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-38709

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 24 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what measurable reductions in (a) littering and (b) fly-tipping have been recorded since the implementation of the National Litter and Flytipping Strategy 2023-24 Action Plan, and whether it will provide a breakdown by local authority area of (i) any such data and (ii) the number of incidents reported within this timeframe.

The National Litter and Flytipping Strategy is a six year plan. According to Keep Scotland Beautiful’s Local Environmental Auditing Monitoring System (LEAMS) data, 92.7% of audited street sites met acceptable litter standards in the most recent survey, a 1.7 percentage point increase from the previous year. LEAMS data by local authority area is available on KSB’s website.

As noted in the response to S6W-38714 on 24 June 2025, flytipping data is held at local authority level.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Question reference: S6W-38714

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 24 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many reports of fly-tipping have been made via (a) the Dumb Dumpers platform and (b) other public reporting channels since 2020, and what proportion of these resulted in enforcement action.

The Scottish Government does not hold consolidated national data on the number of flytipping reports or enforcement outcomes. Between 2020 and its closure in March 2023, fewer than 900 reports were received annually via the Dumb Dumpers platform. In comparison, the National Litter and Flytipping Strategy’s Flytipping Baseline Report, published in October 2024, sets out that in 2022–23 between 63,378 and 64,486 flytipping incidents were reported directly to local authority systems, depending on the data source.

Data on the proportion of incidents resulting in enforcement action is not held centrally, as this is a matter for local authorities and other enforcement bodies. Improving national consistency in reporting and enforcement data remains a priority under the National Litter and Flytipping Strategy and the Circular Economy (Scotland) Act 2024.

Question reference: S6W-38716

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 24 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made on developing a new national online reporting system for littering and fly-tipping, and when this will be operational.

The National Litter and Flytipping Strategy identifies the need for a new national online reporting system and this remains an ambition. Initial work has been undertaken to consider requirements for future reporting improvements, taking into account learning from previous approaches and the recommendations of the National Litter and Flytipping Strategy Baseline Report, which considered available flytipping data and changes that may be needed in the future.

Work is ongoing through the National Litter and Flytipping Strategy Data Management Group, which includes SEPA and local authorities, to explore options for improving data collection and sharing.

Question reference: S6W-38710

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 24 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many fixed penalty notices for (a) littering and (b) fly-tipping have been issued in each year since 2019, and what percentage of these were paid in full.

The Scottish Government does not hold centralised annual data on the number of fixed penalty notices issued for littering and flytipping, or on payment rates. Responsibility for issuing and managing fixed penalties rests with local authorities and other designated bodies, such as Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority.

However, the National Litter & Flytipping Strategy’s Flytipping Baseline Report, published in October 2024, includes data submitted by some local authorities on the number of fixed penalty notices issued in recent years. This forms part of wider efforts under the National Litter and Flytipping Strategy to build a more consistent and accessible national picture.

Question reference: S6W-38719

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 June 2025
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 24 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it had with rural and agricultural stakeholders in the (a) development and (b) delivery of the National Litter and Flytipping Strategy 2023-24 Action Plan, and whether it maintains any ongoing engagement with any such stakeholders.

The Scottish Government engaged with rural and agricultural stakeholders during both the development of the National Litter and Flytipping Strategy and the 2023-24 Action Plan. During the 2022 public consultation on the draft Strategy, responses were received from organisations including NFU Scotland and Scottish Land & Estates, highlighting the specific challenges faced by landowners and farmers in addressing flytipping.

The Scottish Government and the Strategy delivery partners (SEPA, ZWS and KSB) continue to engage with relevant stakeholders and networks, including Scottish Land & Estates and the Scottish Partnership Against Rural Crime, who are represented on the Strategy’s Delivery Group.

Question reference: S6F-04224

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 June 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 June 2025

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to reports that several local authorities are delaying the introduction of a visitor levy.

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-38252

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