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-40151

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 August 2025
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answer expected on 24 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to integrate AI into its Rural Payments and Services website, and if so, how it will do this.

Question reference: S6O-04871

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 August 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how growth deals are growing the economy of the Highlands and Islands region.

Question reference: S6W-40127

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 August 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 24 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it will consider flying the Red Ensign on Merchant Navy Day 2025, and in future years, as is presently the case with Scottish Government buildings.

Question reference: S6W-40090

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 27 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the £15 million funding for general practice that it announced on 21 August 2025 will support general practice in the Highlands and Islands region.

The £15 million funding for general practice announced by the Scottish Government on 21 August 2025 will be allocated to territorial health boards as outlined in the following table.

NHS Board	Additional funding (£m)
Ayrshire & Arran	1.0
Borders	0.3
Dumfries & Galloway	0.4
Fife	1.0
Forth Valley	0.8
Grampian	1.5
Greater Glasgow & Clyde	3.3
Highland	1.1
Lanarkshire	1.8
Lothian	2.4
Orkney	0.1
Shetland	0.1
Tayside	1.1
Western Isles	0.1

Total	15

Question reference: S6W-39896

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 27 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether the topic of Scottish independence was discussed in the meeting between the First Minister and the President of the European Commission on 26 July 2025.

The First Minister met President Von der Leyen in Scotland on 26 July.

They discussed transatlantic trade talks, the current state of the UK/EU relationship, the UK/EU Summit held in May 2025, energy cooperation and Scotland’s potential as a centre for renewable energy production, Gaza and Ukraine.

President Von der Leyen noted that the visits of European leaders and the US President provided a wonderful opportunity to showcase Scotland to the world.

Question reference: S6W-39611

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 26 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many individual scholarships for foreign nationals it has funded in (a) higher and (b) further education in each year since 2016, broken down by each individual's country of origin.

The Scottish Government recognises the benefits of international higher education for students, staff and researchers. Our International Education Strategy, published in 2024, sets out the approach that we are taking to attract international students and increase opportunities for student mobility including through the Scottish Education Exchange Programme.

Scholarships provide financial support to help students undertake education at undergraduate and postgraduate level, making education more accessible. International students, that is foreign nationals who temporarily travel to Scotland for education, may apply for scholarships via Scottish universities and colleges.

As scholarships in Scotland are primarily funded and managed by institutions themselves, the Scottish Government does not hold all the information that has been requested.

Since 2016, the Scottish Government has provided funding towards a number of International Development scholarship programmes. Additionally, between 2009 and 2023, the Scottish Government supported the Scottish Saltire Scholarship programme aimed at raising the profile of Scotland as a place to live, work and study for international students.

Scholarship	Country of origin	FE or HE places*	Timeframes
Saltire Scholarships	China, India, Pakistan, USA, Canada, and Japan	1550 HE	From 2009 to 2023
Scotland Pakistan Scholarships for Young Women and Girls:	Pakistan	2300 HE and FE	From 2016 to 2025
Scotland Heriot-Watt (Edinburgh Business School) Online MBA Scholarships for Women in Zambia	Zambia	50 HE	From 2018 to 2025
Girls Initiative for Resilient Learning and Support (GIRLS) supporting to support vulnerable girls and young women	Malawi, Zambia and Rwanda	104 HE	Launched in 2024

*HE can be undertaken at a college or university

Question reference: S6W-39612

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 26 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has allocated to fund scholarships for foreign nationals in (a) higher and (b) further education in each year since 2016.

As scholarships in Scotland are primarily funded and managed by institutions themselves, the Scottish Government does not hold all the information that has been requested.

The Scottish Government has however provided funding towards a number of scholarship programmes for foreign nationals, between 2016 and 2025 including:

Scholarship	Timeframes	Funding
Saltire Scholarships	From 2009 to 2023	£2.25 million in postgraduate places
Scotland Pakistan Scholarships for Young Women and Girls:	From 2016 to 2025	£2,067,500
Scotland Heriot-Watt (Edinburgh Business School) Online MBA Scholarships for Women in Zambia	From 2018 to 2025	£234,000
Girls Initiative for Resilient Learning and Support (GIRLS) supporting to support vulnerable girls and young women	Launched in 2024	£224,127

Question reference: S6W-39816

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 26 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many citizens’ assemblies it has held since May 2021, and what the cost has been of each assembly.

Question reference: S6W-40099

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 August 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 22 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the total cost of any penalties issued by Transport Scotland to (a) Amey and (b) BEAR Scotland was in each year since 2021.

Question reference: S6W-40084

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 August 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 22 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many members of the public have visited the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh in each year since 2021.