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: S6W-35177

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 11 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much capital budget funding has been provided to the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service in each of the last five financial years.

Question reference: S6W-34980

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 11 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-20893 by Jenny Gilruth on 26 September 2023, on what date it will publish the equivalent data for 2024-25.

Question reference: S6W-35181

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 11 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much resource budget funding has been provided to the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service in each of the last five financial years.

Question reference: S6W-35205

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 11 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when the concessionary bus travel scheme for people seeking asylum will be introduced.

The Scottish Government recognises that free bus travel has the potential to be transformative for people seeking asylum, who are among the most vulnerable in society.

At present, people seeking asylum in Scotland who are aged under 22, aged 60 or over or have an eligible disability are entitled to concessionary travel under existing national schemes.

The 2025-26 Scottish Budget, which was passed by the Scottish Parliament on 25 February 2025, has funding allocated to provide free bus travel for people seeking asylum who are not already eligible in the coming financial year.

We are committed to exploring if we can extend free bus travel to all people seeking asylum on a longer term basis before the end of the current parliamentary session, subject to an agreed way forward on the policy in terms of practical delivery.

Accordingly, my officials will be reconvening the Working Group with Third Sector representatives and other interested parties in order to consider delivery options. Further information will be provided in due course.

Question reference: S6W-35392

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 11 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government by what date it will (a) publish and (b) respond to the findings from the call for evidence on the Inshore Fisheries Management Improvement programme, which concluded on 18 February 2025.

We intend to publish the results to the call for evidence in line with Scottish Government consultation good practice guidance for Scottish Government consultations, typically within 12 weeks of the closing date.

Following analysis of the responses, policy proposals for a new framework for managing our inshore fisheries will be drafted, with input from key stakeholders. There will then be a full public consultation.

Question reference: S6W-35365

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 11 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Educational Institute of Scotland's MSP Briefing on Instrumental Music Provision, which was published in February 2025.

The most recent Instrumental Music Survey published in January 2025 shows the number of pupils accessing free instrumental music tuition was the highest on record since the survey began in 2012.

Since 2021-22 we have provided dedicated funding to local authorities to support the removal of fees for instrumental music and in 2025-26 we will provide £12m to support this policy.

Local authorities are responsible for delivering education and so it is for individual councils to make choices about levels and means of provision that meet their local circumstances and the needs of pupils. No Council has charged for IMT since 2020-21.

The Scottish Government has been engaging closely with EIS and a range of partners to implement our commitments on instrumental music tuition and will continue to do so.

Question reference: S6W-35351

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 03 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 11 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether Historic Environment Scotland will appoint an accredited pipe organ adviser to ensure that the heritage of the country's pipe organs is properly managed, given the reported growing number that are at risk of being damaged or lost.

Question reference: S6W-35356

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 03 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 11 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-26881 by Jim Fairlie on 5 June 2024, in relation to financing natural capital, how much private finance was (a) arranged under the support of the Natural Investment Partnership and (b) spent on (i) tree planting and (ii) peatland restoration between 1 March 2024 and the last day of February 2025; who the private finance providers involved were; how much was invested, and on which projects.

Question reference: S6W-34535

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 11 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many properties bought in the calendar year 2024 were liable for the Additional Dweller Supplement, broken down by (a) the local authority area of the property, (b) properties in the purchase price band of (i) £0 to £100,000, (ii) £100,001 to £200,000, (iii) £200,001 to £300,000, (iv) £300,001 to £400,000, (v) £400,001 to £500,000 and (vi) £500,001 and above and (c) whether the buyer (A) was resident in the UK or (B) had a primary correspondence address abroad.

Revenue Scotland is responsible for the collection and management of Scotland’s fully devolved taxes, including Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT).

Management information data from Revenue Scotland regarding the LBTT Additional Dwelling Supplement (ADS) is provided in the following tables. On (c), the information provided is based on the correspondence address included in the tax return. The return does not however require information to be provided regarding a taxpayer’s residency status.

Where an amount of ADS is due in relation to a transaction, it may in some cases later be reclaimed.

(a) Tax returns submitted in 2024 with ADS declared due by local authority

Local Authority	Tax Returns
Aberdeen City	1,310
Aberdeenshire	900
Angus	380
Argyll and Bute	580
City of Edinburgh	2,700
Clackmannanshire	170
Dumfries and Galloway	610
Dundee City	770
East Ayrshire	370
East Dunbartonshire	310
East Lothian	350
East Renfrewshire	270
Falkirk	480
Fife	1,360
Glasgow City	2,600
Highland	1,050
Inverclyde	230
Midlothian	240
Moray	330
Na h-Eileanan Siar	100
North Ayrshire	530
North Lanarkshire	1,000
Orkney Islands	110
Perth and Kinross	710
Renfrewshire	780
Scottish Borders	450
Shetland Islands	90
South Ayrshire	460
South Lanarkshire	1,290
Stirling	390
West Dunbartonshire	270
West Lothian	540
Unknown	150
Total	21,870

(b) Tax returns submitted in 2024 with ADS declared due by band

Total Consideration Band	Tax Returns
£0 to £100,000	6,770
£100,001 to £200,000	7,190
£200,001 to £300,000	3,560
£300,001 to £400,000	1,910
£400,001 to £500,000	940
£500,001 and above	1,490
Total	21,870

Buyer	Tax Returns
Total tax returns submitted in 2024	21,870
…of which buyer address in UK	21,170
..of which buyer address outwith-UK	700

Notes for tables:

1.These data are management information figures derived from data as held in Revenue Scotland’s Scottish Electronic Tax Management System (SETS) at February 2025. These figures may potentially change due to administrative updates.

2.Some records in table (a) could not be readily assigned to a local authority. In some cases this can be where the addresses had not been assigned when the property was transacted.

3.Totals in tables may not be the sum of the values in the table due to rounding.

Question reference: S6T-02407

Asked by: Audrey Nicoll, MSP for Aberdeen South and North Kincardine, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 10 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of joint calls on the UK Government from business leaders in Scotland for the project to be progressed as a priority, whether it will provide an update on what engagement it has had with the UK Government regarding the Acorn carbon capture and storage project and Scotland’s journey to net zero.