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-38518

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 20 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-30469 by Fiona Hyslop on 1 November 2024, whether it will provide an update on the number of commercial (a) vehicles carried and (b) vehicle lane metres used in (i) 2024 and (ii) 2025, broken down by individual routes.

Transport Scotland does not hold this information. However, CalMac Ferries Limited (CFL) has provided the information as they do capture the number of Commercial Vehicles carried, and the number of Commercial Vehicle lane metres used.

A table has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib Number 65902) that provides a breakdown, by individual routes and calendar year from 10 October 2024 up until June 2025, detailing the total number of Commercial Vehicles carried and the total number of Commercial Vehicle lane metres used only.

This information will now be available via the CalMac website by following the link

https://corporate.calmac.co.uk/en-gb/about-us/performance-reports/island-performance/.

Question reference: S6O-04838

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 June 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how it supports rural museums.

Question reference: S6W-38249

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of Scottish Upland Sheep Support Scheme payments were made to new entrant farmers in each year since 2021-22.

Question reference: S6W-38253

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will confirm the exact amount of funding that has been allocated to the Scottish Upland Sheep Support Scheme in each financial year since 2021-22.

Question reference: S6W-38251

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many applicants who applied for a Scottish Upland Sheep Support Scheme payment for 2025-26 have yet to receive their payment, and what the reasons were for any delay of payments.

Question reference: S6W-38482

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Monday, 09 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to Quality Meat Scotland's research, Meating our Potential, and in what ways the Scottish Government can help to support its aims.

The Scottish Government is unequivocal in its support for Scotland’s red meat supply chain given its vital role in underpinning our rural communities and making possible our world-class produce.

We are committed to transforming Scottish agriculture, and we will continue to champion our positive vision for Scottish food production. Central to this vision is our commitment to support livestock production right here in Scotland.

We will continue to provide Scotland’s farmers and crofters with direct support including through the Scottish Suckler Beef Support Scheme and Scottish Upland Sheep Support Scheme. These are key components of the Scottish Government investment in agriculture which is over £660 million per year.

Question reference: S6W-38252

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the number of applicants that were (a) successful and (b) unsuccessful in applying for a Scottish Upland Sheep Support Scheme payment for 2025-26, broken down by local authority area.

The application window for the Scottish Upland Sheep Support Scheme (SUSSS) scheme year 2025 does not open until 1 September 2025.

In the following table, details are provided of the number of businesses that had a successful or unsuccessful application under the SUSSS in 2024, broken down by local authority area. Applications included as unsuccessful are those applications which were rejected as they did not meet the scheme eligibility criteria.

Local Authority	Successful	Unsuccessful
Aberdeenshire	9	1
Angus	8	0
Argyll and Bute	78	1
City of Edinburgh	1	0
Dumfries and Galloway	6	1
East Ayrshire	10	0
East Lothian	2	0
Highland	478	8
Inverclyde	2	0
Midlothian	1	0
Moray	7	0
North Ayrshire	8	0
Orkney	6	0
Perth and Kinross	36	1
Renfrewshire	1	0
Scottish Borders	10	0
Shetland	53	4
South Ayrshire	2	0
South Lanarkshire	6	1
Stirling	19	0
West Dunbartonshire	1	0
Western Isles	370	11
Total	1114	28

Question reference: S6W-38254

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is considering introducing a multi-year funding model for future Scottish Upland Sheep Support Scheme payments, and, if so, whether it is able to provide any details of this.

The Scottish Government understands the importance of multi-year budgets to the agriculture sector and consistently makes the case to the UK Government that a single year budget settlement does not give the stability and certainty that we need. If the UK Government Spending Review provides multi-year funding, SG would expect to be able to provide that certainty in turn to the agriculture and marine sectors.

Question reference: S6W-38250

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when any outstanding Scottish Upland Sheep Support Scheme payments for 2025-26 will be paid to applicants.

The application window for the Scottish Upland Sheep Support Scheme (SUSSS) in scheme year 2025 does not open until 1 September 2025.

Payments under the SUSSS for scheme year 2024 commenced in May 2025, as set out in the 2024 Payments Strategy timetable.

As per the payment strategy timetable, there are no delayed payments and as at 9 June 2025, 98% of eligible applicants have been paid with 17 applicants still to receive a 2024 SUSSS payment. There are various reasons why a payment has not yet issued, for example, information has still to be provided by the applicant or application processing has still to complete. All remaining payments will be processed and paid as soon as is possible.

Question reference: S6W-38483

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Monday, 09 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 16 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what actions it is taking to increase the number of breeding (a) cattle and (b) sheep.

The Scottish Government does not set targets for the number of breeding cattle or sheep in Scotland. Livestock numbers are primarily driven by market conditions and individual business decisions.

However, we are committed to supporting a resilient and sustainable livestock sector. This includes continued investment in schemes such as the Scottish Suckler Beef Support Scheme, which provides £40 million annually to support beef producers and encourage improvements in herd efficiency, and the Scottish Upland Sheep Support Scheme to provide support to breeding hill flocks.

We also provide broader direct support to sheep and cattle producers through the Basic Payment Scheme and Less Favoured Areas Support Scheme payments – in stark contrast to the UK Government approach.

Through our Vision for Agriculture and ongoing reform programme, we will continue to work with farmers and crofters to ensure future support enables productive, sustainable farming.

We remain concerned that recent UK trade deals, agreed without meaningful consultation with the Scottish Government, risk undermining domestic livestock production by allowing imports produced to lower environmental and welfare standards—potentially increasing global emissions and undercutting Scotland’s high-quality producers.

Scheme Year	Eligible SUSSS applicants	New Entrants	% New Entrants
2021	1137	7	0.62
2022	1133	8	0.71
2023	1135	13	1.15
2024	1114	8	0.72

Year	Scottish Upland Sheep Support Scheme
2021	£7,100,050.54
2022	£7,100,050.54
2023	£7,100,050.54
2024	£7,100,050.54