Questions and answers

Question reference: S6F-03373

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 September 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 September 2024

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to reports that Transport Scotland has spent more than £16 million on consultancy fees in relation to the A83 Rest and Be Thankful project.

Question reference: S6W-29364

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 16 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has given any consideration to establishing a publicly available real-time map of (a) proposed, (b) ongoing and (c) completed energy infrastructure projects.

The Scottish Parliament publishes a renewable energy map of Scotland which is available here Renewable energy map of Scotland – SPICe Spotlight | Solas air SPICe (spice-spotlight.scot) This makes available details of operational and planned renewable energy generation projects.

The data that the map is based on comes from the Renewable Energy Planning Database: quarterly extract, which is maintained by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

The Electricity System Operator (ESO) provides a map which provides a view of the current and what the potential future electricity transmission system could look like out to 2040. Note this is for illustrative purposes only. The map can be viewed here - Web map | ESO (nationalgrideso.com)

The Scottish Government is not, at this time, considering to establish anything further to this already publicly available information.

Question reference: S6W-29607

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 13 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to reopen its Pathways Pre-Start Fund for applications in the 2024-25 financial year.

The Scottish Government launched a call for applications for the What you can apply for - Pathways Fund: form and guidance - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) between 19th July 2024 and 30th August 2024.

We welcomed bids from organisations registered in the UK, who are providing support to pre-start entrepreneurs and/or early stage businesses in Scotland.

We are currently processing the applications received and successful applicants will be announced in due course.

Question reference: S6W-29432

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 13 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government for what reasons its Ecosystem Fund was not continued in 2024-25.

Question reference: S6W-29433

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 13 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the organisations that received funding from its Ecosystem Fund in 2023-24, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S6W-29434

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 13 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how it measured the efficacy of its Ecosystem Fund in 2023-24.

Question reference: S6W-29209

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 August 2024
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 13 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many whistleblowing champion vacancies it currently has.

Question reference: S6W-29208

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 August 2024
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 13 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many whistleblowing champions it currently employs.

Question reference: S6W-29207

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 August 2024
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 13 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many incidents of bullying have been reported by its civil servants in each year since 2021.

As an employer, the Scottish Government is committed to ensuring the workplace is free from bullying, harassment, discrimination and victimisation, where work related concerns, problems or issues can be raised and responded to.

Under the Scottish Government's grievance policy, line managers are expected to deal with concerns about inappropriate behaviour at an early stage and on an informal basis, where appropriate.

The number of formal complaints about bullying reported by civil servants in the Scottish Government since 2021 is provided in the following table:

Number of formal complaints of bullying reported by Scottish Government civil servants

2021

2022

2023

2024

(from 1 January to 20 August 2024)

Total

4

2

4

2

12

The figures provided in our response to this question only cover staff working in the following core Scottish Government business areas:

Director-General Communities

Director-General Corporate

Director-General Economy

Director-General Education and Justice

Director-General Health and Social Care

Director-General Net Zero

Director-General Scottish Exchequer

Director-General Strategy and External Affairs

Question reference: S6W-29517

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 12 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Royal College of Midwives' reported statement that fewer than a third of student midwives due to graduate in 2024 have been offered posts by NHS Scotland.

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