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-37820

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 May 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 5 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the uptake of the Energy Skills Passport by offshore workers since 22 January 2025.

Question reference: S6W-37821

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 May 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 5 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many times it has met with (a) UK Government officials, (b) trade unions and (c) employers regarding the energy skills passport steering group since 22 January 2025.

Question reference: S6W-37473

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 21 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-35303 by Gillian Martin on 12 March 2025, what consideration it has given to the (a) application and (b) enforcement of the national minimum wage on (i) Inch Cape and (ii) other offshore wind farms leased by Crown Estate Scotland with the UK Government.

As stated in the answer to S6W-35303, employment legislation is reserved to the UK Parliament and there have been no discussions to date specifically on enforcement of the national minimum wage for Inch Cape or other offshore wind farms. As long as employment legislation remains reserved, the Scottish Government will continue to use our Fair Work policy to drive up labour market standards for workers across the Scottish labour market, including in the offshore wind sector. We welcome the UK Government’s Employment Rights Bill and continue to work closely with them to ensure its positive application, whilst being clear that the best way to protect Scotland’s workers is to devolve employment law.

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

Question reference: S6W-37474

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 21 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-35303 by Gillian Martin on 12 March 2025, what assessment it has made of the current provisions in the UK Government’s Employment Rights Bill and the employment rights of (a) offshore energy workers and (b) seafarers in Scotland.

The Scottish Government has no duty to conduct an assessment of the impact of the UK Government’s Employment Rights Bill with regard to offshore energy workers or seafarers or any other sector, but we welcome the Bill and continue to work with the UK Government to ensure it has a positive impact across Scotland. The Scottish Government supports the strengthening of fair work and workers’ rights and will continue to use our Fair Work policy to drive up labour market standards for workers across the Scottish labour market, whilst advocating for devolution of employment law to best protect Scotland’s workers.

Question reference: S6W-37476

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 21 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-35302 by Gillian Martin on 12 March 2025, when the leasing agreement between the developers of the Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm site and Crown Estate Scotland was signed.

Question reference: S6W-37479

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 21 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm development, how many jobs in Scotland will be created by the delivery of at least 50% UK content over the life cycle of the development.

Projects such as Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm have the potential to boost local and national supply chain growth and support high-quality, sustainable jobs.

The UK Government is responsible for monitoring Supply Chain Plans as part of the CfD scheme.

The expansion of offshore wind represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create thousands of jobs that drive growth, foster innovation, and generate wealth. The Scottish Government is doing everything within its power to ensure that the offshore wind opportunity for Scotland is realised so that projects and the associated economic benefits we all want to see are delivered.

Question reference: S6W-37472

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 21 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-35301 by Gillian Martin on 12 March 2025, what steps it has taken to ensure that the delivery of its Fair Work Action Plan is a requirement of leasing agreements between offshore wind developers and Crown Estate Scotland.

As stated in the response to S6W-35301, through the Scottish Government’s Fair Work policy all employers across Scotland, including those involved in the Offshore Wind sector, are encouraged to adopt Fair Work First principles. Leasing agreements are agreed and maintained by Crown Estate Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-37478

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 21 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the accuracy of the reported claim by the developers of the Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm site that it has (a) contracted almost 300 UK companies, (b) contracted over 120 Scottish companies and (c) created more than 50 long-term skilled jobs.

Question reference: S6W-37477

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 14 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-35302 by Gillian Martin on 12 March 2025, how much it estimates would be raised in leasing fees for a 50-year lease of the site under the current ScotWind leasing process.

Based on 2024 estimates, Crown Estate Scotland projects a revenue from ScotWind developments of £3.42m per gigwatt over the lifetime of the project. If leased through ScotWind then Inch Cape (1.08GW installed capacity) would return £3.7m annually.

The figures provided are estimates only – actual revenues achieved will be dependent on a range of issues, including those affecting deployment scale, and timing and windspeeds.

Question reference: S6W-37475

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 14 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-35302 by Gillian Martin on 12 March 2025, whether it will provide the figures for (a) minimum output and (b) tenant projections for production that were used by Crown Estate Scotland to produce the estimate of the total fees paid by the developers for the 50-year lease for the Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm site.