An MHK is to question ministers on the additional capacity needed to meet a population of 100,000.

It’s the government’s aim to grow the island’s population to 100,000 residents by 2050 and with this, improve and expand its offering to meet these needs.

Currently, there are just over 85,000 people living in the Isle of Man.

In the House of Keys sitting on Tuesday, February 7, Douglas North MHK David Ashford will ask Health Minister Lawrie Hooper what assessment has been undertaken of the additional GP services which would be required to support the population goal.

He will also ask him what assessment has been done of the extra capacity required at Noble’s Hospital to support 100,000 additional residents and what the results were.

Similar will be asked of Education Minister Julie Edge as Mr Ashford wants to know what assessment has been completed of the additional capacity which would be needed in schools and other education services to support this population number.

This comes after problems with a number of schools being overcrowded, namely Ballakermeen High School, which was 400 students over capacity at the start of the 2021 academic year.

Mr Hooper, who is also the enterprise minister, will be asked how easy it is to register for homestay, run by company MiQuando.

The scheme provides the opportunity for households to host paying visitors for the duration of the TT festival.

MHK Tim Glover will ask whether there will be enough homestay offerings to accommodate demand for TT this year.

Last year, the Department for Enterprise sent out several reminders to people urging them to sign up to the scheme as the number of beds available was significantly down on 2019’s figure up until very shortly before the races.

Mr Hooper will also be answering a question on the TT funfair.

The government said it would not be supporting the return of the funfair for this year’s TT in a statement this week.

There was disappointment last year when the government said the fair wouldn’t be returning for TT, especially given the lack of options for younger people and families away from the racing.

Despite a lack of government support, Tim Crookall, the politician with responsibility for tourism and motorsport, said: ‘The organisers of the funfair may still apply directly for the appropriate permissions to bring their offering to the island through the appropriate government and local authority channels.’

Arbory, Castletown and Malew MHK Jason Moorhouse wants to get to the bottom of parking issues at the hospital.

He will ask Infrastructure Minister Chris Thomas how many parking tickets were issued at the Noble’s Hospital complex in 2020, 2021 and 2022, and in the month of January 2023.

Mr Moorhouse will also ask the health minister how many appointments at Noble’s in January weren’t attended and, of these, how many were caused by parking issues.

Following on from this, he will also ask Mr Hooper what the total cost of patient transfer flights was in each of the last three years and what the average cost of a flight was in each of those years.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Alfred Cannan will be questioned about interim positions.

Douglas North MHK John Wannenburgh will ask how many senior civil service roles are still occupied by interim postholders.