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 1311 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6W-40167

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 16 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care last met with the Chief (a) Executive of NHS Grampian and (b) Officer of Health and Social Care Moray.

Question reference: S6W-40045

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 11 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the total cost of any expenses for members of The Promise Oversight Board has been in each year since it was founded.

Question reference: S6W-40046

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 11 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when the Minister for Children, Young People and The Promise last met with The Promise Oversight Board.

Question reference: S6W-39908

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 11 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-34581 by Angus Robertson on 6 March 2025, whether it will provide an update on whether it still plans to open an international office in Warsaw.

Question reference: S6W-39909

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 11 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-34581 by Angus Robertson on 6 March 2025, whether it can provide the total costs associated with its preparations for opening an international office in Warsaw, broken down by (a) year and (b) expenditure type.

Question reference: S6W-39904

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 11 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-34581 by Angus Robertson on 6 March 2025, whether it will provide an update on whether any additional funding has been budgeted for its plans to open an international office in Warsaw, and, if so, whether it can provide details of this.

Question reference: S6W-40184

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 01 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 10 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the funding provided to each Scottish Mountain Rescue team, in each of the last five years.

The Scottish Government provides an annual grant to Scottish Mountain Rescue, which they distribute onwards to all of Scotland’s volunteer mountain rescue teams including Glencoe and Cairngorm which are not affiliated with Scottish Mountain Rescue, according to an agreed and established formula. Information from Scottish Mountain Rescue on the funding that each team has received in the last 5 years is set out in the following table:

Team Name	Apr 2020 - Mar 2021	Apr 2021 - Mar 2022	Apr 2022 - Mar 2023	Apr 2023 - Mar 2024	Apr 2024 - Mar 2025	Total
Aberdeen MRT	10,024.66	10,372.88	10,721.08	10,848.40	10,443.18	52,410.20
Arran MRT	12,259.62	11,745.61	12,287.49	11,280.23	11,011.71	58,584.66
Arrochar MRT	11,395.85	11,003.03	11,529.98	11,485.21	11,589.07	57,003.14
Assynt MRT	9,220.56	9,580.92	10,234.07	10,970.49	10,698.58	50,704.62
Borders Search and Rescue	10,859.48	11,000.25	11,607.48	11,685.47	11,347.64	56,500.32
Braemar MRT	13,626.03	14,101.65	14,370.18	14,342.12	14,312.52	70,752.50
Cairngorm MRT	16,052.56	16,052.56	16,978.67	16,978.67	16,978.67	83,041.13
Dundonnel MRT	14,783.79	14,760.47	15,573.25	16,118.53	15,510.59	76,746.63
Galloway MRT	11,281.85	11,271.54	11,711.36	11,559.73	11,072.40	56,896.88
Glencoe MRT	18,453.12	18,453.12	19,517.72	19,517.72	19,517.72	95,459.40
Glenelg MRT	6,907.97	6,985.66	7,151.30	7,049.61	6,898.61	34,993.15
Glenmore Lodge MRT	4,000.00	4,000.00	4,230.77	4,230.77	4,230.77	20,692.31
Hebridean Search and Rescue	9,092.94	9,334.97	9,379.41	9,084.53	8,722.56	45,614.41
Killin MRT	13,747.67	14,435.01	15,255.26	14,892.53	14,494.62	72,825.09
Kintail MRT	8,531.18	8,479.04	8,912.36	8,694.06	8,970.64	43,587.28
Lochaber MRT	24,484.53	24,484.53	25,897.10	25,897.10	25,897.10	126,660.36
Lomond MRT	13,451.78	13,959.31	15,050.04	15,065.03	14,905.52	72,431.68
Moffat MRT	10,345.26	10,460.14	11,066.28	10,941.19	10,231.33	53,044.20
Oban MRT	11,034.07	10,800.00	11,378.44	11,334.58	11,855.42	56,402.51
Ochils MRT	11,163.73	11,371.75	12,460.79	12,905.25	12,455.10	60,356.62
Search and Rescue Aerial Association	0	0	0	0	3,485.59	3,485.59
Search and Rescue Dog Association Scotland	6,478.10	5,810.99	5,668.24	5,796.72	5,624.45	29,378.50
Search and Rescue Dog Association Southern Scotland	4,706.59	4,478.90	4,563.12	4,735.35	4,771.54	23,255.50
Scottish cave Rescue Organisation	4,185.17	4,399.23	6,093.27	6,016.83	5,876.95	26,571.45
Skye MRT	16,751.66	15,652.75	16,232.34	16,483.51	16,883.22	82,003.48
Tayside MRT	14,398.93	14,013.34	14,992.87	14,699.51	16,090.32	74,194.97
Torridon MRT	9,971.20	9,480.18	9,556.21	9,477.21	8,742.02	47,226.82
Tweed Valley MRT	14,791.70	15,512.16	17,580.91	17,909.64	17,382.16	83,176.57

Question reference: S6W-40151

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 10 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.

At this time, there are no defined plans to incorporate AI into the RP&S platform. The Agriculture Reform Programme is currently leading the development of a Future Operating Model for ARE which is carefully considering the capabilities required to deliver the Vision for Agriculture/policy objectives. This will include fully exploring the use of appropriate digital capabilities and technologies which can improve our services and the customer experience of our users however as stated at this time, there are no plans to incorporate AI into the RP&S platform.

Question reference: S6W-39876

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 10 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many sites managed by Historic Environment Scotland are currently (a) temporarily and (b) permanently closed in the Highlands and Islands region, broken down by local authority area.

In the Highlands and Islands region, there are currently 9 Historic Environment Scotland sites which are temporarily closed. Within the Highlands and Islands region, there are no Historic Environment Scotland sites which are permanently closed.

The temporarily closed sites are:

Aberdeenshire Council:

Glenbuchat Castle

Huntly Castle

Comhairle nan Eilean Siar:

Kisimul Castle

Highland Council:

Castle of Old Wick

Moray Council:

Bishops House, Elgin

Dallas Dhu Distillery

Orkney Islands Council:

Eynhallow Church

Tormiston Mill

Shetland Islands Council:

Scalloway Castle

Any further queries from the member regarding the 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-40185

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 01 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 10 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports of an increase in call-outs for the Assynt Mountain Rescue team, what plans it has to increase funding for Scottish Mountain Rescue teams.

The Scottish Government provides an annual grant to Scottish Mountain Rescue, which they distribute onwards to all of Scotland’s individual volunteer teams. This distribution follows an agreed and established formula that takes into account relative changes in team activity levels, alongside a range of other relevant factors. Scotland is the only part of the UK in which volunteer mountain rescue teams are supported in this way. While the overall budget for this grant is determined on an annual basis, the Scottish Mountain Rescue grant has, for this year, been included in the Scottish Government’s Fairer Funding pilot. This inclusion offers increased assurance that funding will be maintained at no less than the current level until at least March 2027.