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-41493

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 3 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government on how many occasions recipients of the Adult Disability Payment have been required to pay back (a) all or (b) some of the money that they have received from Social Security Scotland, broken down by (i) year and (ii) local authority area.

Question reference: S6W-41494

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 3 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government on how many occasions recipients of the Child Disability Payment have been required to pay back (a) all or (b) some of the money that they have received from Social Security Scotland, broken down by (i) year and (ii) local authority area.

Question reference: S6W-41317

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 31 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) inpatient and (b) day case hospital admissions there have been with a diagnosis of a dog attack by either bite or strike, in each year since 2021.

The following table has been published by Public Health Scotland on 28 October 2025 and shows the number of inpatient and day case admissions to hospital where a diagnosis of dog bites or strikes was recorded, from 2021-22 to 2024-25, in Scotland.

The information is provided by financial year.

Financial Year	Inpatient	Day case
2021-22	874	16
2022-23	872	43
2023-24	1043	59
2024-25p	987	78

p. Data for 2024-25 are provisional and subject to change in future analyses.

Please note that dog bite or strike related incidents do not always result in hospital admission, they can also be treated in healthcare settings that do not currently enable robust analysis at diagnostic code level, such as accident and emergency departments, out of hours, outpatient or general practice services. Therefore, Public Health Scotland cannot be certain of holding comprehensive information on the number of dog bite related incidents.

Further statistics related to dog bites or strikes can also be found in Number of admissions and deaths due to selected injuries, including falls and dog bites or strikes - Interactive charts - Unintentional injuries - Urgent and unscheduled care - Healthcare system - Public Health Scotland, published on 28 October 2025.

Question reference: S6W-41332

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 31 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many people in each year since 2021 have been fined under the High Hedges (Scotland) Act 2013.

Question reference: S6W-41135

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 30 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-39876 by Angus Robertson on 10 September 2025, which sites managed by Historic Environment Scotland are currently (a) temporarily and (b) permanently closed, broken down by local authority area.

As per Historic Environments Scotland’s (HES) established annual approach, a number of sites across the HES estate are currently closed for the winter season, or will close in November, in line with sector best practice. Further information on closures can be found at https://www.historicenvironment.scot/visit-a-place/check-for-closures/.

As indicated in my earlier reply day-to-day operational matters of Historic Environment Scotland, including information relating to any repair and maintenance works of any specific site, are best answered directly by Historic Environment Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-41142

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 30 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many civil servants worked on its paper, A Fresh Start with Independence, broken down by (a) headcount and (b) full-time equivalent (FTE) staff.

It is not possible to provide such information because in line with usual practice, details of individual tasks carried out by civil servants, including the number of hours spent on them are not routinely recorded as there is no business need to do this. Civil servants across a range of different business areas contributed to this publication as part of their normal duties supporting the Scottish Government.

Question reference: S6W-41144

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 30 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the costs were of (a) producing and (b) publishing its paper, A Fresh Start with Independence.

Question reference: S6W-41321

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 30 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on legal fees paid to prevent disclosures under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, in each year since 2021.

The Scottish Government has previously released the following information regarding court fees, counsel's fees and judicial expenses paid in relation to court action in which the Scottish Information Commissioner, as regulator for Freedom of Information law, was the opposing party:

Financial Year	Case Name	Amount
2020-2021	Scottish Ministers v Scottish Information Commissioner & James W Hunter (XA70/20)	£9,077.67
2021-2022		£0.00
2022-2023		£0.00
2023-2024	Scottish Ministers v Scottish Information Commissioner & Benjamin Harrop (XA10/23) - Costs incurred over two financial years	£35,370.00
2024-2025	Scottish Ministers v Scottish Information Commissioner & Benjamin Harrop (XA10/23) - Costs incurred over two financial years	£35,394.00
2025-2026	Scottish Ministers v Scottish Information Commissioner & Benjamin Harrop (XA29/25)	£8,518.00
Total		£88,359.67

Similar information to that in the above table has previously been published by the Scottish Government on our website and is accessible through the following links:

Question reference: S6W-41336

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 30 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) affordable and (b) social properties have been built as a result of loans from Scotland's Charitable Bond Programme, broken down by local authority area, since the programme was established in 2013.

The information sought by the Member is not available in the format requested.

Since 2014 the Scottish Government has invested over £500m in 43 Charitable Bonds. To date, the scheme has supported the delivery of more than 4,000 new affordable homes through direct loans to social landlords. This has generated £157 million in charitable donations to fund additional local authority priority projects for social rent.

Loans have been issued to Registered Social Landlords operating across a number of local authority areas. For a list of all charitable bonds and donations made (up to 2023), I would refer the member to: Scottish Government Charitable Housing Bonds: FOI release - gov.scot

Question reference: S6W-41323

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 30 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any rail track (a) repairs and (b) upgrades that may be needed in the future, broken down by section, as well as by the date each repair or update work (i) was first identified as required and (ii) is projected to be completed by.