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-38836

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 4 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of it adopting a mechanism for the carbon contracts pilot to offer to buy a portion of carbon credits at an agreed price, what other options to support investment were considered; for what reasons they were rejected, and whether it will publish its latest assessment of these reasons.

Question reference: S6W-38890

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 3 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it had made of the potential economic impact on the (a) city of Glasgow and (b) wider Scottish economy of the Glasgow Airport Rail Link (GARL) project, prior to the cancellation of the project.

The Stage 3 Report containing the Economic Impact and a separate Assessment of Wider Economic Benefits of the Glasgow Airport Rail Link were published by Strathclyde Partnership for Transport in 2005-2006.

Link to the Stage 3 report containing Economic Impact: https://web.archive.org/web/20070211160357/http://shandwick.fs-server.com/spt/uploaded/ufile467.pdf.

Link to the Wider Economic Benefits Report: https://web.archive.org/web/20070211160637/http://shandwick.fs-server.com/spt/uploaded/ufile476.pdf.

Question reference: S6W-38888

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 3 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reported high levels of traffic and frequent congestion on routes leading to and from Glasgow Airport, what assessment it had made of the potential environmental impact of the Glasgow Airport Rail Link, prior to the cancellation of the project.

Question reference: S6W-38755

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 3 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many scheduled sailings were (a) provided and (b) cancelled, broken down by incident, on (i) the MV Alfred and (ii) other vessels on the Arran ferry route between 18 April 2024 and 12 June 2025.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Contractual reporting is by route. However, CalMac have provided the following data as requested:

Vessel Name	Scheduled Sailings	Operated Sailings	Cancelled Sailings	Additional Sailings	Weather Cancellations	Technical Cancellations	Other Cancellations
MV Alfred	1423	1863	84	524	44	26	14
Other vessels	3376	3023	418	65	322	96	0

*This shows CalMac’s audited figures up to 31 May, 2025.

Question reference: S6W-38746

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 3 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether restocking rivers with eyed ova and unfed fry would have a greater impact on increasing salmon stocks than releasing hatchery reared fry and parr into Scottish salmon rivers; what the reasons are for its position on this matter, and whether this position is based on any peer reviewed scientific evidence.

Decisions on stocking in salmon fishery districts are a matter for District Salmon Fishery Boards (where such Boards exist) under the provisions of the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 2003.

Decisions on the life stages used in stocking should be aligned with the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation’s guidelines, available at CNL2461_Stocking-Guidelines.pdf and the peer reviewed scientific literature as recently summarised in a Scottish Government report (available at Science of salmon stocking: report - gov.scot). This report found that if stocking is to take place, it should involve the youngest possible life stage to minimise hatchery exposure and artificial selection.

Question reference: S6W-38752

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 3 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the total number was of (a) passengers, (b) cars, (c) coaches and (d) commercial vehicles, carried by (i) the MV Alfred and (ii) other vessels on the Arran ferry route between 18 April 2024 and 12 June 2025.

Question reference: S6W-35968

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 3 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish any data analysis that it has carried out on any regional differences in health outcomes for young women.

Our Women’s Health Plan Data Landscape Review examined the publicly available data on the health of women in Scotland and is available here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/womens-health-plan-review-data-landscape.

This report highlights the data and data sources that are available on health outcomes for women and girls in Scotland and includes information on young women.

The report covers data at Scotland level, but much of these data are disaggregated by age and region, health board or local authority at the data source.

Question reference: S6W-38754

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 3 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the total cost was to charter the MV Alfred between 18 April 2024 and 12 June 2025.

Question reference: S6W-38955

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 3 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many wrasse have been taken from Loch Sunart since the wrasse fishery was regulated.

ICES statistical rectangle is the finest spatial resolution data that the Scottish Government hold on the number of individual wrasse extracted from an area. ICES statistical rectangles are approximately 30 nautical miles by 30 nautical miles in size.

Loch Sunart is contained within ICES statistical rectangle 42E4 along with other areas of sea. Therefore, it is not possible to deduce the number of individual wrasse specifically taken from Loch Sunart.

Wild wrasse fishing activity is not currently authorised in Sunart Special Area of Conservation.

Question reference: S6W-38834

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 3 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-38218 by Maree Todd on 17 June 2025, what analysis it has undertaken to explore to what extent the reported reduction in the number of people detained in police stations under a place of safety order may simply reflect missing data, rather than an actual reduction.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on the number of individuals detained in police custody under place of safety orders. This data is collected and held by Police Scotland.

The Scottish Government is taking steps to strengthen data collection and evaluation within the mental health and policing space. The development of a proportionate performance framework will support ongoing monitoring and help distinguish between actual improvements and issues related to data completeness. This reflects the broader commitments set out in the Framework for Collaboration and Collaborative Commitments to ensure that data is robust and suitable to support informed decision-making, and to improve pathways for people in mental health crisis.

Vessel Name	Passengers	Cars	Coaches	Commercial Vehicles
MV Alfred	273,489	91,407	64	3,916
Other Vessels	523,084	125,936	448	6,291

Parliament dissolved ahead of election

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