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-43947

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 9 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government which (a) NHS boards and (b) Health and Social Care Partnerships have yet to retender a contract for the provision of independent advocacy services for patients.

Question reference: S6W-43966

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 5 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in the light of the decision to arrange NHS boards into two sub national planning structures for the west and east of Scotland, what the implications this might have for the continued work of the North Cancer Alliance, which brings together boards from the Scotland East and Scotland West groupings.

DL (2025) 25, Implementation of Sub-National Planning: Co-operation and Planning Directions 2025 came into force on 13 November 2025. This document requires Health Boards to organise themselves into two collaborative sub-national structures – Scotland East and Scotland West – to co-operate in planning and delivering the objectives specified in the Directions. The objectives stated in the directive are as follows:

‘Treatment time guarantee for orthopaedic elective care services’
‘Emergency healthcare services’
‘Once for Scotland approach to business systems’
‘Mycare.scot service’

There are no current plans for cancer services to be organised within this subnational structure.

The Scottish Government and the newly established National Scottish Cancer Collaborative (previously Scottish Cancer Network) continue to work closely with the three regional cancer networks, Southeast Scotland Cancer Network, West of Scotland Cancer Network and the North Cancer Alliance, to align on national direction and to provide for once for Scotland solutions where appropriate.

Question reference: S6O-05597

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 February 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what additional support it will provide to local authorities to address ageing infrastructure, including bridges.

Question reference: S6W-43684

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 19 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to reopen the Local Bridge Maintenance Fund.

Question reference: S6W-43641

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 17 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many non-UK-owned fishing vessels, including vessels operating under foreign flags, (a) visited and (b) transhipped catches in (i) Ullapool, (ii) Lochinver, (iii) Scrabster and (iv) Lerwick ports in (A) 2024 and (B) 2025.

The number of vessels visiting i.e. entering port but not landing, was,

Port/Year	2024	2025
Lerwick	71	121
Lochinver	9	12
Scrabster	5	6
Ullapool	0	1

Note, Lerwick experiences significant numbers because Norwegian vessels take advantage of a tax exemption on fuel.

Transhipment refers to landing direct to another vessel. There were no vessels transhipping in the ports. There were the following landings, i.e. where a vessel lands to a lorry or market.

Port/Year	2024	2025
Lerwick	48	16
Lochinver	170	163
Scrabster	100	120
Ullapool	10	2

Question reference: S6W-43442

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 10 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many weapon surrender bins (a) it and (b) Police Scotland has funded in each year since 2021, broken down by local authority area.

The provision of weapon surrender bins is an operational matter for Police Scotland. Information on how many weapon surrender bins have been funded by Police Scotland is not held centrally. The member may wish to contact the Chief Constable of Police Scotland to ask for information in relation to Police Scotland.

In 2022, the Scottish Government operated with Police Scotland a specific surrender and compensation scheme. This related to criminalisation of certain weapons in the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 which previously were legal to own. A surrender and compensation scheme was operated to allow legal owners of relevant weapons to hand them in and, if wanted, claim compensation prior to the new law taking effect. Weapon surrender bins were used for this scheme with the Scottish Government providing £2,600 to Police Scotland for bins to be purchased. It was an operational matter for Police Scotland where these bins were located with this information not being held centrally.

Question reference: S6W-43443

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 6 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-42816 by Ivan McKee on 21 January 2026, whether the figures it cites from the Scottish Fiscal Commission take into account any projected reduction of occupied business premises as a result of the non-domestic rates revaluation.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission’s forecasts of the non-domestic rates Contributable Amount (i.e. the amount that local authorities transfer to Scottish Government) are based on the draft 2026 valuation roll which was published on 30 November 2025. Forecasts in future years assume a level of buoyancy in the non-domestic tax base based on long-term trends.

Empty Property Relief was devolved to local authorities on 1 April 2023 and non-domestic properties are liable for non-domestic rates at the same rates as other properties. Local authorities may however choose to put in place local relief schemes in their area including for unoccupied properties. This does not however affect the Contributable Amount forecast by the Scottish Fiscal Commission.

Question reference: S6W-43327

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 5 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-43104 by Fiona Hyslop on 26 January 2026, for what reason it does not hold the information requested and, in light of ScotRail being owned by it through Scottish Rail Holdings Limited (SRH), whether it will ask SRH to provide this detail.

While publicly owned, ScotRail is a distinct legal entity, separate from Scottish Ministers, which is both empowered and required to take operational decisions in the execution of its duties. This includes issuing relevant guidance to its passengers. If all public bodies and publicly-owned companies issued copies of all operational guidance to Scottish Ministers, and were Scottish Ministers to note and file all such guidance, the administrative burden of that duplication would be significant.

ScotRail, as a train operating company owned by a non-departmental public body (Scottish Rail Holdings (SRH)), is subject to Freedom of Information (Scotland) regulations and can provide information under these regulations.

As SRH is not an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government, it is not appropriate for its Chief Executive Officer to respond to Parliamentary Questions. The member may wish to write to SRH directly.

Question reference: S6W-43307

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 5 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to support Highlands and Islands Airports Limited to upgrade security scanners in its airports, in order to allow passengers to carry liquids of more than 100ml in their hand luggage.

The Scottish Government’s 2026-27 draft budget includes £15.229 million in relation to Highlands and Islands Airports Limited’s (HIAL) capital requirements. In December 2025 the HIAL Board approved a business case for the introduction of scanners at Benbecula, Islay, Inverness, Kirkwall, Stornoway and Sumburgh airports which will enable passengers to carry larger liquids through the airports. HIAL’s intention is to install this equipment during 2026-27, starting with Inverness.

Question reference: S6W-43325

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 5 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether the vibration issues reported on the MV Glen Sannox have now been repaired during its scheduled drydocking.

The MV Glen Sannox remains in dry dock to allow completion of the scheduled warranty works. The warranty work underway includes installation of additional steelwork to protect the vessel from vibration issues. The vessel is expected to return to service on 23 February 2026.

The Scottish Government will continue to work with CalMac to minimise disruption to services where possible and keep communities informed.