Questions and answers

Question reference: S5W-10555

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 23 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many seafarer (a) Officer Cadets and (b) Deck and Engine Rating apprentices have been recruited by Caledonian MacBrayne in each year since 2006.

Cadets are sponsored by CalMac Ferries Limited and are recruited and employed on CalMac Ferries Limited’s behalf by Clyde Marine Training Limited. Since January 2006, CalMac Ferries Limited has sponsored a total of 128 Deck, Engine and Electrotechnical Officer Cadets, details as follows:-

	Current	Previously	Total
Deck Officer Cadets	16	57	73
Engine Officer Cadets	16	33	49
Electrotechnical Officer Cadets	4	2	6
Total	36	92	128

There are a further 9 Officer Cadets due to start their respective courses before the end of September 2017.

Since January 2006, CalMac Ferries Limited has also recruited a total of 46 Deck, Engine and Retail Rating Trainees, details as follows:-

	2006	2010	2013	2014	2015	2016	Total
Deck Rating Trainees	4	2	6	6	0	6	24
Engine Rating Trainees	0	0	4	4	0	4	12
Retail Rating Trainees	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	10	10
Total	4	2	10	10	0	20	46

In addition, CalMac Ferries Limited are hoping to recruit a further 6 Deck Rating Trainees, 4 Engine Rating Trainees and 10 Retail Rating Trainees to start their respective course in mid-September 2017.

Question reference: S5W-10099

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 03 July 2017
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 28 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason there is a difference in the levels of money paid out between the Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (LAFSS) and the basic payments under the CAP scheme of 2015.

Question reference: S5W-10161

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 July 2017
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 27 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government which of its initiatives referred to in the most recent Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) budget has HIE given funding to; how much funding was given to each initiative, and what the funding was used for.

Question reference: S5W-10097

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 03 July 2017
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 27 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-09476 by Fergus Ewing on 28 June 2017, how much is still to be paid to farmers who are waiting for payments from the 2015 tranche of CAP applications.

2015 -

Basic Payment Scheme (including Greening and Young Farmers Payment) – £36,043.81 (0.10%) is unpaid

Rural Development - £0.50 million (1.52%) is unpaid – no loans made for these schemes

LFASS – £6.4 million (10%) is unpaid - of this £5.1 m is covered by loans - £1.3 m not covered by loans.

Scottish Suckler Beef Support Scheme - all eligible claims paid – no loans made for this scheme.

Scottish Upland Sheep Support Scheme - all eligible claims paid – no loans made for this scheme

2016 - not all claims are validated so it is not currently possible to calculate the total amount which is unpaid. Loans to the value of £372.36 million have been issued to provide support to farmers and crofters

2017 – no payments have been made for scheme year 2017 – applications for these payments have just been received via the Single Application Form 2017 and the payments cannot be made until the payment window opens on 1 December 2017.

Question reference: S5W-10163

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 July 2017
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 19 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish the Rural Scotland Key Facts publication.

The next edition of the Rural Scotland Key Facts is due to be published in July 2018. Rural Scotland Key Facts follows the publication of the updated Scottish Government Urban Rural Classification. The Scottish Government Urban Rural classification is based on NRS Settlements and Localities data which is due to be published in December 2017. Following this, the 2016-17 Scottish Government Urban Rural Classification will be due in February 2018.

When the exact publication date for Rural Scotland Key Facts is confirmed it will be added to the Forthcoming Publications section of the Scottish Government website: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/ForthcomingPubs

Question reference: S5W-10096

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 03 July 2017
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 19 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects to have validated all the claims from the 2016 tranche of CAP applications.

Question reference: S5W-10098

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 03 July 2017
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 19 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many calendar days in took to respond to question S5W-09476.

Question reference: S5W-09477

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 28 June 2017

2015 - 96.8% of total CAP payments paid - £457.18 million

2016 - total CAP payments paid - £251.29 million. As claims are still being validated it is not possible to provide the percentage of eligible claims which this represents at this time.

2017 – no payments have been made for scheme year 2017 – applications for these payments have just been received via the Single Application Form 2017 and payments cannot be made until the payment window opens on 1 December 2017.

Question reference: S5W-09476

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 28 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the substantive CAP payments for (a) 2015, (b) 2016 and (c) 2017 remains unpaid, also broken down by how much (i) has been subject to loans being paid out and (ii) is not covered by loans.

2015 - Basic Payment Scheme (including Greening and Young Farmers Payment) –£95,798 (0.28%) is unpaid (£38,300 of this has been covered by loans, £57,498 has not been the subject of a loan)

Rural Development - £0.59 million (1.98%) is unpaid – no loans made for these schemes

LFASS – £14.19 million (21.6%) is unpaid - of this £11.19 m are covered by loans - £3 m not covered by loans.

Scottish Suckler Beef Support Scheme - £47,314 (0.15%) is unpaid – no loans made for this scheme.

Scottish Upland Sheep Support Scheme - £50,678 (0.86%) is unpaid – no loans made for this scheme

2016 - not all claims are validated so it is not currently possible to calculate the total amount which is unpaid. Loans to the value of £372.36 million have been issued to provide support to farmers and crofters

2017 – no payments have been made for scheme year 2017 – applications for these payments have just been received via the Single Application Form 2017 and the payments cannot be made until the payment window opens on 1 December 2017.

Question reference: S5O-01136

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 June 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address the reported shortage of dentists in rural and island communities.

Chamber and committees