Chamber and committees

S7W–02015, answered on 7 August 2026, sets the Scottish Government’s position on the regulation of fireworks.

The Scottish Government has engaged with the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission on mitigating against the impact of fireworks, including how the noise affects animals.

The Scottish Government will consider the UK government’s consultation on fireworks and pyrotechnics in the UK which covers reserved matters relating to fireworks and pyrotechnics regulation, including the noise of fireworks.

The statutory guidance for Local Authorities that supports Firework Control Zones, Firework control zones: guidance for local authorities - gov.scot incorporates a section relating to animal welfare matters, which should be considered. This includes evidence as to how animals are impacted by fireworks and references are provided within this guidance.

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.

The use of antibiotics as growth promoters was banned in 1991 across the whole of the European Union. That ban has been in force continually since then, including in Scotland.

The Scottish Government recognises the important contribution that co-operatives make to Scotland's economy and communities. Through the Community Wealth Building (Scotland) Act 2026, Ministers are required to develop measures that promote and support the development of co-operatives, alongside employee-owned businesses and social enterprises, as part of our wider approach to building a fairer and more resilient economy. We will work with enterprise agencies, delivery partners, and representative bodies to support that ambition.

The latest figures for co-operatives, from 2025, indicate that there are 593 co-operatives now operating in Scotland, with 800,000 memberships and a combined turnover of £2.1 billion.

In terms of support with a particular focus on food production, the Scottish Government has committed to £6M funding over two years for the Fruit and Vegetables Aid Scheme, which funds groups of growers, known as Producer Organisations, to encourage collaboration and increase competitiveness.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting small producers, empowering them to play a key role in delivering our Vision for Agriculture through the Small Producers Pilot Fund. Market gardens are no exception to that, and providing they meet our small producer criteria, can access funding through the £1,500,000 the Scottish Government has provided in capital funding for 2026-2027.

Further to this, the Scottish Government recognises the unique market conditions and the wider benefits of our small edible horticultural producers. The Scottish Government has therefore, commissioned research to fully understand this industry and the challenges that they face. This is expected to be completed in the beginning of 2027.

The Scottish Government recognises how vital childcare and family support services are in rural and island areas, both in relation to giving children the best start in life and supporting families to work. We also understand that childcare and wider wraparound provision can look different in rural and island communities, where geography, population density and travel distances can create particular delivery challenges.

The Scottish Government worked with key partners to convene a roundtable event on 25 March 2026, that sought to gather learning from across communities, sectors, regulators and government to identify practical actions to help increase the accessibility and sustainability of childcare provision across rural areas. This roundtable event helped enhance the learning we continue to gather through our Early Adopter Communities, Access to Childcare Fund projects, and Extra Time Programme on identifying models of delivery that support access to childcare in our rural and island communities.

Recently, the Scottish Government has also committed to introducing a universally accessible breakfast club offer in primary schools across Scotland by August 2027, and announced investment of a further £2.5 million to expand free after-school activity clubs. This funding will help us understand how activities and regulated childcare services can work together to improve access to after-school childcare, including in rural and island areas.

The Scottish Government has committed to expanding childcare support to children from nine months through to the end of primary school over the course of this Parliament. As this work progresses, we will take into account the needs of families across Scotland, and decisions will be informed by learning gathered through the delivery of our projects and programmes, and direct engagement with rural and island stakeholders.

Scotland has a growing marine restoration sector which places a significant focus on native oysters and seagrass. The Scottish Government is supporting restoration projects through policy delivery and financial support. In December 2025 we published Scotland's first Marine and Coastal Restoration Plan which includes actions to further support and accelerate active restoration of species and habitats in our waters. Scottish Government officials are now implementing actions from the plan. This work will support the achievement of our goals set out in the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy.

Scottish Government has provided financial support to the Scottish Marine Environmental Enhancement Fund (SMEEF) since it launched in 2022, increasing our donations for 2026-27 to £116,000. Since launching in 2022, SMEEF has raised and distributed nearly £8m from public and private sources to support marine restoration and enhancement projects across Scotland. This includes a number of projects supporting native oyster and seagrass restoration. In 2025 SMEEF launched an ambitious new seagrass planting programme that will see £2.4 million distributed to projects, with an aim to plant 14 hectares of seagrass by 2028.

Not in the foreseeable future. The scoping work that we conducted supported the case for the creation of a Scottish Veterinary Service that could deliver quality improvements and could be financially sustainable.

However, in the current financial climate it is appropriate that we prioritise other key public services. The initial investment to create an SVS is too high given the ongoing financial pressures and the cost-of-living crisis.

The Scottish Government remains committed to the highest standards of animal health and welfare, as well as more highly trained veterinary staff, and continues to work with FSS, APHA and the Local Authorities to ensure that Scotland has the best possible animal health and welfare services.

Due to clear recommendations by the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission, and the fact that the last relevant consultation was undertaken 10 years ago, the Scottish Government is committed to a consultation on a proposal to ban remote controlled training collars.

In October 2018 we published advisory guidance on dog training aids, including remote controlled training devices using a static pulse, commonly known as shock collars. The Guidance on Dog Training Aids was developed in discussion with animal welfare organisations including the Scottish SPCA, Dogs Trust, Kennel Club and BVA. It provides important advice on aversive training techniques, including electric shock collars, for both dog owners and those enforcing the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006.

Scottish Ministers remain fully committed to transparency regarding which (a) individuals, (b) organisations and (c) other entities receive public subsidies for (i) forestry, (ii) farming, (iii) nature restoration and (iv) other land use and the quality of the outputs generated by these subsidies.

The management, collection, evaluation, monitoring and publication of data has already been identified as a critical and vital element of the current Agricultural Reform Programme that will implement the Vision of Agriculture and ensure that successful outcomes are achieved all in terms of the Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Act 2024 ( the ARC Act) as approved and passed by Parliament.

The ARC Act does provide discretionary powers for Scottish Ministers to address transparency. For example, where there are complex ownership structures such as holding companies or trusts or where a person has significant control over a beneficiary of support under the ARC Act, Scottish Ministers may be able to publish the details of any person who owns or controls the recipient of that support. But that would need consultation with the Information Commissioner, satisfactory conclusion of data protection and other impact assessment work and such consultation as is required in terms of the ARC Act.

The ARC Act powers will enable Scottish Ministers to consider those improvements that should be addressed to provide new improved schemes under the ARC Act.

We are committed to maintaining direct payments, to supporting active farming and food production in Scotland, and to ensuring there are no cliff edges for producers.

We are already delivering increased conditions on direct payments; this is better incentivising sustainable and regenerative practice, on-farm nature restoration and climate mitigation and adaptation efforts, while investing in our producers to produce high-quality food.

The Rural Support Plan, laid in Parliament, has set clearly how over the course of this session, budgets will change across the Tiers of the support Framework. At least 70% of funding will be allocated to the Direct Payment model of Tiers 1 and 2 and we will apply a funding split of 7:3 between Tiers 1 and 2. We will continue to work with farmers and crofters to make sure that our support is informed by their needs and experience whilst delivering on our Vision for Agriculture.