- Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Siobhian Brown on 3 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6O-04594 by Siobhan Brown on 1 May 2025, and in light of reported concerns that battery energy storage system facilities pose emerging fire risks, including potential explosions and toxic gas releases, what its position is on whether Lochgelly Fire Station would be able to deal with such incidents if it were to lose a fire engine and rope rescue unit.
Answer
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service will be conducting a full 12 week consultation on a range of possible service delivery changes in June 2025. SFRS will carefully consider the responses to that consultation before taking decisions on which options for change it will implement.
SFRS continually reviews and develops its response to any new and emerging technology to keep communities safe including in the event of an incident involving battery energy storage sites. Should an incident occur at a hazardous site of any kind, SFRS has the ability to deploy a range of resources that can be utilised by the highly skilled crews to successfully bring the incidents to a safe conclusion. These resources are not drawn from a single fire station.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 3 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of local authorities have completed a cyber risk audit within the past 12 months.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not collect this information. The local councils are independent corporate bodies, separate from the Scottish Government, and it is up to each council how it manages its risks. Under the Strategic Framework for a Cyber Resilient Scotland (2021), the Scottish Government strongly encourages all public bodies to seek appropriate and regular independent assurance of their critical technical controls.
- Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Fairlie on 3 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what steps it is taking to support livestock farmers in reducing methane emissions, in line with the Climate Change Committee's 2045 net zero pathway.
Answer
The Scottish Government remains committed to supporting our livestock farmers in playing a full part in Scotland’s journey to net zero, including by reducing methane emissions in ways that strengthen farm productivity and resilience. The Scottish Government has no policy to reduce the national herd, our approach focuses on reducing emissions intensity rather than livestock numbers, through improvements in genetics, low-methane breeding, and we continue to explore opportunities around appropriate uptake of methane-suppressing feed products.
We also recognise the importance of evidence and practical tools for supporting change on-farm. That’s why we’ve introduced new calving interval conditionality to the Scottish Suckler Beef Support Scheme, helping farmers increase efficiency while lowering emissions. We are also supporting farmers through data-driven tools like MyHerdStats, which provides herd performance metrics to help identify opportunities for improvement.
We will continue working with the sector to ensure it thrives as part of a climate-smart food system, while recognising the importance of Scotland’s livestock products to UK and international markets.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 3 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what training courses have been delivered by Total Politics Group in each of its directorates in each of the last five years, and how much each of these cost.
Answer
The Scottish Government spend with Total Politics Group in each of the last 5 financial years is detailed in the following tables. For FY2024-25 the spend has been broken down by Directorate.
Financial Year | Total spend |
April 20-March 21 | £- |
April 21-March 22 | £- |
April 22-March 23 | £- |
April 23-March 24 | £- |
April 24-March 25 | £11,106.00 |
Directorate | Course | Total Spend |
Directorate for Agriculture & Rural Economy | Stakeholder Engagement and Partnership Working | £534.00 |
Directorate for Constitution | Women into Leadership Conference | £2,130.00 |
Directorate for Environment and Forestry | Ethnic Minorities into Leadership Conference | £708.00 |
Directorate for Environment and Forestry | Women into Leadership Conference | £2,130.00 |
Directorate for Safer Communities | Women into Leadership Conference | £1,770.00 |
Directorate for Social & National Care | Women into Leadership Conference | £3,834.00 |
- Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Fairlie on 3 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on what role precision agriculture has in reducing nitrous oxide emissions from fertiliser use.
Answer
The Scottish Government recognises the economic and environmental benefits of precision farming technology and has provided capital support to allow farmers and crofters to invest in precision farming equipment.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 3 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether all (a) NHS boards and (b) local authorities have fully tested and resourced (i) disaster recovery and (ii) IT resilience plans.
Answer
The Network and Information Systems (NIS) regulatory requirements for the NHS require that each Health Board provides evidence on their improvements to resilience and capabilities through the Scottish Health Competent Authority regulatory audits, which are against the Public Sector Cyber Resilience Framework.
The Scottish Government published the Cyber Resilience Public Sector Action Plan for all organisations in Scotland’s public sector, including Health and Local Authorities. This plan, alongside a number of other actions, sets out the minimum standards for cyber security that public sector organisations are expected to meet. Controls within the Public Sector Cyber Resilience Framework require that disaster recovery and resilience policies and procedures be in place.
https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-public-sector-cyber-resilience-framework-v2-0/pages/1/
- Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Fairlie on 3 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any potential cultural impacts of livestock reductions on rural communities.
Answer
The Scottish Government recognises the vital cultural, social, and economic role that livestock farming plays in Scotland’s rural and island communities which is why we remain fully committed to supporting livestock production and rural communities through our vision for sustainable and regenerative farming. While livestock numbers have declined over time, this reflects long-standing structural and economic challenges—such as profitability, labour shortages, and confidence—rather than any policy to reduce numbers. We are aware of recent reports highlighting the unique role that agriculture plays in sustaining rural life, including its contribution to community identity, cultural heritage, and local economies. These findings reinforce the importance of maintaining active farming across all parts of Scotland.
- Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Fairlie on 3 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what financial support will be available to farmers adopting (a) methane suppressing feed additives and (b) improved manure management practices.
Answer
The Scottish Government is exploring the potential role of methane suppressing feed products (MSFPs) in reducing agricultural emissions, including how appropriate uptake could be recognised in future. Any future support would be and aligned with wider agricultural reform and climate policy objectives. There is currently no financial support available to farmers adopting MSFPs.
In relation to improved manure management practices, over £13 million of capital budget has been allocated in recent years to fund low emission spreading equipment, slurry store covers, slurry stores and irrigation lagoons in order to improve water quality and manure management. Directing support specifically at the slurry options was intended to help the sector comply with the new regulatory requirements introduced by the ‘The Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2021’. As these regulations will come into effect from 1 January 2026, it is no longer appropriate to offer further support for slurry storage options or to prioritise other manure management support.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 02 June 2025
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 3 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason Scottish Enterprise has reportedly refused funding to Rolls-Royce Submarines, resulting in the potential loss of jobs.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 3 June 2025
- Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 02 June 2025
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 5 June 2025
Question to be taken in Chamber.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 5 June 2025
