Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-06090

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 1 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-03100 by Graeme Dey on 30 September 2021, for what reasons its Strategic Transport Projects Review 2 did not recommend a new rail connection to and from Cowal linking to the West Highland Line or rail network in Inverclyde or North Ayrshire.

STPR2 did not recommend further work on the business case development for this proposed fixed link after the preliminary appraisal stage.

This was on the basis that the assessment work had highlighted significant issues in relation to topography and infrastructure requirements needed for this option.

As a result the option was assessed as not offering “value for money” and consequently was not considered further in the appraisal process. However, there remains a path for regional or local rail projects to come forward, subject to a strong business case being developed and suitable funding being available.

The Access to Argyll and Bute (A83) project announced a recommended preferred route corridor through Glen Croe in March 2021. This will help address the strategic need to improve connectivity to the Argyll and Bute region.

Question reference: S6O-00815

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 February 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that Historic Environment Scotland is considering criteria that could be used to identify sites that could be left to managed decline.

Question reference: S6W-06093

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 22 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many children living in (a) Argyll and Bute, (b) Highland, (c) Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, (d) Orkney Islands, (e) Shetland Islands, and (f) Moray council areas are eligible to receive a free bicycle and, of those, how many (i) have received a free bicycle, and (ii) are yet to receive a free bicycle.

We do not have the information requested as we are still in the test phase of this programme. In this government’s first 100 days, we established ten pilot schemes to test how best to provide free bikes for school age children who cannot afford one. These pilots will run for up to 12 months, testing different approaches and delivery models, which will then be independently evaluated, to help inform a national rollout. Of the mentioned council areas, Shetland is currently covered by one of the ten pilots. They have recently received a stock of 25 bikes and are waiting on a delivery of adaptive bikes. The pilot team are currently working to identify any eligible children in the council area and begin issuing bikes to them as soon as possible.

Question reference: S6W-06086

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 21 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government by what date it estimates that every eligible child living in (a) Argyll and Bute, (b) Highland, (c) Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, (d) Orkney Islands, (e) Shetland Islands, and (f) Moray council areas, will have a free bicycle in their possession.

We do not have the information requested as we are still in the test phase of this programme. In this government’s first 100 days, we established ten pilot schemes to test how best to provide free bikes for school age children who cannot afford one. These pilots will run for up to 12 months, testing different approaches and delivery models which will then be independently evaluated to help inform a national rollout. Of the mentioned council areas, Shetland is currently covered by one of the ten pilots. The pilot team in Shetland have procured their first 25 bikes, and are now preparing their distribution.

Question reference: S6W-06092

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 16 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government by what date it estimates that every eligible child living in (a) Argyll and Bute, (b) Highland, (c) Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, (d) Orkney Islands, (e) Shetland Islands, and (f) Moray council areas, will have a free laptop or tablet in their possession.

Question reference: S6W-06091

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 16 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many children living in (a) Argyll and Bute, (b) Highland, (c) Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, (d) Orkney Islands, (e) Shetland Islands and (f) Moray council areas are eligible to receive a free laptop or tablet and, of those, how many (i) have received a free laptop or tablet and (ii) are yet to receive a free laptop or tablet.

The following table shows how many school-aged children are in each local authority (as at September 2020) and how many devices have been distributed by councils using the £25m digital inclusion funding made available by Scottish Government in 2020-21.

Local authorities across Scotland have a range of approaches to provision of technology in schools, including some councils who have undertaken to provide cohorts of their school population with devices using their own budgets. We do not hold information centrally on those approaches, therefore, the table below only shows devices distributed through the funding made available by Scottish Government in 2020-21.

Local Authority	Pupils (as at September 2020)	Devices Distributed
Argyll and Bute	10,167	1,317
Highland	30,826	4.499
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar	3,328	357
Orkney	2,804	275
Shetland Islands	3,289	475
Moray	12,114	1,315

Question reference: S6O-00750

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the provision of new ferries in light of the publication of the Strategic Transport Projects Review 2.

Question reference: S6W-05711

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 27 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when the Inner Sound Management Group will next meet, in light of the judgment of the Inner House of the Court of Session in relation to the Inner Sound Pilot Scheme.

Establishing an Inner Sound Management Advisory Group was one of the recommendations from a report of 26 February 2020 regarding a pilot scheme proposal for the Inner Sound of Skye.

The landscape surrounding inshore fisheries management has however changed significantly over this two year period, with the publication of a new fisheries management strategy and the marine elements of the Bute House agreement.

Development of inshore fisheries management in Scotland will continue to be channelled through our Regional Inshore Fisheries Groups (RIFGs), including for the waters around Skye. The RIFG network brings fishers together to work with Government, and in partnership, help deliver management that protects the marine environment and supports a strong, sustainable, and resilient fishing industry.

Question reference: S6O-00637

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 January 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how it will support local authorities to make decisions on local services based on local priorities.

Question reference: S6W-04985

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 5 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many patients have currently been referred for orthopaedic treatment in (a) NHS Highland and (b) Scotland but have not yet been given a treatment date.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) publishes quarterly statistics relating to the waits patients experience for new outpatient appointments and inpatient or day case admission at specialty and health board level using the links below.

https://beta.isdscotland.org/find-publications-and-data/healthcare-resources/waiting-times/

The latest statistics were published on 30 th November 2021 and the following tables will be of interest.

New outpatient appointments (tab: 1.4 Table):

https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/media/10563/newop_nov21.xlsx

Inpatient or day case admission (tab: 2.4 Table):

https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/media/10487/ipdc_nov21.xlsx

The statistics published in the tables above include additions to the waiting list and not referrals as the national data captures only those referrals that lead to a patient being added to the waiting list for an appointment or admission.

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