The Scottish Parliament

Question reference: S6W-41864

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 25 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what support and funding is being made available to help Scotland's seafood (a) exporters, (b) processors and (c) suppliers meet the upgraded export requirements under the new EU traceability rules, which come into effect on 10 January 2026.

We will continue to ensure the interests of the Scottish industry are considered throughout this process. The Scottish Government will also continue to push for the UK to deliver as much assistance as possible to enable our industry to comply with the new requirements and minimise the impact on trade.

Longer term, UK Fisheries Administrations – including Scottish Government - are currently progressing the introduction of a revised UK Control and IUU Regulations in light of these EU changes. This is a complex process with many considerations.

As the IUU changes have a direct impact on the ability of Third Counties to continue to export fisheries products to the EU this has to be taken into consideration when assessing our regulatory alignment.

Question reference: S6W-41860

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 25 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to monitor and report on how well Scotland's seafood businesses adapt to the new EU traceability rules, including whether there is disruption to trade to the EU post-January 2026.

Question reference: S6W-41863

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 25 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it is working with the Marine Management Organisation campaign, Fish, Trace, Ship, to publicise the new EU traceability rules, which come into effect on 10 January 2026.

The programme of informing the UK industry of these changes is being led by the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) with input and support by Devolved Governments. The Scottish Government has been closely involved in the development of the MMO campaign, including at the recent virtual industry engagement sessions that have progressed during October and November.

To supplement the MMO campaign, Marine Directorate officials have organised meetings with key stakeholders in Scotland to raise awareness of the forthcoming changes.

This includes in September, when meetings took place with some of Scotland’s largest seafood exporters.

Question reference: S6W-41862

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 25 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the definition of “processing” being expanded under the new EU traceability regime, which takes effect on 10 January 2026, and that only seafood “frozen and/or packed without further processing” is exempt, how many businesses in Scotland it estimates will be subject to the new documentation requirements.

The requirement for processing statements currently only applies to seafood caught by non-UK vessels and processed in the UK prior to export. Rather than the definition being “expanded”, from 10 January 2026, the requirement for a Processing Statement will also apply to seafood caught by UK vessels and processed in the UK before export to the EU.

The EU have confirmed that where fish has only been subject to freezing and/or packed after landing and prior to export, they will not require a Statement.

Given the complexity of the seafood export supply chain, it is difficult to estimate the exact number of businesses impacted. However, given many of our exporters undertake processing that will be captured by the new requirement, we expect a significant number of Scottish businesses to be impacted.

Question reference: S6W-41861

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 25 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the potential impact on Scotland’s seafood exporters of the incoming EU traceability rules, which take effect on 10 January 2026.

We appreciate that the impact of the forthcoming mandatory EU changes may be significant for Scottish seafood exporters. In particular, around the additional new information required for the export documentation.

The changes being introduced by the EU are mandatory for all imports of fisheries products entering the EU from all third countries after 10 January 2026 so there is no alternative to compliance when trading.

Where industry hold specific questions or concerns regarding the current guidance and approach, we would encourage them to raise these as soon as possible as part of the ongoing engagement campaign.

Alongside other Fisheries Administrations, we are still in the process of raising technical questions for clarification with the EU, via UK Government, including those flagged via industry engagement.

When answers are secured to these questions, these will be made available in the FAQ section of the relevant Fish, Trace, Ship campaign website: Frequently asked questions (FAQs) - Fish, Trace, Ship

Question reference: S6W-41804

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 21 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent in total to date on consultancy fees in relation to the development of the MyCare.scot app.

National Education for Scotland (NES) holds the contract with BJSS for the development of MyCare.scot. The estimated value of this contract for 2025–26 is currently between £4.5 million and £5 million, subject to change depending on the pace of delivery.

In addition, the Scottish Government has spent £11,880 to date on QI Consulting. This work supports assurance activity for the wider programme and is not associated with the development of the MyCare.scot application.

Question reference: S6W-41741

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Friday, 07 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 21 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government to what extent AI was used in the process to determine the awarding of funding from the Future Farming Investment Scheme, and for what reasons.

As was made clear to Jamie Halcro Johnston and Douglas Ross in the Chamber on 5 November 2025, the claims that an AI based system was used to assess applications are not correct. Applications were assessed through a standardised framework that cross checked application data against the Single Application Form (SAF) and other system held data to ensure consistency, transparency, and audit defensibility.

Assessment work was led by the Agricultural Development Team, supported by staff from across the RPID area office network, which is experienced in delivering Scottish Government grant schemes. Independent validation was undertaken by a Project Board, which also included RPID Area Office representatives, as well as being reviewed by Internal Audit representatives.

Question reference: S6O-05222

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6W-41738

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Friday, 07 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 19 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-40374 by Jim Fairlie on 22 September 2025, how many applications for funding from the Future Farming Investment Scheme were (a) awarded and (b) not awarded support, broken down by area office.

Area Office	Grant Offers	Value of Offers (£)	% of Total Applications Supported	% of Total Scheme Budget
Ayr	268	£3,584,147.01	16%	17%
Benbecula	14	£97,720.42	2%	0.46%
Dumfries	168	£2,266,981.61	10%	11%
Elgin	60	£710,093.55	3%	3%
Galashiels	169	£2,448,442.06	10%	11%
Golspie	12	£155,201.11	1%	1%
Hamilton	96	£1,221,845.17	6%	6%
Inverness	64	£815,729.28	4%	4%
Inverurie	318	£3,926,865.68	18%	18%
Kirkwall	62	£744,915.16	4%	3%
Lerwick	59	£401,996.66	5%	2%
Oban	59	£727,252.93	4%	3%
Perth	252	£3,347,703.92	14%	16%
Portree	6	£59,278.85	0%	0.28%
Stornoway	4	£40,238.70	0%	0.19%
Thurso	61	£842,139.07	3%	4%

Question reference: S6W-41739

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Friday, 07 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 19 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-40374 by Jim Fairlie on 22 September 2025, how many applications for funding from the Future Farming Investment Scheme were (a) awarded and (b) not awarded support, broken down by scheme objective.

Scheme Objective	Number of Supported Items	Total Grant Value (£)	% of £21.4m
Improve business efficiency and sustainability	3,309	£20,945,081.77	98%
Protect, restore or enhance the environment	1,726	£11,542,568.88	54%
Reduce greenhouse gas emissions	2,184	£14,915,459.53	70%
Mitigate the impact of climate change	1,933	£13,158,491.07	61%

Chamber and committees

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Question reference: S6W-41864

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