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-41342

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 October 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 12 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when it last discussed crew accommodation standards on the MV (a) Helliar and (b) Hildasay roll-on/roll-off freight vessels with the operator of the Northern Isles Ferry Services contract.

Question reference: S6W-41343

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 October 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 12 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-40664 by Jim Fairlie on 1 October 2025, how many seafarer (a) deck ratings and (b) officers are currently employed on the MV (i) Helliar and (ii) Hildasay roll-on/roll-off freight vessel under the Northern Isles Ferry Services contract, and in each case, how many of the posts are held by seafarers who live in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-41344

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 October 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 12 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-40662 by Jim Fairlie on 1 October 2025, what the value is of the bareboat charterparty agreement with the operator, Serco NorthLink.

Question reference: S6W-41048

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 15 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the cost in the current financial year is of the removal of peak rail fares, and how this policy is being financed.

Question reference: S6W-41049

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 15 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what adjustments have been made to the transport budget to finance the removal of peak rail fares.

Question reference: S6W-41051

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 15 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it expects that modal shift or changes in passenger usage, resulting from the removal of peak rail fares, will allow the policy to be self-financing, and, if so, by when it expects the policy to be cost neutral.

Question reference: S6W-41050

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 15 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether the ability to finance the removal of peak rail fares is a consequence of an improved UK budget allocation.

Question reference: S6W-41047

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 15 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what financial commitment will be required to maintain the removal of peak rail fares on an annual basis beyond the next five years.

The estimated cost to deliver the removal of peak fares is available in the ScotRail Peak Fares Permanent Removal Outline Business Case, published on Transport Scotland website: ScotRail Peak Fares Permanent Removal Outline Business Case

Any future predictions of the cost of delivery of this initiative must include variety of different factors, which naturally, may influence the annual cost.

There will be an evaluation of the project at the end of year 1 and year 3 which will assess the ongoing costs and impact of the scheme.

Question reference: S6W-41052

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 15 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how it plans to fund and (b) what the expected cost will be of the removal of peak rail fares, in each of the next five years.

Question reference: S6W-40775

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 2 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a list of attendees and the agenda for the Scottish Transport Summit, which was held on 17 September 2025.

Due to regulations set out in UK Data Protection legislation, we are unable to provide a list of names of those that attended the Scottish Transport Summit on 17 September. However, we can confirm that the Summit brought together senior officials from across Scotland’s transport and policy landscape, including Regional Transport Partnerships, local authorities, transport operators, and key government stakeholders to explore how transport can be better positioned as a strategic lever for economic growth.

We can provide the following list of organisations with representatives in attendance:

Airports UK

Angus Council

Association of Chief Transportation Coordinating Officers (ACTO)

Bus Users UK

Citylink

Clackmannanshire Council

Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL)

Community Transport Association

Confederation of Passenger Transport

Consumer Scotland

COSLA

Cycling Scotland

David MacBrayne Limited

Disability Equality Scotland

East Dunbartonshire Council

Falkirk Council

Fife Council

First Bus

Glasgow City Council

Glasgow Taxis

Highland Council

Highland and Islands Airports Ltd (HIAL)

Highland and Islands Enterprise

HITRANS

The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) Scotland

Loganair

Logistics UK

Mobility and Access Committee for Scotland (MACS)

McGills

Network Rail

North Ayrshire Council

North Lanarkshire Council

Prosper Scotland

Rail Freight Group

Renfrewshire Council

Road Haulage Association

Scotrail Holdings (SRH)

Scottish Canals

Scottish Government

Scottish Road Works Commissioner

Scottish Taxi Federation

Serco Northlink Ferries

SESTRAN

Smart Applications Management

Society of Chief Officers of Transportation in Scotland (SCOTS)

Society of Local Authoprity Chief Executives (SOLACE)

South Lanarkshire Council

South of Scotland Enterprise

Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT)

Stirling Council

TACTRAN

Technology Scotland

Transform Scotland

Transport Focus

Transport Scotland

Visit Scotland

ZetTrans

The agenda is set out in the following table:

09:00 – 09:30	Registration
09:30 – 09:45	Welcome – Cabinet Secretary for Transport
09:45 – 10:00	Keynote speech – Cllr Gail Macgregor, COSLA
10:00 – 10:15	An Economist’s View: Transport through a lens of the economy – Stephen Boyd, IPPR Scotland
10:15 – 10:25	Comfort Break
10:25 – 11:10	Acknowledge: The Value of Transport Panel discussion – Cabinet Secretary for Transport and NTS Board members, facilitated by Dr Gary Gillespie, Chief Economist, Scottish Government
11:10 – 11:30	Refreshment break
11:30 – 11:45	Aspire to reinforce our National Transport Strategy Vision Align Government, local authorities, and industry on long-term goals and priorities. – Fiona Brown, Transport Scotland
11:45 – 12:25	Align our strategic priorities Group Discussion 1: Enabling economic opportunity through sustainable travel and freight – Morna Cannon, Transport Scotland
12:25 – 12:35	Comfort break
12:35 – 13:15	Group Discussion 2: Integrating public transport to support economic and social outcomes across the different regions of Scotland – Bettina Sizeland, Transport Scotland
13:15 – 13:30	Thanks, and closing remarks – Cabinet Secretary for Transport and Alison Irvine, Transport Scotland
13:30 – 14:30	Lunch and networking