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: S7W-03487

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Stephen Flynn on 2 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of ScotRail’s restrictions on the size of bicycles permitted on trains on disabled passengers who rely on larger, cargo or adapted cycles for independent mobility.

Question reference: S7W-03488

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Stephen Flynn on 2 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with ScotRail regarding how to ensure that its cycle carriage policies allow for reasonable adjustments where a cycle exceeds a dimensional limit but can safely be accommodated within the designated cycle space.

Question reference: S7W-03888

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 29 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to mark One Health Day on 3 November 2026 and what action it is taking to promote public understanding of the connections between human, animal, plant and environmental health.

Question reference: S7W-03514

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 1 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of public opposition to the closure of fire stations, as proposed in the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service's Service Delivery Review.

Question reference: S7W-03515

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 1 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the (a) workplace and (b) management culture within the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

The SFRS Board provides governance and oversight of the workplace and management culture of SFRS. SFRS has provided assurance that there are no fundamental issues with culture within the organisation. In addition, His Majesty’s Fire Service Inspectorate is conducting a thematic review into workplace culture at SFRS. Part one of this review was laid before Parliament on 18 June 2025 and the second part is expected to be published later this year.

Question reference: S7W-03512

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 1 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the investment by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service in new equipment to tackle wildfires over the last 10 years.

Question reference: S7W-03513

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 1 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the quality of the equipment that operational firefighters have at their disposal to tackle wildfire, including (a) breathing apparatus, (b) communications equipment and (c) appropriate PPE.

The quality of equipment is an operational matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS). SFRS has provided reassurance that it has the equipment required to support firefighters in carrying out their duties safely and effectively. Specialist wildfire equipment continues to be deployed as part of SFRS’s Wildfire Strategy, whilst structural firefighting vehicles, equipment and PPE can also be safely deployed to a wide range of operational incidents, including wildfires.

SFRS continues to invest in operational capability through programmes including the replacement of self-contained breathing apparatus, the expansion of integrated firefighter communications capability and the development of lightweight PPE suitable for wildfire and other operational activities. Investment decisions continue to be informed by operational risk, firefighter safety and relative priorities between estate, fleet and equipment.

Question reference: S7W-03517

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 1 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the provision of (a) safety critical training and (b) wildfire training by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

The provision of training is an operational matter for SFRS. HMFSI conducted a thematic review of the SFRS training function and this was laid before Parliament in June 2026. SFRS accepted all of the recommendations and continues to make improvements and additional investment in its training function. A recent example of this is the investment of £3 million in a new Compartment Fire Behaviour Training (CFBT) facility and a Contaminants Control Unit (CCU) at Perth Training Centre. The objectives of the Service Delivery Review included freeing up resources to allow more firefighters to be deployed in the training function.

Question reference: S7W-03439

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 18 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 1 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the analysis by Moriarty et al in Decoding persistent elevated mortality in farmed marine Scottish Atlantic salmon using artificial intelligence and logical modelling, which was published in Preventive Veterinary Medicine, what information it holds regarding which salmon farm sites were identified as having (a) persistent elevated mortality attributable to the same identified cause, and what the identified cause was at each site, and (b) recurrent elevated mortality attributable to different causes, and what the identified causes were at each site.

Question reference: S7W-03516

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 1 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the ability of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to retain staff.