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-41656

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 18 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it has considered climate adaptation in the development of the Rural Support Plan.

Question reference: S6W-41657

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 18 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Rural Support Plan will explicitly address the topics included under Section 2(3) of the Agriculture and Rural Communities Act.

Question reference: S6W-41759

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 13 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the guidance accompanying the Fireworks and Pyrotechnic Articles (Scotland) Act 2022 stating that it did not "set out any minimum or maximum geographic size or area that can be covered by a firework control zone, or the cumulative area that a local authority may designate as a firework control zone(s) within its boundaries”, whether a local authority would be prohibited from designating a control zone covering the whole of its area.

The statutory guidance to local authorities sets out how they should exercise their powers under the Act to implement Firework Control Zones lawfully. It takes into consideration wider legal requirements than just the Firework Control Zone provisions in the Act as passed by Parliament.

The guidance notes that the geographic size and area of a zone must be evidence-based and proportionate. It states that firework control zones have not been designed as a measure to cover a whole local authority area, or to cover extensive parts of a local authority area.

Question reference: S6W-41303

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 11 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-41119 by Jim Fairlie on 9 October 2025, which stakeholders were invited and who attended the Wildfire Summit on 14 October 2025.

With regards to which stakeholders were invited to the Wildfire Summit held on 14 October 2025, I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-41157 on 6 November 2025. 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 Scottish Government did not keep a register of those that attended the Wildfire Summit.

Question reference: S6W-41363

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 11 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the carbon footprint of data centres operating in Scotland, how the outcomes of any such assessments align with its net zero targets, and what measures are in place to ensure that new data centres meet environmental sustainability standards, including in relation to energy efficiency and renewable energy use.

In Scotland, there are a range of data centres serving public and private sector requirements. There has been no overall assessment of the carbon footprint of these facilities in Scotland.

The European Commission has adopted a new delegated regulation on the first phase for establishing an EU-wide scheme to rate the sustainability of EU data centres which the Scottish Government is monitoring. However significant parts of this directive fall out with the devolved powers of Scottish Parliament. Scottish Government will however consider alignment for parts of the directive that fall within devolved competency. We are in discussion with the UK government around their plans to align UK policy to this directive.

Existing co-location commercial data centre operators have been contacted directly by our economic agencies to explore routes to decarbonise their facilities and operations, with operators being signposted to relevant funding opportunities.

Where proposals for new data centres come forward, our Fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4) ensures their potential impacts are important considerations in planning decision-making. NPF4 needs to be read and applied as a whole, and all applications are subject to site specific assessments.

NPF4 Policy 2 (climate mitigation and adaptation) requires development proposals to be sited and designed to minimise lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions as far as possible. We have published new planning guidance supporting the application of NPF4 policy 2 setting out a proportionate approach to dealing with whole life carbon through the planning process, drawing on recent research and international best practice.

NPF4 Policy 19 (heating and cooling) sets out that National and Major developments that will generate waste or surplus heat, and which are located in areas of heat demand, should include a Heat and Power Plan to demonstrate how energy recovered from the development will be used to produce electricity and heat.

New data centre buildings must also be designed and constructed in compliance with the relevant building regulations applicable to non-domestic buildings, including standard 6.1 which focuses on the reduction of energy demand arising from the use of heating, hot water, lighting, ventilation and cooling systems in a new building.

Question reference: S6F-04446

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 10 November 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 November 2025

To ask the First Minister whether the Scottish Government is still on track to restore 250,000 hectares of peatland by 2030.

Question reference: S6W-41397

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 6 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider extending the scope of the Matthews Second Options Exercise pension remedy to include retained firefighters, who received retaining fees, but served at stations not formally designated as retained stations.

The Scottish Government is currently consulting on amendments to the terms of the Matthews Second Options Exercise, the scope of which is contained within the Firefighters’ Pension Scheme (Scotland) Order 2007.

The Scottish Government will fully consider all matters raised by respondents to the consultation, which can be viewed at: https://pensions.gov.scot/sites/default/files/2025-09/Retained%20Firefighters%20Pensions%20%28Matthews%29%20-%20Consultation%202025.pdf

Question reference: S6W-41396

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 6 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made by the Scottish Public Pensions Agency in determining whether retained firefighters serving at non-designated retained stations are eligible under the Matthews Second Options Exercise pension remedy.

Question reference: S6W-41301

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 30 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to instruct NatureScot to produce reports on any impact of the wildfires reportedly caused by out of control muirburn that occurred in 2025, including those on the Tinto Hills SSSI, North Bute Oakwoods SSSI, Muir of Dinnet NNR and Culblean Hill in the Cairngorms National Park on 9 October.

The Scottish Government is keen to learn, along with others, about the impact of wildfires to develop a better understanding of fire risks and fire resilient landscapes.

NatureScot will be reporting and monitoring the impact of the fire, which affected a relatively small area, on the Muir of Dinnet National Nature Reserve. They will also look into assessing the impact on Culbean Hill Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSI) and learning about the impact on the other SSSIs.

Question reference: S6W-41346

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 30 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken in relation to the reported 75,000 farmed salmon escaping at the Mowi-owned Gorsten salmon farm, at Loch Linnhe, during recent Storm Amy.

Through the Aquaculture and Fisheries (Scotland) Act (AFSA) 2007, the Scottish Government requires satisfactory measures to be in place at fish farm sites for the purposes of the containment of fish and the prevention of escape of fish. Where satisfactory measures are found not to be in place, Scottish Ministers may serve an enforcement notice. Fish farm operators are required to report the details of any circumstances which caused or might have caused an escape of fish from a fish farm site. In this case, the site operator has followed reporting protocols and reported the incident to the Fish Health Inspectorate (FHI). The FHI has attended the site and is conducting an escape investigation and enhanced containment inspection. In addition, the details of this incident will be published on Scotland’s Aquaculture website. Any escape of farmed fish is regrettable and we expect all farmers to minimise the risk of escapes.

We will continue to work with the sector to reduce the risk of escapes, supported by existing legislation and the FHI’s associated inspection regime. The Scottish Government supports innovation in the sector, including where it helps to reduce the risk of fish escaping from fish farms.