Questions and answers

Question reference: S4W-05576

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 13 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with (a) Flybe, (b) Loganair and (c) other airlines serving the Highlands and Islands since 2007 regarding the expansion of the public service obligation network.

Question reference: S4W-05577

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 13 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what the budget for public service obligation flights has been in each year since 2007.

Question reference: S4W-05575

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 13 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with businesses in the Highlands and Islands since 2007 regarding the extension of public service obligation flights to these areas.

Question reference: S4W-05579

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 13 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how much it has spent on the administration of public service obligation flights in each year since 2007.

Question reference: S4W-05969

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 9 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what (a) weight and (b) value of seafood has been exported directly from Scotland to China in each quarter of the last two years, broken down by species.

Due to the way data is reported by HM Revenues and Customs (HMRC) the weight and value of each individual seafood species exported from Scotland to China is unavailable. However, the HMRC Regional Trade Statistics data for “Fish, Crustaceans, Molluscs, Aquatic Invertebrates and Preparations Thereof” by weight and value exported from Scotland to China is shown on the following table. This information covers Quarter 1, 2010 to Quarter 3, 2011 (the latest data available).

	Value (£)	Weight (Tonnes)
Q1 2010	200,000	208
Q2 2010	1,400,000	2,628
Q3 2010	1,100,000	1,886
Q4 2010	5,100,000	4,180
Q1 2011	7,900,000	2,038
Q2 2011	6,800,000	1,111
Q3 2011	3,100,000	676

Question reference: S4O-00790

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 March 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will announce the preferred bidder for the Northern Isles ferry contract.

Question reference: S4W-05953

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 7 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it took to incorporate the views of the Orkney and Shetland communities during the competitive dialogue process leading to the retendering of the Northern Isles ferry contract.

During the Competitive Dialogue stage of the Northern Isles tender process, Transport Scotland engaged directly with officials from HITRANS and ZetTrans in order to benefit from their detailed local knowledge and perspective. This followed extensive engagement during earlier phases of the tender process with both of the Regional Transport Partnerships and all the local authorities with an interest. This engagement included meetings with members and officials of both Orkney Islands Council and Shetland Islands Council. This, in turn, followed a full public consultation on the Northern Isles ferry services in 2010 which elicited over 400 responses from individuals and organisations.

Question reference: S4W-05962

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 7 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been spent on the heritage education travel subsidy scheme in each year, also broken down by site.

The Heritage Education School Visits Travel Subsidy scheme was established in April 2010 and is administered by Historic Scotland. Information on how the scheme operates and the sites included is available at:

www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/education-travel-subsidy .

Information on the numbers of school groups, numbers of pupils and amount of travel subsidy awarded relating to visits to sites are set out in the following table for 2010-2011. Figures for financial year 2011-12 are not currently available.

Heritage Sites*	Number of School Groups	Number of Pupils	Amount Awarded to the School through the Heritage Education School Visits Travel Subsidy Scheme
Aberdour Castle	6	220	£360.00
Aberlemno	1	30	£78.75
Arbroath Abbey	5	154	£581.25
Arnol Blackhouse	2	22	Subsidy awarded financial year 2011-12
Bannockburn	87	3,016	£11,955.61
Bishops Palace	1	49	£147.50
Blackness Castle	6	135	£442.50
Bonawe	1	37	£200.00
Bothwell Castle	13	517	£1,056.75
Broch of Gurness	1	56	£200.00
Caerlaverock Castle	3	75	£390.00
Cairnpapple Hill	2	72	£165.00
Claypotts Castle	6	136	£447.50
Craigmillar Castle	9	250	£1,087.50
Culloden	54	2,111	£6,906.29
Dirleton Castle	3	167	£412.50
Doune Castle	6	321	£1,037.50
Duff House	6	138	£577.50
Dunfermline	3	84	£427.50
Earl's Palace	1	49	£171.00
Edinburgh Castle	48	1,576	£6,981.22
Elcho Castle	1	40	£220.00
Elgin Cathedral	2	71	£127.50
Fort George	10	301	£1,017.50
Hermitage Castle	1	55	£200.00
Holyrood	1	27	£105.00
Huntingtower Castle	8	305	£1,134.75
Huntly Castle	3	75	£356.25
Inchcolm Abbey	1	28	£37.50
Iona Abbey	2	27	£334.42
Jarlshof	2	44	Subsidy awarded financial year 2011-12
Kildrummy Castle	1	25	£24.00
Kilmartin Glen	3	66	£356.25
Linlithgow Palace	8	244	£770.00
Lochleven Castle	4	154	£502.50
Melrose Abbey	8	245	£677.28
New Lanark World Heritage Site	108	3,744	£12,671.50
Orkney Sites (multiple)	1	10	£200.00
Ring of Brodgar	1	31	£33.75
Robert Burns Birthplace Museum	100	4,020	£10,553.25
Ruthven Barracks	1	22	£168.75
Skara Brae	10	278	£926.05
Smailholm Tower	2	44	Subsidy awarded financial year 2011-12
St Andrews Castle	7	182	£686.25
Stanley Mills	22	745	£1,893.73
Stirling Castle	123	4,143	£18,711.25
Tolquhon Castle	2	100	£368.75
Urquhart Castle	12	345	£843.75

Total	704	24,422	£86,545.85

Notes:

*Heritage sites where a travel subsidy has been paid to the school visiting. Sites where no claim has been made are not listed.

For some sites such as Stirling Castle, Bannockburn, Fort George and Culloden, some schools take in more than one site when arranging a visit as part of the scheme.

Question reference: S4W-05952

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 7 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects to announce the preferred bidder for the Northern Isles ferry contract.

Question reference: S4W-05966

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 7 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many school groups from (a) island and (b) remote mainland communities have gone on visits in each year as part of the heritage education travel subsidy scheme, also broken down by site.

The Heritage Education School Visits Travel Subsidy scheme was established in April 2010 and is administered by Historic Scotland. Information on how the scheme operates and the sites included is available at: www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/education-travel-subsidy.

Information on the numbers of school groups, numbers of pupils and amount of travel subsidy awarded relating to visits to sites are set out in the following tables for 2010-11. Figures for financial year 2011-12 are not currently available.year 2011-12 are not currently available.

Site	Number of School Groups from an Island
Arnol Blackhouse	2
Bishop's Palace	1
Bonawe	1
Broch of Gurness	1
Earl's Palace	1
Edinburgh Castle	1
Iona Abbey	1
Jarlshof	1
Kilmartin Glen	2
Ring of Brodgar	1
Robert Burns Birthplace Museum	2
Skara Brae	8
Stirling Castle	1

Site	Number of School Groups from a Remote Mainland Community *
Bannockburn	4
Caerlaverock	1
Culloden	13
Dirleton Caslte	1
Duff House	1
Edinburgh Castle	3
Fort George	3
Huntly Castle	1
Jarlshof	1
Kildrummy Castle	1
Kilmartin Glen	1
Melrose Abbey	1
New Lanark World Heritage Site	4
Robert Burns Birthplace Museum	5
Skara Brae	2
Stanley Mills	3
Stirling Castle	11
Urquhart Castle	3

Note: *Based on the definition of “remote rural areas” - settlements of less than 3,000 people who are not within 30 minutes drive of a settlement of 10,000 or more people.

2007-08	£1.8 million
2008-09	£1.9 million
2009-10	£2.0 million
2010-11	£2.0 million
2011-12 to date	£1.8 million

Chamber and committees