Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S4W-25929

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 June 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 10 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Orkney Islands Council about when the islands' internal ferry fleet will be replaced.

Question reference: S4W-25933

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 June 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 10 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what formula it used to calculate fares for (a) cars and (b) passengers on ferry services between Colintraive and Rhubodach.

The Road Equivalent Tariff (RET) formulae from 2013 were used to calculate the RET fares for the October 2015 roll out, of RET to the Colintraive-Rhubodach service.

For cars, this is a fixed element of £5 plus £0.80 per mile and for passengers this is a fixed element of £2 plus £0.13 per mile. The annual Consumer Price Index increases and rounding for 2014 and 2015 were then applied, to ensure that fares on new RET routes are consistent with existing RET routes.

In cases where RET would be more expensive than the standard multi-journey single equivalent, fares will be initially capped at the lower level. This is the case for the passenger fare on Colintraive to Rhubodach.

Question reference: S4W-25685

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 May 2015
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 3 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it (a) has taken and (b) will take to improve mobile phone coverage in rural and island areas.

Achieving widespread 4G coverage throughout rural Scotland, whilst ensuring that the gap between those who don’t receive 3G or even 2G services doesn’t widen, is a priority for the Scottish Government. A fundamental part of our World Class Digital programme is to assess different models to address 4G coverage gaps, exemplified by our pilot project on Coll which went live in March 2015. This has delivered access to 2G/3G/4G services on the island using a community-owned mast in partnership with Vodafone.

Scottish Futures Trust, in partnership with the Scottish Government, is developing further pilots based on alternative approaches that can be conducted under current powers. These have the potential to set improved conditions to encourage commercial investment in currently unviable areas. Learning outcomes from this work will help us determine what could be scalable in future.

Question reference: S4W-25686

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 May 2015
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 3 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to the use of mobile repeaters to help extend mobile phone coverage in rural and island areas and with what conclusions.

Mobile repeaters are routinely used by mobile operators to extend their network coverage, predominantly in urban areas.

As part of our Demonstrating Digital programme, together with industry, we are exploring methods to demonstrate more cost effective rural coverage. These could include repeaters if the mobile operators consider their use to be a viable solution.

However the use of mobile repeaters independently of a partnership with a mobile operator is not viable as the unlicensed use of these devices is illegal in the United Kingdom.

Question reference: S4F-02841

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 01 June 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 June 2015

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's position is on reports that teachers are working 11 hours each week on top of their contracted hours.

Question reference: S4W-25518

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 May 2015
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 29 May 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment the National Scottish Steering Group for Educational Psychologists has made of (a) the suitability of the funding support available for students and (b) current and future staffing levels in the sector.

We are currently funding a position in Education Scotland to work with the National Scottish Steering Group for Educational Psychologists (NSSGEP) to undertake a workforce planning project for educational psychology services in Scotland. As part of this project, a workforce planning survey and work sampling exercise are underway and the data will be analysed and reported on later in 2015. This will help inform the NSSGEP of the suitability of funding support for educational psychology students and of current and likely future staffing levels in the sector.

Question reference: S4W-25517

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 May 2015
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 29 May 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many students have trained as educational psychologists in each of the last three years.

The University of Dundee and the University of Strathclyde run, with an intake in alternate years, two year Master of Science (MSc) courses in educational psychology. The number of students starting the course and the number of students successfully completing the course, for each of the past three years, is shown in the following table:

Year	Students taking up a place on the first year of the MSc	Students successfully completing the MSc
2014	24	21
2013	17	20
2012	21	21

Question reference: S4W-25584

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 18 May 2015
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 28 May 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether Employer Recruitment Incentive payments will continue in their current form after 31 May 2015.

Yes, the Youth Employment Scotland Fund will continue to deliver incentives in their current form after 31 May 2015. We committed in our refreshed youth employment strategy to bring forward a revised approach to recruitment incentives which will focus on those furthest from the labour market and on supporting small businesses to access the Modern Apprentice programme. Scottish Government is working in partnership with local authorities and other stakeholders to ensure that the new programme builds on the experience of delivering Youth Employment Scotland Fund.

Question reference: S4O-04381

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 May 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 May 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Highlands and Islands Enterprise regarding whether Wave Energy Scotland should be located in Orkney.

Question reference: S4W-25446

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 May 2015
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 18 May 2015

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-25348 by Angela Constance on 5 May 2015, whether it has established a timeframe for the Widening Access Commission to report back with its conclusions.