- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 November 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 9 December 2020
To ask the Scottish Government, on what dates the committee overseeing the Saltire Tidal Energy Challenge Fund has met since the announcement of the fund; whether it will place a copy of the minutes of all of these meetings in SPICe, and whether the committee has any plans to meet in the future.
Answer
The Saltire Tidal Energy Challenge Fund was overseen by a recommendations panel consisting of representatives of the Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, and Wave Energy Scotland. The panel met six times, including on a monthly basis between March and June 2019 and on two occasions thereafter to discuss applications and agree its recommendations to Scottish Ministers. In addition, the panel were consulted by correspondence throughout the assessment process. Given the commercial nature of the projects discussed, it would be inappropriate to place the minutes of meetings on SPICe. There are no plans for the panel to meet again, following the closure of the Fund to applications on 6 December 2019.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 November 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 9 December 2020
To ask the Scottish Government which projects have received money from the Saltire Tidal Energy Challenge Fund; how much funding each project received, and how this compared with the (a) amount applied for and (b) total project cost.
Answer
Orbital Marine Power were awarded up to £3.4 million for the Orbital O2 2MW Tidal Turbine Project. This award is equal to the total amount applied for to support a project with a total cost of approximately £13 million.
MeyGen Plc were awarded up to £1.545 million for the Subsea Hub Project. Total projects cost were approximately £2.6 million. The total amount applied for was reduced by the applicant during the application process, and the funding awarded was equal to the amount applied for to deploy the Subsea Hub as part of the wider MeyGen project.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 November 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 9 December 2020
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the advertised condition that projects receiving money from the Saltire Tidal Energy Challenge Fund "are deployed in Scottish waters no later than March 2020", whether a new deployment date was agreed when the closing date was extended to September 2020; whether that new deployment date applied to all projects or just those applying during the extension period, and on what date each project was deployed.
Answer
The date by which projects supported by the Saltire Tidal Energy Challenge Fund were required to be deployed in Scottish waters was changed from March 2020 to September 2020 following feedback from stakeholders. This included comments received at an information event held on 6 March 2019. The timeline for deployment was applicable to all applicants and all projects.
The anticipated deployment dates for projects awarded funding were assessed to be realistic at the time offers of grant were made. The Scottish Government subsequently offered to provide flexibility on grant conditions, if required, to allow for the potential impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Both funded projects have made substantial progress since being awarded funding. MeyGen’s Subsea Hub was installed in September 2020, and Orbital Marine Power are scheduled to commence turbine operational related activities in early 2021.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 November 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 9 December 2020
To ask the Scottish Government on how many occasions the Junior Saltire Prize competition ran; how much it distributed in total prize money, and whether it is still operational, or if there is a current equivalent, in light of the Scottish Government stating on 3 February 2018 that it was "being considered as part of the review of the main Saltire Prize".
Answer
The Junior Saltire Prize fund ran on six occasions and distributed
a total of £17,200 in prize money. The total prize money distributed
in each year is shown in the following table. Year | Total (£) | 2011-2012 | 2,700 | 2012-2013 | 3,000 | 2013-2014 | 2,750 | 2014-2015 | 2,750 | 2015-2016 | 3,000 | 2016-2017 | 3,000 |
Following a review of the Saltire Prize a decision was taken not
to relaunch the Junior Saltire Prize as part of the refocused Saltire
Tidal Energy Challenge Fund. |
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 November 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 9 December 2020
To ask the Scottish Government, further to it reportedly stating on 3 February 2018 that the Saltire Prize Medal for outstanding contributions to the development of marine renewable energy was being considered as part of the review of the main Saltire Prize, what was subsequently decided.
Answer
Following a review of the Saltire Prize a decision was taken not to reinstate the Saltire Prize Medal as part of the refocused Saltire Tidal Energy Challenge Fund.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 November 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 9 December 2020
To ask the Scottish Government, further to freedom of information request reference FOI/18/01056, whether it will place in SPICe a copy of the annual costs since 2017-18 associated with the Saltire Prize and the subsequent Saltire Tidal Energy Challenge Fund, broken down by the costs for (a) launch, (b) events, (c) administration, (d) rebranding, (e) rescoping, (f) staffing, (g) expenses, (h) consultancy work and (i) other functions.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-21626 on 7 March 2019. 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
Annual costs associated with the Saltire Tidal Energy Challenge Fund since 2019-20 are shown in the following table
Cost category | 2019-20 (£) | 2020-21 (£) |
Consultancy | 63,822 | N/A |
Technical Evaluation, Monitoring
and Governance | 75,000 | 75,000 |
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 November 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 9 December 2020
To ask the Scottish Government whether the Saltire Tidal Energy Challenge Fund, which was advertised as being open until September 2020, is now closed, and how much money is remaining.
Answer
The Saltire Tidal Energy Challenge Fund, which was launched on 10 February 2019 with total of up to £10 million available to help accelerate the commercial deployment of tidal energy in Scottish waters.
Following a process of evaluation and due diligence, two projects were supported under the Fund, with total funding of up to £4.945 million. Three further application for funds were received but were either withdrawn or not allocated funding. The Fund closed for applications on 6 December 2019 and no further funding will be distributed. The Scottish Government is considering the scope of future support for both the tidal stream and wave energy sectors in Scotland to ensure they can progress to commercialisation.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 20 November 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 7 December 2020
To ask the Scottish Government what the average processing time has been for applications to the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) membership scheme, for applications completed in (a) 2017, (b) 2018, (c) 2019 and (d) each month of 2020.
Answer
With the agreement of Ministers, Disclosure Scotland invoked business continuity plans in March this year, and since then has been dealing with two separate application channels: business as usual, and coronavirus work. Applications in relation to recruitment solely for coronavirus work have been and continue to be prioritised.
The average processing time for all types of PVG applications is set out in the table below. For 2017, 2018, 2019 and January and February 2020, all applications were business as usual. From March 2020 the separate application channels are shown, with the figure for November being to the date the information was compiled.
Time period | PVG applications completed | Average processing time in calendar days |
2017 – calendar year | 286,866 | 3.38 |
2018 – calendar year | 277,535 | 3.34 |
2019 – calendar year | 282,981 | 8.0 |
2020 | | |
January | 20,311 | 5.60 |
February | 21,340 | 6.85 |
March | Business as Usual | 21,347 | 7.44 |
Coronavirus Work | 3,976 | 2.18 |
April | Business as Usual | 631 | 8.57 |
Coronavirus Work | 15,445 | 0.91 |
May | Business as Usual | 43 | 6.18 |
Coronavirus Work | 11,384 | 0.41 |
June | Business as Usual | 57 | 11.44 |
Coronavirus Work | 12,932 | 1.09 |
July | Business as Usual | 3,526 | 5.71 |
Coronavirus Work | 10,817 | 1.19 |
August | Business as Usual | 9,907 | 7.98 |
Coronavirus Work | 3,106 | 1.97 |
September | Business as Usual | 15,030 | 10.34 |
Coronavirus Work | 1,922 | 2.39 |
October | Business as Usual | 15,317 | 12.62 |
Coronavirus Work | 2,133 | 3.26 |
November (to 20 th ) | Business as Usual | 14,331 | 19.27 |
Coronavirus Work | 1,293 | 1.74 |
Note 1: Average processing days for Business as Usual incorporates the time from when an application is received to when an application is received at print house and excludes exception and customer contact times.
Note 2: Average processing days for Coronavirus Work incorporates the time from when an application is started to the time an application is sent to print house. It excludes exception and customer contact times.
Note 3: From 23-03-2020 to 09-06-2020: All applications received were provided at no cost.
Note 4: From 09-06-2020: Reintroduction of Business as Usual for basic disclosure applications.
Note 5: From 26-06-2020: Reintroduction of Business as Usual for all applications types, including for the PVG Scheme.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 20 November 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 7 December 2020
To ask the Scottish Government how many vehicles have been in the ministerial fleet in each of the last five years, also broken down by how many were ultra-low emission vehicles.
Answer
The following table details how many vehicles have been in the Government Car Service (GCS) fleet in each of the last five years, broken down by Ultra-low emission vehicles (ULEV’s).
Year | Number of ULEV’s on fleet | Total number of vehicles on fleet (1) |
15-16 | 2 | 25 |
16-17 | 3 | 25 |
17-18 | 4 | 27 |
18-19 | 13 | 33 |
19-20 | 21 | 41 |
Notes
1. The number of vehicles fluctuates as and when vehicles are procured and disposed of.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 November 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 7 December 2020
To ask the Scottish Government on what dates the Health and Justice Collaborative Improvement Board has met in 2020, and when it will next meet.
Answer
The Health and Justice Collaboration Board met on 29 January 2020.
In March 2020, the Health and Justice Collaboration Board was paused while resources were prioritised to focus on responding to COVID-19. Once pressures relating to the pandemic have eased, we will consider next steps for the Board including future meetings.
