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-41717

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 18 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of Scotland’s percentage share of global greenhouse gas emissions in each of the last five years.

The Scottish Government remains fully committed to reaching net zero by 2045 and Scotland’s new draft Climate Change Plan (CCP) is clear that climate action presents a real and growing economic opportunity to create green jobs and boost investment. The CCP describes how we will ensure that the opportunities of net zero – for cleaner air, better infrastructure and energy security, affordable heating and improved public services – are seized and fairly distributed as part of a just transition. Supporting people to take climate action has never been so important – particularly as we are witnessing a concerning rise in anti-climate rhetoric, despite the majority of people in Scotland recognising that climate change is an immediate and urgent problem.

Scotland’s share of global greenhouse gas emissions has decreased from 0.25% in 1990 to between 0.08%-0.09% in each of the last five years. Scotland has demonstrated how smaller countries can contribute to global change, decarbonising much faster than the EU27 average. Using comparable statistics published by the EU (which exclude emissions from land use), Scotland is 18 percentage points closer to net zero than the EU27 average. Through our positions as Regions4 president and Under2 Coalition European co-chair, Scotland is using its leadership to strengthen international cooperation and capacity building; strengthen states, regions and devolved governments’ influence within international climate discussions and drive global climate ambition. If the world is to deliver on our Paris Agreement commitments and the Glasgow Climate Pact, all nations need to continue to increase ambition and take credible action to reach net zero emissions, rather than rolling back on collective progress.

Question reference: S6W-41716

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 14 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to MV Glen Sannox, what contractual arrangements are in place for the supply and bunkering of (a) marine gas oil and (b) liquefied natural gas; what provisions apply to fuel delivery, standing charges, storage or minimum offtake (take-or-pay) obligations when the vessel is under repair or otherwise unavailable, including who is responsible for these costs, and what costs have been incurred under these provisions in each month from January 2024 to date, broken down by cost category.

Question reference: S6W-41711

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 13 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-40762 by Gillian Martin on 9 October 2025, what carbon levy on business flights was charged and paid in respect of ministerial and official travel to (a) Japan between 15 and 19 September 2025 and (b) New York between 20 and 24 September 2025, broken down by (i) traveller category and (ii) flight segment, and what the associated estimated CO2 emissions were for each leg.

The carbon levy collected in respect of Ministerial and official travel is listed in the following table. The levy is applied to Ministerial and official travel booked via the Scottish Governments travel agent.

Traveler	Segment	Levy Amount	CO2 (Tonnes)
Cab Sec	Edinburgh to Doha	£15	0.649
Cab Sec	Doha to Tokyo	£15	0.903
Officials x2	Glasgow to Dubai	£30	1.4
Officials x2	Dubai to Tokyo,	£30	1.7
Officials x2	Tokyo to Dubai	£30	1.7
Officials x2	Dubai to Glasgow	£30	1.4

Cab Sec	Tokyo to New York	£15	2.7
Cab Sec	New York to Glasgow	£15	1.7
Officials x2	Edinburgh to New York	£30	1.2
Officials x2	New York to Edinburgh	£30	1.2

Question reference: S6W-41712

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 13 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has paid in total in carbon levies on business flights in each of the last three financial years, broken down by ministerial portfolio.

Question reference: S6W-41713

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 13 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the money collected from the carbon levy on its business flights has been spent on in each of the last three financial years, broken down, for each funded project, by the (a) project name and location, (b) delivery partner, (c) carbon standard used, (d) cost, (e) verified or estimated CO2 reduction and (f) cost per tonne of CO2.

Question reference: S6O-05129

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 November 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether the culture secretary has met with STV following recent reports of its plan to close its North of Scotland news programme.

Question reference: S6F-04416

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 November 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 November 2025

To ask the First Minister when the Scottish Government will announce a timetable for improvement works on the A96 north of Inverurie, following the publication of its corridor review consultation report.

Question reference: S6O-05111

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 October 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to increase the current threshold of 50MW for approval by its Energy Consents Unit of onshore electricity generating stations, to allow more decisions to be taken by local planning authorities.

Question reference: S6O-05058

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 October 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the potential impact on regional economies and employment, what assessment it has made of the extent to which projected transmission-related job opportunities are dependent on the consenting outcome for proposed overhead line projects within the current network upgrade programme.

Question reference: S6W-40916

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 21 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had since 1 January 2024 with accommodation providers contracted by the UK Government, regarding the accommodation in Scotland of people seeking asylum, including those providing floating accommodation, broken down by the (a) name of provider and (b) dates of engagement.

Scottish Government officials attend regular meetings of the Asylum and Refugee Partnership Board (ARPB) and associated Delivery and Procurement Group, at which representatives of Mears Group are generally also present. Mears Group is the current UK Government asylum accommodation contract holder for Scotland.

Asylum is a matter reserved to the UK Parliament and handled by the Home Office. This includes provision of asylum accommodation to people who require it while awaiting the outcome of their asylum application. The Scottish Government has no control of asylum accommodation and support.

The Minister for Housing and the I met with the Managing Director of Mears Group on 19 June 2024 regarding asylum accommodation in Scotland.