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-41866

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 UK-wide agencies, industry bodies and the EU to ensure that there is as smooth a transition as possible to the new EU traceability regime, which comes into effect on 10 January 2026, to allow Scotland's seafood businesses to maintain competitive access to its largest market.

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.

We would encourage industry to engage with the process and attend the virtual engagement sessions raising any concerns or questions they may have. 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.

Alongside other Fisheries Administrations, we have been seeking clarity, via UKG engagement with the EU, on the most pressing areas where questions remain, so responses can then be passed to industry.

Marine Directorate compliance officials are also flagging the MMO guidance as part of their routine engagement with industry. A dedicated Scottish mailing address has also been created and communicated to industry to field direct queries to.

For those impacted, they should talk with other industry representatives and their associations to ensure as many as possible are aware of the changes and what additional actions will be required from each other to facilitate continued trade.

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-41808

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 19 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many civil servants are employed by Scotland’s Migration Service as of 31 October 2025.

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-41737

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 for what reason the share of successful awards for the Future Farming Investment Scheme was reportedly 38.22% for Ministerial Priority Groups.

The priority group applicants who were successful were those who provided a combination of accurate information in their application, sufficient detail of their planned investment and their planned investment demonstrated strong alignment with the scheme objectives.

Although eligible applications from priority groups were given an uplift as part of the scoring criteria, priority status alone did not guarantee funding. Funding was awarded only where applications met all verification checks and the planned capital investment would deliver strongly against the schemes objectives, which is why only a proportion of priority applicants ultimately received support.

Question reference: S6W-41807

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 19 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it allocated to support Scotland’s Migration Service in (a) 2024-25 and (b) 2025-26.

The Scottish Budget for 2024-25 allocated £3.080m at Level 4 for Migration Strategy. Scotland’s Migration Service is one of the deliverables funded within this budget line. A total of £997,480.05 was spent on contracts with operational and digital suppliers to facilitate the design and delivery of Scotland’s Migration Service during 2024-25

The Scottish Budget for the 2025-26 financial year includes a Migration Strategy Level 4 budget allocation of £3.762m, from which funding for Scotland’s Migration Service is sourced, along with delivery of other public commitments around population and migration.

Question reference: S6W-41809

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 19 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) individuals, (b) domestic organisations and (c) overseas organisations have booked an appointment with an immigration lawyer through the Scotland’s Migration Service website in each month since it was launched.

Scotland’s Migration Service publishes performance data on a quarterly basis. This can be found at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scotlands-migration-service-performance-data/

987 appointments with individuals took place between April 2024 and October 2025. This is broken down as follows:

Month	Number of appointments
April 2024	33
May 2024	3
June 2024	5
July 2024	18
August 2024	18
September 2024	17
October 2024	15
November 2024	31
December 2024	68
January 2025	39
February 2025	43
March 2025	98
April 2025	65
May 2025	77
June 2025	105
July 2025	99
August 2025	73
September 2025	67
October 2025	113

Note that some individuals have attended multiple appointments, in line with the service offering which enables someone to access up to three appointments per year. This service is provided by Citizens Advice Bureaux across Scotland. Advisers are all accredited to provide at least Level 1 immigration advice in line with the standard set by the Immigration Advice Authority.

173 appointments with Scotland-based employers and inward investors or entrepreneurs took place between April 2024 and October 2025. This is broken down as follows:

Month	Scotland-based employers – number of appointments	Inward investors or entrepreneurs – number of appointments
April 2024	8	3
May 2024	6	2
June 2024	5	2
July 2024	3	1
August 2024	4	0
September 2024	3	1
October 2024	2	1
November 2024	5	1
December 2024	9	3
January 2025	9	2
February 2025	5	1
March 2025	13	2
April 2025	7	1
May 2025	10	4
June 2025	9	1
July 2025	12	3
August 2025	6	2
September 2025	14	2
October 2025	9	2

Note that some organisations have attended multiple appointments, in line with the service offering which enables someone to access up to three appointments per year. This service is provided by specialist immigration law firm Seraphus.

Question reference: S6W-41803

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 19 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has made any payments to Seraphus in relation to its role as a provider of legal advice on behalf of Scotland's Migration Service, and, if so, whether it will provide details of this.

The Scottish Government regularly publishes spend information over £25,000 on its website. This can be accessed at: https://www.gov.scot/policies/public-sector-procurement/procurement-transparency/

Contract values are also published on the Public Contracts Register, which can be accessed at: https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/Contracts/Contracts_Search.aspx

For Scotland’s Migration Service, during the 23-24 and 24-25 financial years, a total of £692,688.00 was paid to Seraphus. To date, during the 25/26 financial year, £314,752.74 has been paid to Seraphus.

This spend relates to the following activities:

Development of online guidance on business immigration matters (see https://migrationservice.scotland.org)
Provision of webinars on business immigration matters
Provision of one-to-one legal advice appointments for Scotland-based employers and inward investors
Delivery of marketing and stakeholder engagement activities to promote Scotland’s Migration Service
Reporting and service user engagement activities to support monitoring and evaluation of Scotland’s Migration Service
Project management, training, and other overheads