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-00299

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 May 2026
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 1 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what the responsibilities are of the Cabinet Secretary for Public Service Reform.

The responsibilities of all Cabinet Secretaries are published on the Scottish Government website; the detailed responsibilities for the role of Cabinet Secretary for Public Service Reform is available here: Cabinet Secretary for Public Service Reform - gov.scot.

I am responsible for the overarching policy on Public Service Reform (PSR) including implementation of the PSR strategy (published June 2025) which sets out how we will increase the scale and pace of reform through changing our system of public services to be more preventative, joined up and efficient, to deliver excellent public services that are fiscally sustainable. Further, I am responsible for public bodies and public sector productivity and efficiency, procurement and shared services, and civil service operations and efficiency.

Question reference: S7W-00304

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 May 2026
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 1 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many public bodies it plans to abolish or merge through the measures to be proposed in the Public Service Renewal Bill.

As committed to in our Public Service Reform Strategy the Scottish Government is working in partnership with public bodies to review the public service delivery landscape.

We want public bodies and Scottish Government, working individually and collectively, to continue to pursue all reasonable opportunities to maximise value from available resources. Specific proposals for public body rationalisation resulting from this work will be brought forward and where legislative change is necessary this will be taken forward through the Public Service Renewal Bill.

The number of Scottish public bodies under our control has reduced from 199 in 2007 to 134 as at May 2026.

Question reference: S7W-00303

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 May 2026
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 1 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government on what date it will introduce the Public Service Renewal Bill, in light of its commitment to do so in the first year of the current parliamentary session.

Question reference: S7W-00307

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 May 2026
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 1 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how the proposed Public Service Renewal Bill will differ from the public body reduction already committed to in its Public Service Reform Strategy of June 2025.

A key strand of the 2025 Public Service Reform Strategy is to ensure that the service delivery landscape is proportionate, streamlined and designed to meet Scotland’s needs in the most efficient way by eliminating duplication. As part of this, we continue to engage and work in partnership with public bodies to bring forward specific proposals to streamline the landscape to deliver long term fiscal sustainability. A Public Service Renewal Bill will be necessary as part of this process to make any legislative changes required.

Question reference: S6O-05650

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 March 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to expand the availability of venture capital funding to aid business growth.

Question reference: S6W-43701

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 20 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide information on the (a) number of woodland creation schemes over 500 hectares that have been funded in each year since 2010 and (b) size of each of these schemes.

The Forestry Grant Scheme has funded 13 woodland creation projects over 500 hectares since 2015, the year the grant scheme opened.

Year	No. Projects > 500 ha	Project Size (hectares)
2015	0	-
2016	1	559.13 ha
2017	1	803.68 ha
2018	0	-
2019	2	542.47 ha / 692.60 ha
2020	0	-
2021	1	609.11 ha
2022	3	740.84 ha / 711.78 ha / 623.16 ha
2023	3	733.30 ha / 1,164.21 ha / 809.00 ha
2024	1	710.62 ha
2025	1	501.28 ha

Statistics on the Forestry Grant Scheme are published monthly on the Scottish Forestry website, the January 2026 statistics are the latest available.

Question reference: S6W-43700

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 20 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many woodland creation schemes of (a) up to two, (b) two to five, (c) six to 10, (d) 11 to 20, (e) 21 to 50, (f) 51 to 100, (g) 101 to 200 and (h) over 200 hectares have been approved in each year from 2017 to 2025, also broken down by total area of woodland in each category.

Statistics on the Forestry Grant Scheme are published monthly on the Scottish Forestry website, the January 2026 statistics are the latest available.

A breakdown of how many woodland creation schemes of (a) up to two, (b) two to five, (c) six to 10, (d) 11 to 20, (e) 21 to 50, (f) 51 to 100, (g) 101 to 200 and (h) over 200 hectares have been approved in each complete financial year from 2017 to 2025 is shown in Table 1.

	2017-2018		2018-2019		2019-2020		2020-2021
Row Labels	Approved Case Count	Approved Area (ha)	Approved Case Count	Approved Area (ha)	Approved Case Count	Approved Area (ha)	Approved Case Count	Approved Area (ha)
0 < 2	30	27	37	46	31	36	19	23
2 < 5	35	126	34	117	34	109	43	140
5 < 10	37	273	37	257	43	312	42	301
10 < 20	42	637	35	516	42	602	32	454
20 < 50	63	2,227	58	1,898	50	1,689	54	1,945
50 < 100	19	1,364	27	1,866	26	1,804	32	2,216
100 < 200	10	1,524	17	2,396	16	2,191	14	1,968
> 200	10	3,346	9	2,658	12	4,216	14	3,730
Grand Total	246	9,524	254	9,753	254	10,958	250	10,776
Table 1.

	2021-2022		2022-2023		2023-2024		2024-2025
Row Labels	Approved Case Count	Approved Area (ha)	Approved Case Count	Approved Area (ha)	Approved Case Count	Approved Area (ha)	Approved Case Count	Approved Area (ha)
0 < 2	20	24	19	21	20	21	17	19
2 < 5	23	76	27	91	23	73	22	72
5 < 10	24	171	26	184	23	177	10	80
10 < 20	34	483	20	324	24	354	22	305
20 < 50	42	1,385	36	1,171	45	1,488	26	889
50 < 100	21	1,532	26	1,786	39	2,750	23	1,535
100 < 200	14	1,899	13	1,827	16	2,157	14	1,756
> 200	6	4,152	9	4,079	18	7,885	9	3,719
Grand Total	184	9,723	176	9,484	208	14,905	143	8,375

Question reference: S6O-05553

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 February 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting the tourism industry.

Question reference: S6W-43519

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 10 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to protect rare forms of arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus) in Loch Rannoch.

The importance of Loch Rannoch as a site for Arctic charr sympatric divergence is well documented. Loch Rannoch is included within the boundary of the River Tay Special Area of Conservation (SAC), and as such it receives the highest level of environmental protection possible. In addition to the statutory protection afforded to the site through its SAC status, the freshwater habitat is also protected through River Basin Management Planning. It also receives wider protection against the threat of invasive species through the regulation of fish movements (through the Salmon & Freshwater Fisheries (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 2003) and the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 (as amended)).

Investigations have been undertaken to determine the fish species present in Lochs Rannoch, Monaghan and Finnart. SEPA have received the results of environmental DNA samples and have begun exploring the feasibility of potential management responses with NatureScot regarding the presence of non-native fish in Lochs Monaghan and Finnart. SEPA staff have also been on-site to examine the hydrological connectivity between the lochs, to inform these discussions.

Question reference: S6W-43520

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 10 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to protect the genetic, ecological and morphometric forms of brown trout (Salmo trutta) in Loch Laidon.

Loch Laidon, as a habitat for freshwater fish species, receives protection through its inclusion within the boundary of the Rannoch Moor Site of Special Scientific Interest / Special Area of Conservation and the Rannoch Lochs Special Protection Area. Outwith the designated sites series, water quality within Loch Laidon, and the natural processes which have led to the development or maintenance of ecological segregation within resident salmonid populations, is protected through River Basin Management Planning. Fish introductions to this remote waterbody are controlled through legislation which regulates the introduction of all species of freshwater fish within Scotland. The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended) prevents the unregulated introduction of fish, as well as other plants and animals, to areas outwith their native range.

SEPA have been made aware of the presence of pike in Loch Laidon and have undertaken initial sampling of environmental DNA to confirm the composition of the fish assemblage in the loch. They have begun exploring the feasibility of potential management responses with NatureScot.