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-39287

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 7 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it has reportedly limited access to the Islands Business Resilience Fund to eight islands, and whether it will consider extending this fund to businesses in all of Scotland's island communities.

Question reference: S6W-39001

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 10 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what actions its Marine Directorate has taken when vessels have failed to meet the economic link requirements, and how many vessels have been subject to quota payback as a result since 2019.

Question reference: S6W-39002

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 10 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how the value of quota payback is calculated when vessels are deemed to have failed the economic link criteria.

The quota payback is calculated as 26% of the pound sterling value of the ‘missing’ landings in order to have otherwise met the landings threshold into Scotland (55% of all landings), aggregated across the eight named species.

The pound value of those missing landings is converted back into a tonnage figure, using the average pound per tonne (PPT) value of landings made by Scottish vessels into Scotland. Please see the consultation outcome report for further details: https://consult.gov.scot/marine-scotland/amendment-of-the-economic-link-licence-condition/

Question reference: S6W-38999

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 10 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how its Marine Directorate monitors compliance with the economic link requirements for Scottish fishing vessel licences, and what criteria are used to assess whether a vessel has met its obligations.

Compliance is assessed by the Marine Directorate in the following calendar year.

The first criteria for compliance for a vessel to have landed more than 10 tonnes of the eight named species. A vessel landing less than 10 tonnes total of the eight named species is exempt from the economic link condition.

To meet the landing target element of the economic link condition a minimum of 55% of all landings must be made into Scottish ports.

Vessels which do not meet the landings threshold must make a quota payback in order to meet their obligation.

Question reference: S6W-39003

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 10 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how its Marine Directorate ensures transparency and accountability in the application of quota payback penalties for economic link failures.

No Scottish vessel has failed to comply with economic link licence conditions. Quota payback is the alternative for compliance.

The Marine Directorate provides vessels’ management groups with the landings data for vessels not meeting the threshold and the calculations for evaluating the quota gifts to be made. This provides transparency to vessel owners and managers.

Accountability is delivered though the annual publication of vessels which have provided quota gifts and the total amount of quota stocks paid back.

Question reference: S6W-39007

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 10 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much additional fishing quota has been returned to Scotland via the quota payback process in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-38998

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 10 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether its Marine Directorate publishes data annually on economic link compliance and quota payback, and, if it does not, whether it will consider doing so to improve public oversight of the policy.

Question reference: S6W-39004

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 10 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to review or revise the current economic link policy to better reflect Scotland’s fishing communities and onshore processing needs.

Question reference: S6W-39000

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 10 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many fishing vessels have been found to be non-compliant with economic link requirements in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-39005

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 10 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, on average, what proportion of landings by Scotland-registered vessels are currently landed in Scotland, and how this has changed since the introduction of the economic link requirements.

The following table shows the share of the eight species landed into Scottish ports as a percentage of the total Scottish landings of each species. It should be noted that landings for 2024 are still management data and are not currently available for publication.

Species	2020	2021	2022	2023
Anglerfish	91%	95%	88%	90%
Cod	99%	98%	99%	98%
Haddock	100%	99%	100%	99%
Hake	93%	91%	92%	96%
Herring	57%	63%	53%	56%
Mackerel	46%	46%	48%	52%
Nephrops	95%	97%	97%	96%

Year	Tonnes paid back
2020	75
2021	81
2022	44
2023	139
2024	214