Questions and answers

Question reference: S5W-16635

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 23 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-04450 by Humza Yousaf on 14 November 2016, how much in public grants (a) was paid in Contract Year 5 and (b) has been paid in Contract Year 6 to Serco NorthLink Ferries for the Northern Isles Ferry Service contract, and by what date the final information for Contact Year 6 will be available.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-16302 on 15 May 2018 which confirms how much was paid to Serco NorthLink Ferries in Contract Year 5. The total amount paid for Contract Year 6, which ended on 25 April 2018, has not yet been finalised. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

Question reference: S5W-16351

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 16 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the release of the quarterly figures for Police Scotland officer numbers on 31 March 2018, how many of the officers identified as (a) National and (b) Regional Resources are based at locations in the A Division area.

Deployment of police officers is a matter for the Chief Constable of Police Scotland. Police Scotland publish sub-national police officer numbers on a quarterly basis in parallel with the Scottish Government’s Police Officer Quarterly Strength Statistics. A link to Police Scotland’s latest sub-national officer numbers publication, for the fourth quarter of 2017-18, is given below:

http://www.scotland.police.uk/assets/pdf/138327/212520/police-scotland-officer-numbers-q42018?view=Standard .

Question reference: S5F-02328

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 04 May 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 May 2018

To ask the First Minister what impact the EDF Energy announcement on the acquisition of the Neart na Gaoithe project will have on renewables jobs and the supply chain in Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-16008

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 26 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the ministerial statement on NHS Tayside by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport on 17 April 2018 (Official Report, c.12), whether Malcolm Wright remains in post as chief executive of NHS Grampian.

Question reference: S5W-16007

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 26 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with the board of NHS Grampian regarding the future provision of services in the Grampian area.

Question reference: S5O-02050

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 April 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will remove any legal impediments to council-run bus services.

Question reference: S5W-14471

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 February 2018
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 23 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how the £150 million in funding for mental health services that it announced in January 2016 has been spent each year by each NHS board.

The £150 million to support mental health innovation and improvement first began in calendar year 2016, running to the end of 2020. This was subsequently built upon in the latest Programme for Government to ensure that at least £150 million would be delivered in 2017-18 to 2021-22.

We have been clear that at least £150 million would be delivered in both 5 year periods. In 2017-18 the budget contribution towards this will be £30 million.

It should be noted that this investment for innovation and investment forms only part of the investment made by the NHS and the Scottish Government in delivering mental health services. In 2017-18 the level of mental health investment is targeted to exceed £1 billion for the first time.

A significant proportion of the mental health innovation investment is not directed to territorial boards but to other providers that will deliver benefits – for example in 2016-17 £4.5 million was directed to NHS Education for Scotland for the their Psychological Therapies and CAMHS programmes to enhance the supply and training of the workforce. Other examples include investment with SAMH to support their physical activity pilot, and for Health Improvement Scotland to provide a support programme to boards to improve access to services.

Proportion of Mental Health Transformation Fund Allocated to NHS Boards and Others

	2015-16 (£)	2016-17 (£)
NHS Ayrshire & Arran	561,055	883,865
NHS Borders	124,116	292,473
NHS Dumfries & Galloway	154,804	385,086
NHS Fife	287,601	810,228
NHS Forth Valley	241,596	664,989
NHS Grampian	395,259	1,170,214
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde	1,034,608	2,598,488
NHS Highland	277,629	784,865
NHS Lanarkshire	486,917	1,546,090
NHS Lothian	1,235,507	2,216,030
NHS Orkney	67,153	104,397
NHS Shetland	66,991	104,330
NHS Tayside	320,602	922,234
NHS Western Isles	74,160	126,578
Territorials	5,327,998	12,609,867

Others (transformation projects – including Access, Distress Brief Interventions, and funding to other delivery partners )	768,276	6,534,863

Total	6,096,274	19,144,730

Question reference: S5O-01972

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 April 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether plans for major trauma centres in Aberdeen and Dundee to commence in October 2018 have been affected by recent events at NHS Tayside.

Question reference: S5W-15322

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 27 March 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether the planned completion date of the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR) is later than Spring 2018 and, if so, whether it advised Balfour Beatty that it could release that information to shareholders before ministers informed the Parliament.

In my statement to Parliament on 22 March 2018 I advised that there is effectively a range of dates when the road is likely to be open. The earliest date is likely to be towards the end of the summer period, however it may be more prudent to anticipate a late autumn 2018 opening date for project opening.

Balfour Beatty Plc is a Main Market company which must follow strict obligations to ensure that information which might affect its share price is made available to all investors simultaneously. Consequently the Scottish Government received no advance warning of the content of the publication.

Question reference: S5W-15323

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 27 March 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what the planned completion date is for the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR) and, if this has changed, when it did so.

In my statement to Parliament on 22 March 2018 I advised that there is effectively a range of dates when the road is likely to be open. The earliest date is likely to be towards the end of the summer period, however it may be more prudent to anticipate a late autumn 2018 opening date for project opening.

When I attended the Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee on 24 January 2018, I advised that the intention at that time remained to open the road in the spring but that the date could not be guaranteed. Since that time, Transport Scotland has been working closely with Aberdeen Roads Limited (ARL) to work through the information available to understand the timeframes for opening the project roads

Balfour Beatty, who is one of the partners forming ARL published its 2017 full-year results on 14 March 2018. Within these results it is suggested that the project will be complete in summer 2018. Transport Scotland urgently met with ARL’s contractor on 15 March 2018 to understand its definitive position on the project opening. The information received from the contractor has been considered together with independent assessments undertaken by Transport Scotland’s technical advisors. The conclusion reached is that the earliest that all roads can realistically be open is predicted to be towards the end of the summer period with the latest in mid to late autumn 2018.

Notwithstanding this Transport Scotland is also establishing whether any further mitigation measures can be put in place to ensure the project is not only delivered at the soonest opportunity but toidentify if sections of new road can be opened in advance of the whole of the project.

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