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: S5W-22474

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 30 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many EU Settlement Scheme application fees it has reimbursed.

Following extensive lobbying by the Scottish Government, the 3Million group and other partners, on 21 January the Prime Minister finally announced the abolition of the proposed fee of £65 for EU citizens to obtain settled status. The UK Government has stated that those who paid a fee when applying to the EU Settlement Scheme will automatically be refunded, however it is unclear how many reimbursements have been issued to date.

Dropping the fee is a small concession from the UK Government and does not change the fact that EU citizens are being made to apply simply to retain the rights that they already have to live, work and study in Scotland. The Scottish Government has been clear that we will do all we can to support EU citizens to stay in Scotland and recently announced the ‘Stay in Scotland’ package of support to help EU citizens through the UK Government’s EU Settlement Scheme. This is over and above any support provided by the UK Government, and they must now go much further and provide what EU citizens in this country urgently need: reassurance, support and clarity regarding their future rights.

Having dropped their fee for Settled Status, it is the UK Government who is responsible for reimbursing application fees for the EU Settlement Scheme.

Question reference: S5O-03184

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 April 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what representations it has made to Ofgem regarding its consultation on the proposed Western Isles interconnector.

Question reference: S5W-22298

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 28 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many operations have been cancelled in each year since 2016 in NHS (a) Highland, (b) Eilean Siar, (c) Shetland and (d) Orkney.

The following table shows the total number of scheduled elective cancelled operations recorded in theatre systems for calendar years 2016, 2017 and 2018 across NHS Highland, NHS Western Isles, NHS Shetland and NHS Orkney.

Health Board	2016	2017	2018
NHS Highland	1975	1670	1963
NHS Orkney	195	153	165
NHS Shetland	123	146	114
NHS Western Isles	129	140	124

Source: ISD

Please note there are a number of reasons why operations can be cancelled including, at the request of the patient and based on clinical reasons. Clearly, if a patient is not clinically able to have an operation, the right course of action is that it doesn’t go ahead.

The decision for a board to postpone an elective procedure is never taken lightly. We continue to work closely with health boards to ensure cancellations are kept to a minimum and that any postponed procedures will be rescheduled at the earliest opportunity.

The Scottish Government Waiting Times Improvement Plan, launched in October 2018 and backed by more than £850 million, will ensure we further increase capacity, clinical effectiveness and efficiency, and will help implement new models of care that will support the reduction in the number of patient cancellations for non-clinical reasons. We are also working closely with those health boards experiencing the greatest pressures to support immediate and sustainable improvements.

Question reference: S5O-03116

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 March 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support GP practices in rural areas.

Question reference: S5O-03042

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 21 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government when it will next meet Highlands and Islands Airports Limited.

Question reference: S5W-21926

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 14 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many new homes were built across all sectors in (a) the Highlands, (b) Argyll and Bute, (c) the Western Isles, (d) Moray, (e) the Orkney Islands and (f) the Shetland Islands in 2018.

The Scottish Government publishes quarterly statistics on new build housing across all sectors in each local authority area as part of the Housing Statistics for Scotland publications and web tables available at https://www2.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Housing-Regeneration/HSfS/NewBuildAllSector .

These statistics are based on information collected through New Build forms (NB1 and NB2), and the Affordable Housing Supply Programme dataset. The figures include local authority, housing association, and private-led starts and completions.

The latest quarterly statistics, published on 12 March 2019, contain information on the total number of all-sector new build housing starts and completions up to end September 2018. Figures on the number of all sector new builds to end December 2018 will be published in the next Quarterly Housing Statistics update, planned for June 2019.

Published figures on the number of all-sector new build completions between January 2018 and September 2018 in (a) the Highlands, (b) Argyll and Bute, (c) the Western Isles, (d) Moray, (e) the Orkney Islands and (f) the Shetland Islands is provided in the following table.

New build housing completions between January 2018 and end September 2018, by selected local authority areas

Argyll and Bute	58
Highland	997
Moray	256
Na h-Eileanan Siar	33
Orkney	71
Shetland	80

Data source: Scottish Government Quarterly Housing Statistics, all-sector new build housing completions, as published on 12 March 2019.

Question reference: S5O-02970

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 February 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve ferry capacity in the Highlands and Islands region.

Question reference: S5W-21440

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 26 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many SMART: SCOTLAND grants have been paid to projects in the (a) Argyll and Bute, (b) Highland, (c) Western Isles, (d) Moray, (e) Shetland Islands and (f) Orkney Islands council area in each year since 2016, also broken down by the total amount awarded.

Question reference: S5W-21437

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 26 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many Make it to Market grants have been paid to projects in the (a) Argyll and Bute, (b) Highland, (c) Western Isles, (d) Moray, (e) Shetland Islands and (f) Orkney Islands council area in each year since 2016, also broken down by the total amount awarded.

Question reference: S5W-21439

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 26 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many research and development grants have been paid to projects in the (a) Argyll and Bute, (b) Highland, (c) Western Isles, (d) Moray, (e) Shetland Islands and (f) Orkney Islands council area in each year since 2016, also broken down by the total amount awarded.