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-41328

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 Gougeon on 17 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) protection and (b) research vessels the Marine Directorate currently owns.

The Marine Directorate of the Scottish Government currently owns a total of three Marine Protection Vessels (MPVs) — Hirta, Jura and Minna — which form the core of Scotland’s offshore marine protection fleet.

In addition, the Directorate owns nine rigid-inflatable boats (RIBs) assigned to these protection vessels and two inshore RIBs, Ailsa and Iona, which are used within the Inshore Protection Programme.

For scientific and monitoring work, the Directorate owns two Marine Research Vessels (MRVs) — Scotia and Alba na Mara — supported by four smaller research and survey craft: Dignity, Temora, Kit Kat and Teip Dearg.

Question reference: S6W-41329

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 Gougeon on 17 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many of the Marine Directorate’s (a) protection and (b) research vessels are currently out of service.

The Marine Directorate currently has three Marine Protection Vessels (Hirta, Jura and Minna) in service. None of these large protection vessels are presently out of service, although individual rigid-inflatable boats (RIBs) that support them are subject to routine maintenance and rotation. At present, one RIB (RIB7) is undergoing repair at McKay Marine in Aberdeen, and one other (RIB9) is held in reserve awaiting redeployment.

Of the Marine Research Vessels, Scotia and Alba na Mara are both operational, supported by four smaller survey craft (Dignity, Temora, Kit Kat and Teip Dearg), all of which are in service.

Question reference: S6W-40742

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 7 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-40384 by Ben Macpherson on 23 September 2025, how many graduates took up a placement in NHS Western Isles in (a) 2020-21, (b) 2021-22 and (c) 2022-23.

The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) collects data on the destinations of graduates 15 months after graduation via the Graduate Outcomes Survey. The survey is voluntary and hence does not represent the outcomes of all graduates from each year.

The following table now includes NHS Western Isles which was excluded previously due to the rounding policy. The HESA Graduate Outcomes Survey had no responses from graduates who were working for NHS Western Isles.

Scottish NHS Health Board of Clinical Medicine graduates, from Scottish providers, who said they worked in the NHS 15 months after graduating, 2020-21 to 2022-23

NHS Health Board	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23
Ayrshire and Arran	10	15	15
Borders	0	0	0
Dumfries and Galloway	10	10	5
Fife	5	10	10
Forth Valley	5	15	15
Grampian	45	35	40
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	110	110	95
Highland	10	20	15
Lanarkshire	15	20	20
Lothian	50	50	55
Orkney	0	0	0
Shetland	0	0	0
Tayside	30	30	25
Western Isles	0	0	0
Total known and working for NHS Scotland	305	320	285

Source: HESA Graduate Outcomes Survey, 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23

The survey is voluntary and hence does not represent the outcomes of all graduates from each year.

Health Board is estimated from Local Authority of work address.

Only includes graduates flagged as working for the NHS (using HESA variable NHSORG)

Clinical Medicine as defined by HECOS subject classification 100267. Note: this will not include all students completing medical degrees and exclude some specialist courses.

Figures have been rounded to the nearest 5

Question reference: S6W-40553

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 7 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much (a) it and (b) its agencies has spent on promotion through social media influencers in each year since 2021.

(a) Details of Scottish Government spend on promotion through social media influencers in each year since 2021 to date are as follows.

Year	Spend (£)
2021	63,746.20
2022	30,930.00
2023	19,900.00
2024	13,640.00
2025	52,800.00

These services are procured by the Scottish Government marketing team via the Scottish Government Marketing Services Framework.

All marketing agencies Scottish Government work with, including those which provide influencer services, must successfully tender through the Scottish Government's Marketing Services Framework. This comprehensive process evaluates their capability, experience and value for money before they can be approved as suppliers. The framework ensures Scottish Government only works with established agencies that meet Scottish Government’s procurement standards and legal requirements.

Scottish Government’s approved framework agencies manage influencer relationships on our behalf. They conduct thorough due diligence checks on potential influencers, including comprehensive reviews of their social media history to identify any content that could constitute hate crimes or bring the Scottish Government into disrepute. This vetting process follows the same rigorous standards used across UK Government communications, as outlined in the GCS guidelines for influencer marketing.

This process ensures anyone who is used as an influencer within a marketing campaign is appropriate to that campaign’s strategy, audience, message and objectives.

b) Scottish Government does not have access to wider agency spend on influencers and is therefore unable to confirm how much its agencies have spent on promotion through social media influencers in each year since 2021.

Question reference: S6W-40603

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 1 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what funding mechanisms are available to help (a) farmers and (b) crofters improve farm security.

Question reference: S6W-40552

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 1 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the total cost was of any penalties that it issued to Openreach in each year since 2016, and for what reasons it applied those penalties.

Question reference: S6W-40600

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 30 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to define the phrase ‘"rural crime" in legislation.

Question reference: S6W-40572

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 30 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many prisoners have been transferred from closed to open prisons in each year since 2021.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

It is the aim of SPS to prepare people in custody for their eventual release and return to communities as contributing citizens. Whilst part of this preparation for release, progression to less secure conditions is an option, however, not an automatic entitlement.

We currently have 3 establishments which are classed as ‘open’, HMP Castle Huntly, and the Community Custody Units, Lilias and Bella.

The following table shows the number of individuals in SPS care that have transferred from a ‘closed prison’ to those 3 sites:

Year	Number of individuals transferred to HMP Castle Huntly	Number of individuals transferred to HMP Bella	Number of individuals transferred to HMP Lilias
Jan – Dec 2021	153	-	-
Jan – Dec 2022	162	13	6
Jan – Dec 2023	241	19	32
Jan – Dec 2024	204	33	35
Jan – Sept 2025*	158	19	35

*Data up to 18 September 2025.

Question reference: S6T-02690

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 29 September 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has issued an extreme wildfire warning for the first time in September since 2020.

Question reference: S6W-40571

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 25 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to Science for Sustainable Agriculture’s report, Food Security – Outlook to 2025.

The Scottish Government has considered this UK report with interest and recognises the importance of a range of factors including land use, yield, and population in planning future food security.

The Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Act 2024 similarly recognises the importance of these factors and requires Scottish Ministers to make a statement on food security at least every three years and to also have regard to food supply and security in the rural support plan.

The publication of Scotland’s 4th Land Use Strategy to be published next year will also allow us to further consider the multiple pressures on land and the benefits and opportunities presented by a more integrated approach to land use.