Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-33949

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 24 January 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 7 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the average spend was of recreational visitors to the Highlands and Islands in each year since 2018.

Question reference: S6W-33952

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 24 January 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 7 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many VisitScotland development managers were in post each December since 2018, and where each was located.

Question reference: S6W-33950

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 24 January 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 7 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what experience each VisitScotland board member has in relation to their role in the organisation, and where each is located.

Question reference: S6W-33954

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 24 January 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 7 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many recreational visitors travelled to the Highlands and Islands in each year since 2018.

Question reference: S6W-33975

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 24 January 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 7 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what recourse is open to people impacted by Huntington’s disease in the NHS Highland area who have been refused statutory mental health care due to their condition, and how this compares with the rest of the country.

Question reference: S6W-33953

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 24 January 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 7 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many staff VisitScotland had each December since 2018, broken down by county that they were employed in.

Question reference: S6W-32907

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 17 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has allocated funding to complete the dualling of the A96 between Inverness and Nairn, including the Nairn Bypass.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving the A96 and it is already taking forward the dualling process from Inverness to Nairn, including Nairn Bypass.

The publication of Made Orders for the A96 Dualling Inverness to Nairn (including Nairn Bypass) scheme in 2024 is a strong sign of the Scottish Government’s commitment to build this key project. Further to this, the Scottish Government has confirmed through its Programme for Government, that Transport Scotland will take forward the final stage of the process for acquisition of land required to construct the project, and progress work to determine the most suitable procurement option.

Funding is included in the 2024-25 budget and draft 2025-26 budget to take forward this work – thereafter a timetable for procurement and construction phases can then be set in line with annual budget setting process for future years.

Question reference: S6W-32908

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 17 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when a timeline for the dualling of the A96 between Inverness and Nairn, including the Nairn Bypass, will be published.

The made Orders for the A96 Dualling Inverness to Nairn (including Nairn Bypass) scheme were published on 12 March 2024. As no legal challenge was received during the 6 weeks following publication of the made Orders, this completes the statutory process for the scheme and clears the way for Ministers to take title to the land (i.e. complete the acquisition process) included in the made Compulsory Purchase Order which is required to construct the scheme. Transport Scotland is pressing ahead with the procedural steps to make this happen as soon as possible. It is currently expected that the process to take title to the land (via a General Vesting Declaration procedure) will be completed in the coming months.

Work is also underway to determine the most suitable procurement option for delivering the A96 Dualling Inverness to Nairn (including Nairn bypass) and thereafter a timetable for progress can be set in line with available budgets. The Government’s preference would be to deliver the scheme using capital funding, but because of erosion to our capital budget, we need to look at all possible ways of delivering the road improvement.

This is a complex exercise which looks at a number of factors including how the project can be delivered most efficiently by industry whilst minimising disruption to road users.

It is fundamental that contracting authorities allow sufficient time to properly consider the range of procurement routes available for any given project. This is important to ensure that the chosen procurement option generates sufficient competition to maximise value for money, delivers against the objectives of the intervention and complies with all statutory and regulatory requirements.

As part of this work, consideration will be given to the feasibility and attractiveness of combining with adjacent schemes to form larger contracts or splitting the scheme and delivering through smaller contracts, for example the Nairn Bypass.

It is expected that the work to determine the most suitable procurement option and develop the business case will take a further 12 months and this assessment work would closely align with the Mutual Investment Model (MIM) assessment work being undertaken on the A9 Dualling. The decision on the use of MIM for the A96 Inverness to Nairn (including Nairn Bypass) would need to follow after, or be considered alongside, the A9 decision which is currently expected at the end of 2025. We will also include consideration of delivery options for the adjacent A9/A96 Inshes to Smithton scheme (part of the Inverness and Highland City Region Deal) as part of this work.

Question reference: S6W-32774

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 20 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 16 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many patients have attended chronic pain clinics in each NHS board in each of the last five years.

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