- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 March 2026
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 25 March 2026
To ask the Scottish Government how many wind farms there currently are in operation, broken down by how many are (a) connected to the grid and (b) fully operational.
Answer
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) publishes ‘Renewable electricity – number of sites by region’ on an annual basis as part of the Accredited Official Statistics publication Energy Trends. The latest statistics were published on 30 September 2025 and show that as at the end of 2024, there were a total of 3,721 onshore and offshore wind sites based in Scotland.
Site specific information is not published and would be needed to provide the requested breakdowns. This is held by DESNZ.
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 March 2026
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 25 March 2026
To ask the Scottish Government how many windfarm applications have been submitted in the last two years, broken down by how many were not approved.
Answer
Since 1 January 2024, the Energy Consents Unit has received 57 applications for consent to construct, extend and/or operate wind farms under Section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989.
Two of these applications have been approved in this time, with the remaining 55 currently being processed by the Energy Consents Unit and awaiting determination by Scottish Ministers.
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 March 2026
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Current Status:
Answered by Ben Macpherson on 24 March 2026
To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting small and medium-sized businesses to take on more apprentices, particularly in sectors experiencing skills shortages, in light of reports that many smaller employers consider the cost and administrative requirements of training to be a barrier to offering apprenticeship opportunities.
Answer
The Scottish Government is investing around £198 million this year to support 25,000 new Modern Apprenticeships (MAs), alongside 5,000 new Foundation Apprenticeships and over 1,200 Graduate Apprenticeships. Our investment enables continued support for over 39,000 apprentices already in training.
SDS provide a range of useful information and resources on their website for employers on how to take on apprentices and work with training providers. There is also some business support available through Find business support in Scotland | Find Business Support and local employability services Local Employability Services | Employability in Scotland. A continued key priority as we reform the skills system will be to encourage greater participation from small and micro businesses.
We remain committed to working with employers and industry leaders to make sure that employers across Scotland, particularly in areas of skills shortage, can continue to access the talent they need to succeed.
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 March 2026
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 24 March 2026
To ask the Scottish Government what upgrades to the A77, excluding maintenance works, are planned for the next five years.
Answer
Recommendation 40 in the second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2) recommends that safety, resilience and reliability improvements are made to both routes. This will include, but is not limited to improving junctions, enhancing overtaking opportunities and widening or realigning carriageways to alleviate pinch points such as narrow structures or at stretches of older standard single carriageway.
This recommendation is underway and Transport Scotland are currently exploring the development of previous schemes along the A77, as part of a wider assessment of these and new potential improvements on a route wide basis. This is so that they can be prioritised for improvement, beyond general maintenance schemes.
The Infrastructure Delivery Pipeline, published alongside the Scottish Budget on the 13 January 2026, includes transport projects and programmes including a commitment to develop the necessary business case(s) for improvements to both the A75 and A77. This commitment is aligned to the Scottish Government’s whole portfolio of infrastructure investments, the Spending Review and STPR2.
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 March 2026
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 24 March 2026
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it will take to review the content and delivery of relationships, sexual health and parenthood education (RSHP) in schools to ensure that it is age and stage appropriate, including for neurodivergent pupils.
Answer
RSHP education is designed to help children and young people build positive relationships as they grow older and should present facts in an objective, balanced and sensitive manner within the framework of curricular values and an awareness of the law. The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring all children and young people receive high quality RSHP education, which is an integral part of the health and wellbeing area of the curriculum. Revised statutory RSHP teaching guidance was published in February 2026 which reinforces age and stage appropriate content and learning.
Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) is the national approach to learning and teaching for young people aged 3 to 18 and is underpinned by the values of wisdom, justice, compassion and integrity. CfE provides learners with a range of personalised learning experiences based on internationally agreed standards and research evidence on age appropriate education which children and young people need as they grow and develop into adolescence and young adulthood. Education Scotland has been leading on development and delivery of the new Curriculum Improvement Cycle, a planned and systemic approach to strengthening the curriculum to ensure it remains forward looking and supports more consistent teaching and learning experiences and improved attainment and achievement of our children and young people.
This universal design principle directly applies to RSHP lessons where teachers must ensure learning is accessible for all while accommodating diverse communication styles, processing speeds, and sensory profiles. Education Scotland’s neurodiversity resources published on their website provide teachers with help to support neurodivergent learners.
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 March 2026
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 24 March 2026
To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) fatal and (b) non-fatal accidents involving (i) HGVs and (ii) other vehicles on the A77 there (A) were in each of the last two calendar years and (B) have been in 2026 to date, also broken down by the section of the road that passes through South Ayrshire.
Answer
The following tables provide the number of injury road collisions on the A77 with the requested breakdowns.
Please note that figures for 2025 and 2026 are provisional, as they are based on monthly returns received thus far from Police Scotland, with the most recent returns being received on 11 March 2026. This may be an incomplete picture of casualties due to a slight lag between collisions occurring and the data being processed and shared by Police Scotland. These figures are also subject to change due to subsequent corrections and late records.
Personal Injury collisions on the A77
| | Involving HGVs |
Year | Fatal | Non-fatal |
2024 | 0 | 1 |
2025 | 0 | 4 |
2026 | 0 | 1 |
| | Not involving HGVs |
Year | Fatal | Non-fatal |
2024 | 2 | 47 |
2025 | 1 | 42 |
2026 | 0 | 3 |
Personal Injury collisions on the A77 in South Ayrshire
| | Involving HGVs |
Year | Fatal | Non-fatal |
2024 | 0 | 1 |
2025 | 0 | 3 |
2026 | 0 | 0 |
| | Not involving HGVs |
Year | Fatal | Non-fatal |
2024 | 1 | 9 |
2025 | 0 | 12 |
2026 | 0 | 1 |
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 March 2026
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 24 March 2026
To ask the Scottish Government what the specific reasons were for it changing its review into grooming gangs into a public inquiry.
Answer
I have consistently said that this Government was prepared to give every consideration to an Inquiry in Scotland if we felt it necessary. We now feel it is and this conclusion was reached after careful consideration.
I have had significant engagement over the past few months with MSPs, Police Scotland, Alexis Jay, and survivors on this important issue.
A statutory inquiry will offer further independent scrutiny that is both substantive and visibly distinct. I believe that this visibility is now critical to maintaining public confidence and encouraging openness and participation from victims and survivors.
In addition, engaging survivors in the development of child sexual abuse and exploitation policy and practice is a key priority. We have already announced work to be taken forward with survivors, and the creation of a Truth Project will build on that through a meaningful process.
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 March 2026
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 24 March 2026
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will review its guidance paper, Supporting Transgender Pupils in Schools, to outline the steps that it takes to govern gender identity ideology in schools.
Answer
The Supporting Transgender Pupils in Schools Guidance provides a range of non-statutory guidance in relation to policy, practice and legal requirements which education authorities and schools may wish to consider, in fulfilling their responsibilities to support Transgender pupils, as part of their duties to provide education and support pupils within their school communities. The policy position on support for pupils, including Transgender pupils, is already clearly set out within the guidance document. The guidance was reviewed between April and September 2025 with revised guidance being published in September 2025. There are no plans to review the guidance at this time.
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 March 2026
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 24 March 2026
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported comments by the Fire Brigades Union that years of real-terms budget reductions have left the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service “creaking”, and that proposed workforce reductions would increase the risk to community safety, particularly following the recent fire in Glasgow.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 24 March 2026
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 March 2026
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 23 March 2026
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to increase capacity in Scottish prisons.
Answer
To maintain a safe and secure prison estate, we are investing just over £1 billion in our prisons to support frontline staff and progress improvements. We have already optimised the existing estate by creating 400 additional spaces and the Scottish Budget 2026-27 will provide £458.5 million in capital funding to allow SPS to finalise the HMP Highland project and continue to progress HMP Glasgow. HMP Glasgow will add 357 places while HMP Highland will provide an additional 107 places and will allow more adult men from the Highlands and Islands to be accommodated in their local area, improving access for families and services.
