Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-43596

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 February 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 19 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government when the Marine Directorate Licensing Operations team will release its findings into the pollution event that took place at Loch Hourn in April 2025.

Question reference: S6W-43412

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 4 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service is meeting its legal obligations to protect its staff and to ensure compliance with equalities and health and safety legislation.

Question reference: S6W-43410

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 4 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will set key benchmarks for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to measure response times for the first responding appliance.

There are no plans to set benchmarks for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) to measure response times for the first responding appliance. SFRS’s targeted approach to risk and allocation of resources overtook the focus given to response times some years ago. It is important to focus on outcomes, rather than a simplistic look at response times. There can be a variety of reasons why response times vary, such as traffic conditions, street furniture or distance, particularly in remote and rural areas.

In its report (March 2019) on its scrutiny of the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012, the Justice Committee noted it was not convinced that setting response time targets is necessarily the correct approach, given the geographic area covered by the Service.

SFRS attends all emergencies and mobilises the nearest available appliance using established mobilisation arrangements. SFRS uses pre-determined attendance arrangements based on incident type and risk and an Officer in Charge is identified for incidents in line with operational guidance. The Service mobilises the necessary weight of resources appropriate to the information available at the time and adjusts this (up or down) as incidents progress. The resources required at an incident can change as more information becomes available, which can make fixed benchmarks difficult to apply consistently. Incident outcomes are therefore influenced by professional judgement, skills, and equipment, as well as the timely mobilisation of resources. Setting benchmarks to record the time when all of the required response assets reach the scene of all incidents would not therefore be a meaningful measurement.

SFRS continues to respond to every emergency incident with the appropriate level of resources.

Question reference: S6W-43411

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 4 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will set key benchmarks for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to record the time taken for the required weight of response to reach recognised categories of incidents.

Question reference: S6W-43409

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 4 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many of Scotland's 356 fire stations have decontamination facilities.

The provision of facilities at fire stations is a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS). In April 2025 SFRS introduced new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Fire Contaminants covering all fire stations to help protect firefighters and staff from the potential harm from fire contaminants. SFRS continues to invest in improved facilities including separation of clean and dirty areas within fire stations. There are variations of the standard of facilities available at fire stations across Scotland with only basic facilities being available in some of the seldom used rural stations. However, procedures are in place at all fire stations to allow for decontamination. This includes crew’s being directed to a nearby hub station or other local arrangement for access to showers where these are not available in their home fire station.

Question reference: S6W-43221

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 3 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the Landlord Registration regime, what its position is regarding whether this is functioning as planned, in light of The Highland Council reportedly stating that its officer-level escalation powers have not been exercised over multiple years.

The Landlord Registration regime is established under the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004, with statutory guidance issued by Scottish Ministers to support local authorities in carrying out their duties.

Local authorities are responsible for administering and enforcing the regime, and the legislation provides a range of enforcement powers that can be used to address non-compliance. It is for each authority to determine the appropriate use of these powers in individual cases.

Decisions on whether to use officer level escalation powers in individual cases lie with the relevant local authority.

We will continue to support local authorities in delivering the regime effectively, and will keep its operation under review to ensure it continues to meet its intended purpose.

Question reference: S6W-43222

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 3 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the Landlord Registration regime, whether a so-called light touch approach is compatible with local authorities' statutory enforcement obligations in cases where escalation powers are not being applied.

The Landlord Registration regime is established under the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004, with statutory guidance issued by Scottish Ministers to support local authorities in exercising their functions.

Local authorities are responsible for delivering the regime and for determining how best to meet their statutory enforcement obligations using the powers available to them. A proportionate or risk-based approach can be compatible with these duties, provided that escalation powers are used where necessary to secure compliance.

Decisions on the appropriate use of enforcement powers in individual cases rest with the relevant authority. Where appropriate, concerns about unregistered letting may be referred to Police Scotland, and tenants may seek recourse through the First-tier Tribunal (Housing and Property Chamber) where relevant.

Question reference: S6W-43220

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 3 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the Landlord Registration regime, what assurance it has been given that local authorities are not structurally bypassing statutory enforcement provisions, and what steps might be taken to ensure that the regime operates effectively.

Local authorities have a statutory duty to administer and enforce the Landlord Registration regime in accordance with the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004, supported by statutory guidance issued by Scottish Ministers.

The Scottish Government has not received any evidence to suggest that local authorities are structurally bypassing their statutory enforcement responsibilities.

We continue to support local authorities in delivering the regime effectively by providing guidance, sharing best practice, and monitoring issues raised by stakeholders. We will keep the operation of the regime under review and consider further measures, where appropriate, to ensure it continues to function as intended.

Question reference: S6F-04638

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 02 February 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 February 2026

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to ensure the long-term financial and operational stability of specialist domestic abuse services in the Highlands.

Question reference: S6W-42752

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 19 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 15 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is aware that its guidance on adopting a "light touch" approach to regulation of landlords is reportedly being cited as justification by the Highland Council to explain why no rent penalty notices and fiscal reports have been issued over an 18-month period from July 2022.

The Scottish Government has published statutory guidance for local authorities regarding the effective regulation of landlord registration (https://www.gov.scot/publications/landlord-registration-statutory-guidance-local-authorities-2017-statutory-guidance-local/pages/1/).

This guidance is intended to help local authorities deliver effective regulation as part of a continuing drive to raise standards and ensure greater consistency in enforcement across Scotland.

The guidance makes clear to local authorities their legal requirements under relevant landlord legislation, but also that they have a range of powers they can use to encourage compliance and to target breaches.

These include rent penalty notices which suspend the rent liability of a tenant living in an unregistered property; reporting unregistered landlords to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service; the discretionary power to make a third-party application to the First-tier Tribunal on behalf of tenants to enforce the repairing standard; a late application fee if a landlord fails to renew their application on time; and action plans that are used by some local authorities to describe interventions they make to support landlords to improve their practice so that they can meet the requirements for registration.

Whilst most landlords let their houses in a responsible way, should any continue to operate outside the law then Landlord registration, supported by other legislation, provides a means for local authorities to register persons who are fit and proper and take steps to deal with those who operate outside the law.

Chamber and committees