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: The information that has been requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

1 Mar 2023 · Written Question

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

Answer · Humza Yousaf: 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-…

1 Mar 2023 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it engages with local communities to ensure that their transport needs are met.