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-43984

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 12 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that Scottish Water’s 25-year sustainability plan is adequately funded, monitored and stress tested against worst-case climate scenarios.

Question reference: S6W-43982

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 12 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what specific long-term modelling it has selected, alongside Scottish Water, to undertake an assessment of drought risks over the next 25 years.

Question reference: S6W-43776

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 25 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will outline its plans to increase the number of heat network consumers from 1.1% of households, in light of its potential as an affordable, low carbon heating option for consumers.

The Heat Networks Delivery Plan (HNDP), published in March 2022, and the first Review Report, published March 2024, outlines how the Scottish Government will contribute to increasing the use of heat networks in Scotland and meeting the statutory targets. The reporting period for the subsequent HNDP Review Reports is every 2 years from the date on which the last review report was laid in parliament.

On 18 November 2025. I announced to Parliament that the future Buildings (Heating and Energy Performance) and Heat Networks (Scotland) Bill would include provisions relating to heat networks including:

a regulation-making power to require qualifying buildings in a heat network zone to connect to a heat network or decarbonise their heating system;
a regulation-making power for heat network installation and maintenance licences; and
changes to the Heat Networks (Scotland) Act 2021 to streamline its regulatory regime.

Question reference: S6W-43778

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 February 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 3 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what measures are in place to prevent heat networks becoming a two-tier market.

Question reference: S6W-43600

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 17 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason, in its draft Budget 2026-27, the (a) funding for Energy Transitions has been significantly reduced, and (b) Just Transition Fund has been held at a flat cash level, despite the stated commitment to deliver £500 million over 10 years, which current allocations would not allow to meet.

The Scottish Government is absolutely committed to supporting a just transition to net zero for workers, communities and businesses. Through initiatives such as the Just Transition Fund and the Energy Transition Fund, we have invested £120m in the North East and helped leverage in tens of millions in extra investment, create green jobs, support innovation, and secure the highly skilled workforce of the future.

Budget positions reflect the challenging overall fiscal context. Despite this, the Scottish Government has maintained support for key Energy Transitions initiatives such as the Grangemouth Just Transition Fund, the Oil and Gas Transition Training Fund and Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage. The Just Transition Fund for the North East and Moray is crucial in realising our just transition ambitions and is just one part of a wider package of support for the region. The Just Transition Fund’s multi-year settlement, set out in the Spending Review, underlines the Scottish Government’s commitment to the Fund.

Question reference: S6W-43602

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 17 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to meet its commitment to spend £500 million on the offshore wind supply chain in the current parliamentary session, in light of Scottish budgets over the course of the session indicating that less than £375 million will be spent.

Following our commitment in 2024 to invest up to £500m over five years in offshore wind infrastructure and supply chain, the Scottish Budget has allocated up to £93m for investment in 2026-27. We are working closely with industry and public sector delivery partners to identify and deliver projects at pace, with a continued focus on leveraging significant wider investment. Over the past two years, we have made £200 million of capital funding available and allocated £100 million, leveraging up to £370 million of private investment, with the potential to support over 2,000 jobs.

And overall to date, our investment of almost £150 million is crowding in a further £70m from UK public finance institutions and leveraging up to £670 million in private investment into projects with the potential to support up to 5,000 jobs.

The impact of global offshore wind market conditions, and delays to progress on key UK-level policy and system enablers – including Contracts for Difference, transmission charging, electricity grid connections, and the Strategic Spatial Energy Plan – have affected short-term investor confidence. It is now more important than ever that the UK Government takes decisive action to ensure the Scottish project pipeline can be deployed quickly in order to deliver the thousands of offshore wind sector jobs that can support a just transition.

Question reference: S6W-43599

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 17 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of indications that the capital funding allocation for climate action lies in the local government budget, whether it will set out what (a) funding is in place for flood defence projects across Scotland, and (b) the total amount being provided for this purpose is.

Ministers and COSLA Leaders have agreed that £42m from the General Capital Grant will be distributed for flood resilience in 2026-27. The Draft Budget also includes £20m of capital funding for the Climate Emergency, and £15.5 for Inter Island Connectivity.

The Scottish Government’s policy on spending is to allow local authorities the financial freedom to operate independently. It is then the responsibility of local authorities to manage budgets and to allocate their financial resources, including on flood protection, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

Question reference: S6W-43603

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 17 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many projects have been delivered or supported through Recovery funding from the Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES) to date.

The Scottish Government’s Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES), continues to play a central role in supporting communities to engage with, participate in, and benefit from Scotland’s transition to net zero emissions.

In 2024-25, CARES Recovery funding delivered or supported 154 projects across all of its funding calls.

In 2025-26 to date, CARES Recovery funding has so far delivered or supported an estimated 264 projects through its funding calls. The Community Energy Generation Growth Fund and the Community Solar Fund were both supported by a combination of Scottish Government and Great British Energy funding. As this financial year is ongoing, the final number of projects delivered is subject to change.

Question reference: S6W-43605

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 17 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many projects it estimates will be supported by Recovery funding from the Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES), following the reported 27% reduction in the fund’s budget.

Question reference: S6W-43548

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 17 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how it is prioritising the implementation of specialist deaf services to prevent crisis and increased costs for those who are deaf throughout Scotland.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of continued access to specialist services to support Scotland’s deaf community. I am due to meet with members of the Cross Party Group on Deafness next month to learn directly from stakeholders and those with lived experience on access to audiology and wider services.

In addition to meeting with stakeholders, Scottish Government has published a number of plans which underline its commitment to providing support to those who are deaf in Scotland, including the British Sign Language (BSL) National Plan (2023-29) which has ten priority areas to address barriers to transport, justice and democratic participation which BSL users have highlighted.