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 1646 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S7W-02532

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 11 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what action the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has taken to improve the resilience of its Polaris All Terrain Vehicles, in light of reports in 2024 that the vehicles only had a maximum safe operating angle of 15 degrees.

The resilience of the Polaris All-Terrain Vehicles as well as the resilience of all vehicles within its fleet is a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service(SFRS).

SFRS have confirmed testing has been carried out in line with BS EN 1846-2 standards (the common safety and minimum performance requirements for firefighting and rescue service vehicles set by the British Standards Institution) to ensure that these vehicles are fit for purpose. This testing demonstrated the stability of the ATV exceeded a 32 degree threshhold.

SFRS operational guidance adopts a managed safety approach, which means that crews operate within appropriate parameters to minimise risk.

Question reference: S7W-02700

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 10 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to repurposing vacant listed buildings into housing.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting local authorities and communities to tackle persistent vacant and empty town and city centre buildings.

Local authorities have responsibility for delivering local housing development and local regeneration. They are best placed to develop the right partnerships to deliver regeneration and to identify suitable sites and funding for regeneration activity.

This is supported through our regeneration investment programmes which are providing up to £52 million in resource and capital programmes for community-led regeneration across Scotland in 2026-27. This may be used to transform vacant empty buildings into homes. For example, previous investment is supporting the reuse of the B-listed Tureen Street School in Glasgow. This is a derelict, B-listed building will be repurposed, retaining the façade and renovating the site to build 42 new homes for social rent.

Local authorities may also choose to use Affordable Housing Supply Programme grant to convert empty properties into housing.

Additionally as part of ongoing work to support the establishment of More Homes Scotland, we are undertaking an exercise alongside local authorities to understand potential opportunities to unlock and accelerate affordable housing delivery on vacant and derelict land and in empty town and city centre buildings.

Question reference: S7O-00216

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 September 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to compensating businesses in Fochabers and Mosstodloch in light of delays to the completion of works at the A96 Fochabers Bridge.

Question reference: S7W-02344

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 4 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S7W-01921 by Angela Constance on 3 August 2026, how many individual buildings within the NHS estate in the Highlands and Islands region have been assessed as category C or D in relation to (a) Condition and (b) Functional Suitability, broken down by health board.

Question reference: S7W-02374

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 10 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Stephen Flynn on 3 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether construction contracts for new vessels for the Gourock to Dunoon ferry route will be awarded directly to Ferguson Marine (Port Glasgow) Ltd.

Question reference: S7W-02533

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Stephen Flynn on 3 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how much additional funding has been provided to (a) CalMac, (b) Northlink and (c) relevant local authorities to help with increased fuel costs for ferries since the beginning of the Iran war in February 2026.

CalMac and NorthLink are currently able to operate within their existing budget allocation, which includes fuel. Transport Scotland has financial oversight and monitors these budgets.

Local Authority ferry services are funded via the Block Grant but at this time there has been no additional funding for fuel. The Scottish Government will continue to engage constructively with COSLA, individual local authorities and the UK Government.

Question reference: S7O-00180

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 September 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce delayed discharge at Raigmore Hospital, in light of the reported reduction in nursing home and community beds in the Highlands.

Question reference: S7W-02370

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 10 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Stephen Flynn on 2 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether (a) CalMac or (b) Transport Scotland plans to provide a replacement bus service during the period of scheduled works on the MV Ali Cat and MV Argyll Flyer between 2 September 2026 and 25 March 2027.

Question reference: S7W-02364

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 10 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Stephen Flynn on 2 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with ScotRail in light of the Gourock to Dunoon ferry service temporarily running as a single vessel service between 2 September 2026 and 25 March 2027.

Question reference: S7W-02366

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 10 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Stephen Flynn on 2 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many sailings on CalMac's Gourock to Dunoon ferry service carried (a) zero passengers, (b) fewer than 12 passengers, (c) between 13 and 24 passengers, (d) between 25 and 36 passengers, (e) between 37 and 48 passengers, and (f) 49 or more passengers, between March 2025 and March 2026.

The number of passengers carried by CalMac on the Gourock-Dunoon between March 2025 and March 2026, inclusive, according to the number of passengers per sailing is detailed in the following table.

Grouping of Passengers Carried	Sailings
Zero passengers	492
Fewer than 12 passengers	4,680
Between 13 and 24 passengers	3,513
Between 25 and 36 passengers	1,666
Between 37 and 48 passengers	599
49 or more passengers	354