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-35440

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 14 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when Zero Waste Scotland will publish (a) the 2019 update and (b) other upcoming updates to the Material Flow Accounts and accompanying carbon footprint of waste.

With regards to the 2019 update, I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-23191 on 7 December 2023 by Lorna Slater MSP. This update to the old model will not be published to ensure clear communication of Scotland’s current material consumption. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

The revised Material Flow Accounts model is currently being developed and is expected to be released by June 2025. This will draw on the most recent dataset available from 2020.

Question reference: S6W-34992

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 14 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its policy on gender self-identification not being law in Scotland, what measures it has taken to ensure that all policies implemented by public bodies and third-party organisations receiving public funds are legally sound and compliant with existing legislation such as the Equality Act 2010 and the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992, as a condition of public funding.

The Scottish Government expects all organisations to comply with all relevant legislation, including the Equality Act 2010 and the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992.

As part of their funding agreements, organisations funded by the Scottish Government must ensure that their policies and practices are legally compliant and uphold their statutory duties, including those related to equality, safety, and workplace protections. Public bodies are responsible for ensuring that their policies align with the legal framework in Scotland, and they must conduct appropriate due diligence when implementing policies.

Question reference: S6W-35433

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 14 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the use of the woody residue from filters used to clean emissions from wood drying and board pressing processes, known as crumb waste, as a fuel for electricity generation.

The Scottish Government supports the use of crumb waste as a fuel for electricity generation, where it adheres to the guiding principles for bioenergy as set out in our draft Bioenergy Policy Statement (BPS).

These include prioritising the use of available waste feedstocks so that the use of biomass complies with the principles of a circular economy and a cascading use of biomass, which means wood being first used where it can deliver the highest economic and environmental benefit (for example in construction), then life extension, reuse and recycling of the wood should be sought before use in bioenergy applications. We want to ensure that any feedstock utilised for electricity generation has no wider residual value within society.

Question reference: S6W-35227

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 14 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the development of its plan to issue bonds.

The Scottish Government published a further update to the work on Scottish Government bonds alongside the 2025-26 Scottish Budget https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781836910558.

This explains the outcome of the initial phase of due diligence and the work required in the next stage in the due diligence process. This phase will include timing considerations for an inaugural issuance given market conditions and related events.

The Scottish Government remains committed to ensuring Parliament is updated on this work as it progresses.

Question reference: S6W-35521

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 07 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 14 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what arrangements it has in place with private sector providers for wind, hydro and solar electricity generation on land in its direct ownership or management; what the current capacity in megawatts is of any generation installed; what the most recently recorded annual income was for it from any such arrangements, and when each of the arrangements will come to an end.

Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) manages the majority of land owned by Scottish Ministers, in the form of Scotland's national forests and land. Currently FLS has 76 land agreements in place with private companies covering renewable energy schemes which are currently operational. There are 25 windfarms and 51 hydro schemes. There are no solar schemes. The assets comprising the FLS renewable energy portfolio are managed under operational leases.

The current operational capacity of this portfolio is 1257.95 MW, this comprises 1213.7 MW wind and 44.245 MW hydro.

The most recently recorded annual income for this portfolio is £21,800,000 wind and £2,049,842 hydro.

The lease end dates vary depending on lease length and whether any variations are applied during the lease period.

Question reference: S6W-35519

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 07 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 14 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what arrangements Crown Estate Scotland has in place with private sector providers for wind, hydro and solar electricity generation on land in its ownership or management; what the current capacity in megawatts is of any generation installed; what the most recently recorded annual income was for Crown Estate Scotland from any such arrangements, and when each of the arrangements will come to an end.

Crown Estate Scotland has the following arrangements in place with private sector providers for wind and solar electricity generation on land in its ownership or management:

One commercial lease agreement with a tenant farmer, which involved the installation of a 50KW solar PV scheme, installed on a 50/50 basis under a FIT scheme a number of years ago. This project resulted in the payment of £9,300 to Crown Estate Scotland in 2023-24 and has 16 years to run.
Three onshore wind electricity generation projects in the planning stages that are yet to be consented as follows:
- Wind farm in planning phase in Moffat with a view to 7 turbines on two tenanted farms with potential capacity of 50.4MW.
- Access rights over CES ground and tenanted farms to facilitate potential 16 turbines (sited elsewhere) in Moray with potential capacity of 105.6MW. The scheme is still in planning phase.
- Access rights over CES ground and tenanted farms to facilitate 10 turbines (sited elsewhere) with potential wind farm capacity of 72MW in Moray. The scheme is still in planning stages.

There are currently no operational onshore wind farms with a lease from Crown Estate Scotland. Also, Crown Estate Scotland does not manage any onshore leases for hydropower projects.

Question reference: S6W-35520

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 07 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 14 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what arrangements Crown Estate Scotland has in place with community-owned providers for wind, hydro and solar electricity generation on land in its ownership or management; what the current capacity in megawatts is of any generation installed; what the most recently recorded annual income was for Crown Estate Scotland from any such arrangements, and when each of the arrangements will come to an end.

Question reference: S6W-35360

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 14 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-30676 by Mairi Gougeon on 30 October 2024, whether it has now modelled any potential contingent liability implications from its policy to encourage private investment in nature recovery; what any such modelling shows in relation to any potential public expenditure implications for every £100 million of private investment, and whether it will publish any such modelling that has been undertaken.

Question reference: S6W-35515

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 07 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 14 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what arrangements the national forest estate has in place with private sector providers for wind, hydro and solar electricity generation on land in its ownership or management; what the current capacity in megawatts is of any generation installed; what the most recently recorded annual income was for the national forest estate from any such arrangements, and when each of the arrangements will come to an end.

Scotland's national forests and land, managed by Forestry and Land Scotland has 76 land agreements in place with private companies covering renewable energy schemes which are currently operational. There are 25 windfarms and 51 hydro schemes. There are no solar schemes. The assets comprising the FLS renewable energy portfolio are managed under operational leases.

The current operational capacity of this portfolio is 1257.95 MW, this comprises 1213.7 MW wind and 44.245 MW hydro.

The most recently recorded annual income for this portfolio is £21,800,000 wind and £2,049,842 hydro.

The lease end dates vary depending on lease length and whether any variations are applied during the lease period.

Question reference: S6W-35522

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 07 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 14 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what arrangements it has in place with community-owned providers for wind, hydro and solar electricity generation on land in its direct ownership or management; what the current capacity in megawatts is of any generation installed; what the most recently recorded annual income was for it from any such arrangements, and when each of the arrangements will come to an end.

Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) manages the majority of land owned by Scottish Ministers, in the form of Scotland's national forests and land. Currently FLS has 10 land agreements in place with 100% community owned or part community owned organisations covering renewable energy schemes which are currently operational. These are all hydro schemes. There are no windfarms or solar schemes. The assets comprising the FLS renewable energy portfolio are managed under operational leases.

The current operational capacity of this portfolio is 5.501 MW.

The most recently recorded annual income for this portfolio is £250,158.

The lease end dates vary depending on lease length and whether any variations are applied during the lease period.