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-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-38779

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 3 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve the (a) management and (b) tracking of marine traffic in Scotland's coastal waters.

Shipping safety and marine traffic management are matters largely reserved to the UK Government. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency is responsible for shipping regulations and safety in UK waters, including tracking marine traffic in UK waters.

The Marine Directorate of the Scottish Government uses a range of tools and technologies to support the integrated management of Scotland’s seas. This includes the use of Vessel Monitoring Systems and Remote Electronic Monitoring on fishing vessels. Data generated from such technology can be used for fisheries management, environmental protection and marine planning purposes.

Later this year, the Marine Directorate will be taking forward the outcomes of a consultation on requiring tracking and monitoring technology on all under 12 metre fishing vessels in Scottish waters.

Whilst wider shipping policy is reserved, the Scottish Government is committed to working with the UK Government and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency to ensure that shipping safety and marine traffic management is given the highest priority for vessels accessing Scotland’s waters.

Question reference: S6W-38749

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

To ask the Scottish Government what studies it has commissioned to ascertain what long-term impact water abstraction through (a) dams and (b) borehole abstraction has on the (i) dynamics and (ii) water flow of streams and rivers.

The Scottish Government supports a wide range of research projects investigating the impacts of water abstraction, including on river dynamics and water flow.

The Scottish Government’s Strategic Research Programme (2022-2027) is modelling future drought risks and ecosystem service impacts using water abstraction data. Between 2023-2025, the Scottish Government funded Centre of Expertise for Waters completed three research projects providing evidence considering the effect of impoundments on river dynamics and water flow.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) conducts its own assessments which evaluate the effects of licenced abstractions. These include borehole monitoring to assess groundwater levels and impacts on river flow.

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-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-38743

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

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Minister for Business and Employment met representatives of PetroChina during his visit to Beijing on 9 April 2025, and, if so, for what reason, and what the outcomes of the meeting were.

Question reference: S6W-38753

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 of repairs to the MV Caledonian Isles between 4 January 2024 and 12 June 2025.

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-38738

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

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-37224 by Ivan McKee on 13 May 2025, what the annual running cost was for each of its offices from January to December 2024.

The following table shows the annual total running costs for each of the leased Scottish Government offices as per the response to question S6W-37224. These figures include all associated costs for running each office building and cover January to December 2024.

Property	Total running costs
10 Commerce Street (Fraserburgh Fishery Office)	£29,809.00
28 Cunzie Street (Anstruther Fishery Office)	£32,356.75
40 Hall Street (Campbeltown Fishery Office)	£25,895.50
5 Atlantic Quay	£3,982,638.25
7 Ferry Terminal Building (Kirkwall Fishery Office)	£36,320.00
AB1 Building	£77,675.50
Alexander Fleming House	£139,131.50
Alexandra Buildings (Lerwick Fishery Office)	£64,520.00
Bothwell House (Ground and First Floors)	£50,159.25
Brooms Road - Dumfries	£379,197.75
Caley Building (Peterhead Fishery Office)	£94,501.00
Charlotte House	£205,861.75
Compass House	£107,486.25
Culag Pier (Lochinver Fishery Office)	£17,765.75
Custom House (Stornoway Fishery Office)	£48,248.50
Denholm House	£231,818.50
Fishmarket Building (Eyemouth Fishery Office)	£29,355.75
Hadrian House	£125,719.50
Harbour Buildings (Mallaig Fishery Office)	£18,971.75
Inchbraoch House	£69,534.75
Kinlochbervie Fishery Office - Number 5	£1,985.00
Kinlochbervie Fishery Office - Number 7	£17,557.75
Office at Tarbert Fish Market	£3,759.50
Russell House	£529,154.00
Scotland House - Brussels	£282,994.08
Scotland House - London	£753,112.00
St Ola House (Scrabster Fishery Office)	£83,325.25
Strathearn House	£954,122.75
The Douglas Centre (Buckie Fishery Office)	£17,243.25
The Island Centre, Crossapol	£31,108.75
The Links, Golspie	£42,587.00
Unit 4B Kinlochleven Business Park	£157,549.00
Unit 5, Old Quay - Campbeltown	£3,884.50
West Shore Street (Ullapool Fishery Office)	£41,350.25

Question reference: S6W-38733

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 3 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to ensure that women and girls who experience premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) are supported, in light of the reportedly unique and severe symptoms associated with this disorder.

Through the actions in our Women’s Health Plan there is now a Women’s Health Platform on NHS Inform, to help women find the information they need on a range of issues relating to their health, including conditions like PMDD.

The Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland (the ALLIANCE) has also delivered a series of women’s health webinars, with accompanying resources, which included a session on PMS and PMDD, PMS resource pack - Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland.

We have taken steps to raise awareness and support better understanding of PMDD among healthcare professionals by commissioning NHS Education for Scotland (NES) to create a bespoke training package and framework on menstrual health, which includes PMDD, for general practice and others working in Primary Care, which is available on TURAS, the education platform for NHS Scotland.

We remain committed to our ambition is that women and girls enjoy the best possible health, throughout their lives as we develop the second phase of the Women’s Health Plan with the aim of publishing by the end of this year.