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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 945 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6W-40212

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 September 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 17 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many breaches of the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 that were recorded in each of the last five years related to (a) a prohibited fishing activity, (b) a marine protected area infringement, (c) a licensing offence and (d) any other category.

Question reference: S6W-40211

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 September 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 17 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many vessels have been found to be in breach of the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 in each of the last five years, also broken down by whether the vessel was (a) UK-flagged, (b) EU-flagged and (c) non-EU-flagged.

Question reference: S6W-40094

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 2 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assistance is available to allow people in the Highlands and Islands region who reside outside Inverness to utilise the Nevis House rehabilitation service.

The Scottish Government provided £2.4m to support the development of Nevis House, as part of our aim to increase residential rehab capacity – particularly for areas outside the Central Belt.

Nevis House will provide six beds, equating to up to 22 placements a year. It aims to support referrals from more remote parts of the Highlands alongside the Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland.

Nevis House expands on existing work carried out at Beechwood House, offering residential rehabilitation, community outreach and social care to people affected by substance use in rural areas.

Question reference: S6W-40044

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 2 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on virtual private network (VPN) services in each year since 2021.

In keeping with our network security policy, we can neither confirm nor deny the use of VPNs by revealing any cost or lack thereof. This is consistent with our response to a recent FOI (202500480214) asking a similar question and aligns to the approach taken by government bodies across the UK. Providing details on the type of networking tools used could provide hostile actors with information on the setup, and potential weak points, of sensitive government systems.

Question reference: S6W-40097

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 August 2025
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 2 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown showing which organisations secured funding from the Knowledge Transfer and Innovation Fund in each year since 2021, including how much funding was awarded.

The information requested is available online, please find the details requested as follows:

Year	Reference to website address
2021	https://www.gov.scot/news/sharing-knowledge-innovation-to-tackle-climate-change/
2022	https://www.gov.scot/news/sharing-knowledge-innovation-to-tackle-climate-change/
2023	https://www.ruralpayments.org/news-events/innovative-rural-projects-awarded--240-000.html
2024	https://www.gov.scot/news/agriculture-support/

2025 data is excluded as the fund is currently open for applications and results are pending.

Question reference: S6W-39894

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 2 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-31416 by Neil Gray on 28 November 2024, how many Scottish Graduate Entry Medicine (ScotGEM) graduates from summer 2023 have since taken up GPST 1 posts in Scotland following completion of their foundation year 2, broken down by NHS board area.

At the time of response six ScotGEM 2023 graduates have already taken up GPST 1 posts in Scotland, these are broken down by health board in the following table.

Health board	GPST 1 post taken up by 2023 ScotGEM graduate
NHS Borders	1
NHS Forth Valley	1
NHS Grampian	1
NHS Highland	1
NHS Lanarkshire	1
NHS Lothian	1

The Scottish Government is currently undertaking an initial evaluation of the ScotGEM programme, which will include analysis of student destinations following undergraduate study.

Question reference: S6W-39903

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 1 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the StandWithUs UK Report - Voice of Students 2024/25, published in May 2025, what action it is taking to (a) combat and (b) reduce instances of antisemitism on university campuses.

There is no place for antisemitism, Islamophobia or any form of racism or discrimination in Scotland’s education system. Antisemitic statements, behaviour or offensive or threatening material either on line or in person in universities is wrong and not acceptable. Debate on the current conflict must be done in a courteous and respectful manner. We expect universities to have in place measures to safeguard students and staff and continue to build good relations on campus. Jewish students should be able to express their faith and identity openly and without fear.

We are aware of the StandWithUS UK Report and regularly receive reports from the Community Security Trust (CST) which chart the rise in antisemitism since the start of the current conflict in the Middle East.

My officials meet regularly with Universities Scotland, the Union of Jewish Students and the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh and, at the end of August, met with a range of stakeholders, including Chaplaincy, Community Security Trust, Jewish Council of Scotland, Scottish Funding Council and Universities Scotland. The meeting provided the opportunity for stakeholders to share concerns on antisemitism on campuses, and the roles of key partners including higher education institutions, the Equality and Human Rights Commission and Police Scotland in addressing those.

Any student who has experienced antisemitism should report it to their institutions, the Community Security Trust (CST) and Police Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-39905

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 1 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-04825 by Kate Forbes on 22 December 2021, what the annual costs have been of the (a) renewal, (b) management and (c) enterprise DNS provision for the Scottish Government domains portfolio in each year since 2021.

Our Domains Management contract provides Scottish Government and other Scottish Public Sector organisations a single set annual cost on a per top level domain basis. The cost per domain is set for the duration of the contracted period and includes the annual renewal, management and enterprise DNS fees.

Renewal date	Scottish Government portfolio cost
30-06-2021	£13,267.50 (ex VAT)
30-06-2022	£16,289.00 (ex VAT)
30-06-2023	£16,729.00 (ex VAT)
30-06-2024	£18,974.00 (ex VAT)
30-06-2025	£20,190.00 (ex VAT)

Question reference: S6W-39907

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 1 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many people in Scotland have registered a donation decision with the NHS Organ Donor Register in each year since 2021.

The Scottish Government is committed to increasing organ and tissue donation and transplantation to enable more people who desperately need a transplant to access one. The UK-wide Organ Donor Register (ODR) was established in 1994 and is run by NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT). As of 1 August 2025, NHSBT reports that there were 3,156,442 people residing in Scotland who have registered their decision on the ODR. The numbers of people in Scotland who have registered in each year since 2021 are as follows:

NHS Organ Donor Registrations
2021	155,479
2022	19,499
2023	10,139
2024	7,859

Question reference: S6W-39882

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 1 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many organisations made applications to the Town Centre Capital Fund in 2024-25, broken down by eligible town.

The Town Centre Capital Fund was only active in 2019-20 and 2020-21, providing funding allocations to all local authorities to support delivery of town centre regeneration

There has been significant investment over recent years in our capital investment programmes, including the Place Based Investment Programme, the Regeneration Capital Grant Fund and the Vacant and Derelict Land Investment Programme, which have helped to accelerate our ambitions for regeneration activity in town centres.