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: S7W-04413

Asked by: Kristopher Leask, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 18 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of the eligibility criteria for the £1500 rural uplift available through the Home Energy Grant, which is administered by the Energy Saving Trust.

Question reference: S7W-04412

Asked by: Kristopher Leask, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 18 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will confirm if applicants are required to apply more than one energy efficiency measure in order to qualify for the Rural Home Energy Grant uplift.

Question reference: S7O-00381

Asked by: Kristopher Leask, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 October 2026
Current Status: Due to be taken in the Chamber on 27 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what its understanding is of the term "penstock" in Class 1(g) of the Schedule to the Valuation for Rating (Plant and Machinery) (Scotland) Regulations 2000, including whether that includes the penstock of a hydro-electric scheme, and if so, whether it is exempt from rateability under that provision.

Question reference: S7W-04086

Asked by: Kristopher Leask, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 5 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the letter from the Minister for Europe, External Affairs and Energy to the Member on 18 June 2026, whether it will provide an update on the future of Wave Energy Scotland.

Question reference: S7W-03506

Asked by: Kristopher Leask, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 6 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its work to develop licensing and/or consenting guidance for the floating wet storage of offshore wind turbines.

The Scottish Government is currently engaging with other UK regulators to ensure parity on marine licensing requirements for storage and construction of offshore wind turbines in port areas. In the meantime, Marine Directorate –Licensing Operations Team (MD-LOT) has been providing regulatory advice and guidance to potential applicants and intends to share a regulatory position in due course. The Scottish Government is committed to prevising clarity on this matter.

Question reference: S7W-03505

Asked by: Kristopher Leask, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 6 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with ports and harbour authorities regarding the development of guidance for floating wet storage of offshore wind turbines in harbour authority areas.

The Scottish Government drafted a regulatory position on marine licensing and shared this with ports in 2024. Since then, officials have received and considered feedback and have updated ports, most recently via Scottish Offshore Wind Ports Alliance (SOWPA) in May 2026. The marine licensing team (MD-LOT) has offered and given direct guidance to ports seeking to apply for marine licences, ensuring the regulatory process runs smoothly.

Question reference: S7W-03576

Asked by: Kristopher Leask, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 29 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many performances were supported by funding from its Scotland on Tour Fund in (a) 2022 and (b) 2023, how many audience members these performances reached, and whether it has produced a report evaluating the outcomes of the fund.

The Scotland on Tour programme supported 365 performances between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023, reaching a total audience of more than 20,300 people. The information requested for 2022 and 2023 separately is not available in the programme evaluation report which reports outcomes for the programme period as a whole. An evaluation report, the Scotland on Tour Final Report (August 2023), was produced by Active Events and assessed the outcomes of the programme.

Question reference: S7W-03408

Asked by: Kristopher Leask, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Stephen Gethins on 29 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding was allocated to (a) Warmer Homes Scotland, (b) Area Based Schemes, (c) Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund, (d) Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan, and (e) Private Rented Sector Landlord Loan schemes, in each financial year from 2022-23 to 2026-27, and what the year-end outturn was for each of these schemes for each financial year from 2022-23 to 2025-26.

For the financial years 2022-23 to 2024-25, I refer the member to question answered on S6W-43202 on 3 February 2026 for information relating to Warmer Homes Scotland, Area Based Schemes, Social Housing Net Zero Fund and Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan.

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

Allocation and outturn data for all schemes relating to the 2025-26 financial year are included in the latest Heat in Buildings progress report, which will be published on the Scottish Government website on 2 October 2026.

Data for Private Rented Sector Landlord Loan was included within S6W-43202 under the category “other”. Specific Private Rented Sector Landlord Loans information is set out in the following table:

Programme	Allocation 2022-23 £000’s	Outturn 2022-3 £000’s	Allocation 2023-24 £000’s	Outturn 2023-4 £000’s	Allocation 2024-25 £000’s	Outturn 2024-25 £000’s	Allocation 2025-26 £000’s	Outturn 2025-26 £000’s
Private Rented Sector Landlord Loan	500	336	500	89	500	14	500	81

Provisional 2026-27 allocations are set out in the following table.

Programme	*Provisional allocation 2026-27 £m’s
Warmer Homes Scotland	90m
Area Based Schemes	70m
Social Housing Net Zero Fund	30m
Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan	48.5m
Private Rented Sector Landlord Loan	0.5m

*provisional allocations provided are subject to change.

Question reference: S7W-03120

Asked by: Kristopher Leask, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Stephen Gethins on 23 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES) budget, broken down by year since its inception and by subdivision or programme.

Question reference: S7W-03121

Asked by: Kristopher Leask, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Stephen Gethins on 23 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES) budget, whether it will provide the outturn position, including a breakdown of any underspends and overspends, in each year since its inception.