Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-44387 on 20 March 2026. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

Jahama Highland Estates own two large areas of land, the western estates of Mamore and Killiechonate at Fort William and Glenshero in the upper Spey.

The latest Forestry Grant Scheme award will support a landscape scale project near Fort William focused on deer management to enable the natural regeneration of over 3,000 hectares of native woodland. This will be delivered without the use of any deer fencing or planting. This is a large project restoring and expanding Caledonian pinewoods and Scotland’s rainforest by reducing herbivore browsing that is currently damaging woodland features of designated sites.

Other Forestry Grant Scheme awards since 2016 to SIMEC Lochaber Hydropower 2 Ltd. have been to; produce a forest plan for existing woodlands on the estates, to remove some areas of invasive non-native rhododendron, to support the management of the native woodland to allow expansion through natural regeneration and, in Glenshero estate, to plant new native and productive woodland.

The Scottish Government has spent approximately £80m on A96 Dualling. This figure comprises expenditure on the vast range of technical and specialist advisory services required to appropriately inform the design, development, assessment, preparation and promotion of major trunk road improvements to the A96.

£261.3m has been spent on consultancy fees on the A9 Dualling Programme out of an estimated total scheme cost for the Programme of £3.97 billion, at April 2025 prices. This figure is inclusive of VAT where applicable and includes spend for taking the various component projects through design and statutory process stages, acquisition of land, demolition and preparatory works, procurement of contractors to construct the works, as well as costs of administering construction works contracts and monitoring construction works activities undertaken to date.

The table shows the Scottish Forestry grant awards to SIMEC Lochaber Hydropower 2 Ltd. since they purchased the Jahama Highland Estate in 2016.

The Scottish Government continues to engage with Home Office officials and the Minister for Border Security and Asylum to seek clarity on the projected timelines for arrivals at Cameron Barracks. It has also been repeatedly requested that sufficient notice be provided to local delivery partners, enabling them to plan effectively and mitigate any potential risks to both site occupants and the surrounding community. Despite this regular engagement, to date, substantive responses to the questions raised have not been provided.

This Government is committed to building a vibrant, sustainable, and inclusive rural economy.

The Rural Entrepreneur Fund was a 2021-22 Programme for Government commitment to invest £20 million over the lifetime of the current parliament. However, in light of the challenging financial environment, the Scottish Resource Spending Review prioritised investment plans to ensure that they were deliverable, impactful and affordable. Consequently, there has been no money invested in the Rural Entrepreneur Fund to date.

We are providing support to our rural businesses through a variety of mechanisms, such as our Pathways Pre-Start programme, our Ecosystem Fund and our Techscaler network.

The UK Government is solely responsible for decisions relating to the location of accommodation for people seeking asylum and for ensuring the suitability of these. The Scottish Government is clear that the UK Government’s asylum proposals will not deliver a controlled and humane asylum system but will undermine integration and push more people, including families with children, into poverty, destitution and homelessness; leaving our local authorities to pick up the pieces. The Scottish Government has raised our significant concerns with the UK Government.

An official-level Operational Working Group meeting chaired by the Home Office takes place regularly and is attended by Scottish Government officials and local delivery partners, most recently on 16 March. Notes of these meetings are held by the UK Government.

As outlined on page 17 of the Infrastructure Investment Plan 2021-22 to 2025-26: Major capital projects progress update (August 2025) the NHS Ayrshire and Arran National Treatment Centre has been paused.

We are currently working with all health boards to develop an NHS whole system infrastructure plan for Scotland. This will support continued safe and effective use of existing facilities as well as informing future investment priorities based on assessment of need across the whole of Scotland.

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) has recently written to the Scottish Government with its concerns around the provision of Royal Mail services and we will provide a considered response to that communication.