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-39004

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 10 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to review or revise the current economic link policy to better reflect Scotland’s fishing communities and onshore processing needs.

Question reference: S6W-39006

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 10 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what mechanisms are in place to allow fishing vessel owners to appeal a finding of non-compliance with the economic link requirements.

Non-compliance with the Economic Link licence occurs where a vessel has failed to meet the 55% landings threshold and failed to agree a quota payback.

Vessel owners are provided with the opportunity to query the landings data and the quota payback calculation.

There have been no instances of a vessel seeking to appeal the application of quota pay-back for not meeting the Economic Link compliance criteria since 2019.

Question reference: S6W-39001

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 10 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what actions its Marine Directorate has taken when vessels have failed to meet the economic link requirements, and how many vessels have been subject to quota payback as a result since 2019.

Question reference: S6W-38748

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 4 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the percentage mortality was of naturally produced (a) salmon ova, (b) alveins, (c) fry, (d) parr and (e) smolts in each year since 2021.

Question reference: S6W-39018

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 3 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government in what ways Police Scotland is working with the Royal Air Force to ensure the protection of RAF Lossiemouth, in light of the reported security breach at RAF Brize Norton.

Police Scotland does not have a primary role in providing security at military bases in Scotland. RAF Lossiemouth is protected by several units operating within the Royal Air Force (RAF).

However, the North East Division of Police Scotland has a long standing and close working relationship with RAF Lossiemouth and have been in close liaison following the incident at Brize Norton. As a result, there have been increased high visibility police patrols of the area around the base.

A number of other facilities within Scotland are protected by the Ministry of Defence Police (MDP), a specialized armed police force tasked with protecting the UK's defence assets, including military bases, nuclear facilities, and government sites.

Police Scotland have very occasionally assisted with security operations at or near military bases, but these have largely been related to major events or incidents.

Question reference: S6W-38755

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 3 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many scheduled sailings were (a) provided and (b) cancelled, broken down by incident, on (i) the MV Alfred and (ii) other vessels on the Arran ferry route between 18 April 2024 and 12 June 2025.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Contractual reporting is by route. However, CalMac have provided the following data as requested:

Vessel Name	Scheduled Sailings	Operated Sailings	Cancelled Sailings	Additional Sailings	Weather Cancellations	Technical Cancellations	Other Cancellations
MV Alfred	1423	1863	84	524	44	26	14
Other vessels	3376	3023	418	65	322	96	0

*This shows CalMac’s audited figures up to 31 May, 2025.

Question reference: S6W-38752

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 3 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the total number was of (a) passengers, (b) cars, (c) coaches and (d) commercial vehicles, carried by (i) the MV Alfred and (ii) other vessels on the Arran ferry route between 18 April 2024 and 12 June 2025.

Question reference: S6W-38746

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 3 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether restocking rivers with eyed ova and unfed fry would have a greater impact on increasing salmon stocks than releasing hatchery reared fry and parr into Scottish salmon rivers; what the reasons are for its position on this matter, and whether this position is based on any peer reviewed scientific evidence.

Decisions on stocking in salmon fishery districts are a matter for District Salmon Fishery Boards (where such Boards exist) under the provisions of the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 2003.

Decisions on the life stages used in stocking should be aligned with the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation’s guidelines, available at CNL2461_Stocking-Guidelines.pdf and the peer reviewed scientific literature as recently summarised in a Scottish Government report (available at Science of salmon stocking: report - gov.scot). This report found that if stocking is to take place, it should involve the youngest possible life stage to minimise hatchery exposure and artificial selection.

Question reference: S6W-38754

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 3 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the total cost was to charter the MV Alfred between 18 April 2024 and 12 June 2025.

Question reference: S6W-38753

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 3 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the total cost was of repairs to the MV Caledonian Isles between 4 January 2024 and 12 June 2025.

Vessel Name	Passengers	Cars	Coaches	Commercial Vehicles
MV Alfred	273,489	91,407	64	3,916
Other Vessels	523,084	125,936	448	6,291