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-43723

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 13 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 25 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what work has taken place on littering and fly-tipping since the publication of the National Litter and Flytipping Strategy.

The 2023 National Litter and Fly tipping Strategy, is a six-year programme focused on behaviour change, infrastructure and services and enforcement. The Strategy is delivered in partnership with Zero Waste Scotland, Keep Scotland Beautiful(KSB)and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), working with other stakeholders, including local councils. Full details of activities undertaken to date are set out in the annual update and action plans: National litter and flytipping strategy: year 2 update and year 3 action plan 2025-2026 - gov.scot and National litter and flytipping strategy: update and year 2 action plan - gov.scot.

Question reference: S6W-43717

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 13 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 25 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has undertaken a review of the effectiveness of the measures in the Circular Economy (Scotland) Act 2024 to tackle habitual fly-tipping.

The Circular Economy (Scotland) Act 2024 provides a range of powers to tackle fly tipping in Scotland. These include a number of additional powers which were added to the legislation during the Parliamentary process, which will be implemented in due course.

As the measures within the Circular Economy (Scotland) Act 2024 have not been fully introduced no review of their effectiveness to tackle habitual fly tipping has been undertaken.

Question reference: S6W-43727

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 13 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 25 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has conducted any studies into any mental health impacts on residents living near areas that are affected by habitual fly-tipping.

The Scottish Government has not conducted any specific research into mental health impacts on residents living near areas that are affected by habitual fly tipping. Keep Scotland Beautiful publish an annual Scottish Litter Survey which help us understand public perceptions of litter and fly tipping in Scotland and indicates that littering and fly tipping negatively impact the quality of life of people living in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-43722

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 13 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 23 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many fixed penalty fines for fly-tipping have been issued by Scotland's national parks since 1 April 2025.

Question reference: S6W-43719

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 13 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 23 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many convictions for fly-tipping there were in each year from 2019 to 2025.

Question reference: S6W-43720

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 13 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 23 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many fixed penalty fines for fly-tipping were issued in each year from 2019 to 2025.

Question reference: S6W-43646

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 19 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-43316 by Angus Robertson on 3 February 2026, regarding the safeguard of the collection and support for future conservation projects, whether Historic Environment Scotland is working with the National Heritage Memorial Fund to purchase the entire proprietary pattern archive of Ballantine Castings Ltd from the liquidator.

Question reference: S6O-05548

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 February 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what recent assessment it has made of the finance available for commercial shipbuilding projects at Scottish shipyards, including how the competitiveness of this compares with that of other European nations with commercial shipbuilding industries. R

Question reference: S6W-43556

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 12 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has undertaken of how the expansion of the UK Emissions Trading Scheme to the maritime sector will impact on the competitiveness of Scottish ports that currently attract cruise ship calls.

The UK Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) will expand into domestic maritime emissions for vessels of 5000 gross tonnage and above under the provisions of the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme (Amendment) (Extension to Maritime Activities) Order 2026 currently being scrutinised by Parliament. The instrument does not extend the scheme to emissions for international maritime voyages, and UK ETS policy on this topic is currently under consideration after a recent ETS Authority consultation published in November 2025.

The ETS Authority, the governing body for the scheme comprising of the UK, Scottish and Welsh Governments and the Northern Ireland Executive, conducted an Impact Assessment to support scrutiny of this policy as part of the laying of the instrument. The Scottish Government also conducted an Islands Community Impact assessment and a Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment to support this legislation.

Question reference: S6W-43554

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 12 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has considered ringfencing any funds raised from the expansion of the UK Emissions Trading Scheme to the maritime sector in order to support maritime decarbonisation projects.

All receipts from the UK ETS across all four nations accrue to the consolidated fund, and contribute toward funding government priorities, such as the net zero transition, where UK Government spending flows through Barnett consequentials.

In Scotland we are already advancing several programmes of work on maritime decarbonisation, including our Vision for Sustainable Aquaculture and work on blue carbon outlined in our draft Climate Change Plan 2026-2040. We are also engaging with Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL) on increasing the proportion of our ferries which are low emission to 48% by 2040, as well as increasing the ability of our ferries to utilise low-carbon renewable grid electricity for their energy requirements.