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 45273 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6O-04833

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 June 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what responses have been received from LGBTQ+ staff or organisations that it has consulted with, or been contacted by, since the announcement of its interim policy on Parliament facilities, following the UK Supreme Court ruling.

Question reference: S6O-04832

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 June 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body, further to the response to question S6O-04050, what the findings were of the review of the terms and conditions of staff employed by MSPs, particularly in relation to parental leave policies.

Question reference: S6W-38437

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 06 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 12 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether Forestry and Land Scotland has allowed external organisations to work under its own species-specific killing, disturbance or shelter destruction licences when carrying out forestry operations on the national forest estate; if so, how often, and which species are involved in any instances of such a licence transfer.

Question reference: S6W-38436

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 06 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 12 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether any species licences issued to Forestry and Land Scotland by NatureScot can be transferred to third parties without the prior approval of NatureScot, and whether any such formal consent is in place at present for third party use.

Any changes, including transferring the licence or modifying its scope, must be agreed upon in writing with NatureScot.

The current years red squirrel licence granted to Forestry and Land Scotland contains a condition (i.e. four) stating that, this licence can only be used by agents if prior permission has been granted by a FLS Decision Maker.

The current beaver licence states in condition seven that, the licence holder may permit agents or assistants to work under the terms of this licence.

The research licence states in condition two that, this licence only covers work carried out for FLS, by FLS employees and registered volunteers.

Question reference: S6W-38085

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 12 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has undertaken of any impact of commercial accommodation costs on the viability of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for independent artists.

The Scottish Government is committed to working with the Fringe Society and all partners who deliver the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. This is reflected in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society receiving £300,000 from the Scottish Government in 2025-26 to help grow the significant benefits the Fringe provides to Scotland’s economy, society and culture sector and to help safeguard the future of the Edinburgh Fringe as a world leading cultural asset, built on the principle of free access for all. We are currently working with the Fringe Society and wider Fringe ecosystem on its future sustainability including in areas such as commercial and visitor accommodation costs and accessibility for artists, audiences and venues

The Scottish Government monitors visitor accommodation costs using intelligence from a variety of sources including the Scottish Accommodation Occupancy Survey, published by VisitScotland Accommodation Performance I VisitScotland.org which provides data on peak and off peak tariffs for different visitor accommodation types, and Lighthouse data, published by VisitBritain UK short-term rentals | VisitBritain.org which provides monthly data on average daily rates for short-term rental properties in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-38370

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 12 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its progress on the actions in the planning and housing emergency delivery plan.

We are making good progress delivering across the 23 actions outlined in our Planning and the Housing Emergency Delivery Plan. Our National Planning Hub is now operational and on 22 May a Chief Planner letter was issued inviting authorities to identify areas for surge capacity, particularly on priority areas including housing.

Our work with key partners to overcome barriers and accelerate delivery of new homes continues at pace, and our blog of 9 June provides further details on progress. We are committed to providing stakeholders regular updates on the Delivery Plan and on 30 April, myself and Chief Planner issued a letter detailing progress across all four themes of policy, delivery, capacity and efficiency.

The Scottish Government provides regular progress updates on all workstreams via it’s e-alerts, on X @ScotGovPlanning and on LinkedIn.

Question reference: S6W-38371

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 12 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish an update on the progress of the actions undertaken by Planning Aid Scotland and Heads of Planning Scotland to work towards ending the housing emergency.

We are working with Planning Aid Scotland (PAS) to strengthen local elected member training, addressing the housing emergency by building capacity and improve decision-making within the planning system. The Scottish Government supported PAS in producing a high-level training route map for elected member training. The recommendations have been considered and we expect the next stage to involve formulating and testing pilot training.

The Scottish Government supported Heads of Planning Scotland (HOPS) to take forward work on a set of standard templates for common planning conditions, good practice on Section 75 agreements and aligning consents. HOPS will share outputs with authorities once complete.

Our work with partners on stalled housing sites to overcome barriers and accelerate delivery of new homes continues at pace, and our blog of 9 June provides further details on progress. A progress report has been prepared and is available by contacting [email protected].

The Scottish Government provides regular progress updates on all workstreams via it’s e-alerts, on X @ScotGovPlanning and on LinkedIn.

Question reference: S6W-38438

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 06 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 12 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government which external organisations or type of organisations have undertaken operations under any Forestry and Land Scotland species-specific licence.

Question reference: S6W-38435

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 06 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 12 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many species-specific licences, issued by NatureScot, Forestry and Land Scotland currently holds; for which species, and for what purposes.

Forestry and Land Scotland currently holds three species licences. The details of which are as follows:

Licence number	Species	Purpose
280737	Wildlife and Countryside Act (as amended) Schedule 1 (breeding and lekking) and 5 (Great crested newts, Otters, and Wildcats	For science, research or education.
275762	Eurasian beavers	For the possession, control, transportation of live animals taken by live capture trapping under Licence 248144 to and from locations approved by NatureScot under that licence.
280378	Red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris)	To permit Contractors or Operators as agents of Forestry and Land Scotland to disturb Red Squirrels and damage or destroy their dreys during the course of forestry operations where the actions are licensable, there are no satisfactory alternatives, and actions will not be detrimental to Favourable Conservation Status.

Question reference: S6W-38217

Asked by: Maggie Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 12 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-37095 by Alasdair Allan on 8 May 2025, when it will publish the results of the SCO2T Connect project feasibility study.