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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 1015 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S7W-04353

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 October 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 3 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to prevent farm fires, in light of NFU Mutual's latest farm fires report, which indicated that the cost of farm fires in Scotland rose by 22% between 2024 and 2025.

Preventing fires is the most effective and least costly way to protect communities, businesses, infrastructure and nature from their devastating impacts. Prevention is a core component of the service provided by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

SFRS continues to evaluate outcomes from the Rural Risk Project, which was launched in the Highlands, South Lanarkshire and Dumfries and Galloway in partnership with the National Farmers Union (NFU) and Police Scotland in 2016, while engaging with industry partners to identify innovative technologies, enhance operational effectiveness, and support farm fire safety and risk reduction.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) launched a prevention and awareness communications campaign on 5 March 2026 to raise public awareness of wildfire risk and discourage risky outdoor behaviours. During periods of heightened wildfire risk, SFRS works closely with public authorities and land managers to ensure that clear and consistent public messaging on wildfire risk is conveyed to local communities in a timely and effective way.

Local authorities, National Park authorities and public bodies proactively promote responsible outdoor behaviour through signage, education and communications, their use of by-laws to ban fires and barbecues in certain months, and camping management zones.

Question reference: S7W-04352

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 October 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 3 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that rural areas have sufficient fire resources, in light of NFU Mutual's latest farm fires report, which reported a 22% increase in the cost of farm fires between 2024 and 2025.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service responds to all fire incidents across Scotland with the appropriate level of resources.

The Scottish Government provided SFRS with £435.96 million budget for 2026-27, an increase of £23.8m, showing our continued commitment to support the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to deliver the high standard of services required to keep Scotland safe.

Fire and rescue cover is provided to most rural areas in Scotland through on-call firefighters. The Scottish Government is grateful to the essential work undertaken by these firefighters often in addition to their main employment. The SFRS Service Delivery Review is intended to ensure that the right resources are in the right place across Scotland and that includes enhancing on-call cover in rural areas.

Question reference: S7W-04351

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 October 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 3 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what further action it will take to understand and address the factors contributing to the reported rise in the cost of farm fires in Scotland, in light of the findings of NFU Mutual's latest farm fires report.

Fires can have devastating consequences for farming and crofting businesses, resulting in the loss of livestock, buildings, machinery and livelihoods. The Scottish Government takes these risks seriously. We will continue to work with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, industry bodies and the wider agricultural sector to improve understanding of the factors contributing to farm fires and to promote practical measures that can reduce risk.

Through the Farm Advisory Service and wider knowledge transfer activity, we support farmers and crofters to strengthen business resilience, improve risk management and adopt good practice. This includes encouraging robust fire prevention measures, appropriate maintenance of equipment and electrical systems, and effective contingency planning.

A resilient agricultural sector is essential to Scotland's rural economy, and we will continue to support actions that help protect farming and crofting businesses from avoidable risks and disruption.

Question reference: S7W-04230

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 October 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 29 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what immediate action it will take to support and encourage local food production, including in the South of Scotland, in light of findings by the Scottish Human Rights Commission in its recent report, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the South of Scotland.

Scotland’s agricultural sector is at the heart of our economy and our rural communities, and is key for accessing local food. We will continue to support active farming and sustainable food production in Scotland through direct payments. Scottish Ministers have committed to a period of certainty until 2030, delivering direct support to provide the industry with reassurance and boost confidence in long-term investment. Scotland’s Vision for Agriculture sets a clear direction for a future farming system that, amongst other things, supports high-quality activity in food production.

The Small Producers Pilot Fund strengthens local food and drink production, improves energy efficiency, and sustains rural jobs through continuing to test funding options to support small producers. The SPPF is providing up to £1m resource and up to £1.5m capital this year, including to explore solutions to challenges surrounding abattoirs and small producers’ access to private kill services, so that communities can access meat produced locally.

The £6 million Food and Drink Processing Scheme Scotland is making vital capital funding available to food and drink processing businesses across Scotland to support projects which can increase production, improve supply chain efficiency and deliver economic benefits within the food and drink sector. This includes two significant investment projects in the South of Scotland, with Wolds Produce Ltd and Rowan Glen both receiving awards from the scheme at the maximum value of £400,000.

The Scottish Government has established the Public Sector Food Procurement Taskforce, to help increase the use of locally produced food and drink across Scotland's public sector, including schools, hospitals and workplaces. It's part of our commitment to supporting Scotland's food and drink sector and strengthening local food supply chains. The Taskforce will provide recommendations to Ministers by the end of March 2027. This work supports the ambitions of our Local Food Strategy, “Local Food for Everyone: Our Journey”.

The Scottish Government continues to work with enterprise agencies, including South of Scotland Enterprise, to support businesses in the region, including in the food and drink sector.

Question reference: S7W-04269

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 October 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 29 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on whether it has given any further consideration to providing compensation to farmers affected by bluetongue virus movement restrictions.

The Scottish Government supports farmers with practical guidance and implementation and maintenance of control measures such as the cost of testing of suspect animals and for surveillance and veterinary investigations. The movement restrictions were put in place to protect Scotland’s animals from Bluetongue for as long as possible and were done so in broad agreement with industry stakeholders. Industry have provided a continual appraisal of the impacts of those controls to ensure a balance was found between protecting animals whilst permitting an acceptable level of routine trade.

Question reference: S7W-04267

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 October 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 29 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the cost of leading a national vaccination programme for bluetongue virus ahead of the 2027 midge season.

Question reference: S7W-03992

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 October 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 28 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the action it is taking to increase the number of police officers in rural Scotland, including road traffic officers.

Decisions regarding the allocations of resources, recruitment and deployment of police officers, including road policing officers, are operational matters for Police Scotland under the direction of the Chief Constable, who is responsible and accountable to the Scottish Police Authority.

Police Scotland works closely with local communities and local authority partners across Scotland, and lead the Scottish Partnership Against Rural Crime (SPARC), a multi-agency partnership aiming to prevent, reduce and tackle rural crime.

The Scottish Government has allocated record funding of more than £1.7 billion to policing in 2026-27, which the Chief Constable has confirmed will enable Police Scotland to maintain officer numbers at around 16,500 while continuing to prioritise front-line services. Scotland continues to have more police officers per head of population than England and Wales, with around 30 officers per 10,000 population compared with around 24 in England and Wales.

Question reference: S7W-04505

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 9 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its consultation on Community Engagement Obligations and draft large land holdings guidance under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2025, how it anticipates that the expected update to the code of practice on deer management will affect the landowner obligations under consideration in that consultation.

Question reference: S7W-04506

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 9 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the total cost to landowners of the proposals set out in its consultation on Community Engagement Obligations and draft large land holdings guidance under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2025.

Question reference: S7W-04497

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 9 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to undertake a specific rural and islands impact assessment in relation to its proposed food price cap plans.