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: S7W-02283

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 1 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to publish the consultation on proposed fisheries management measures for inshore Marine Protected Areas and Priority Marine Features, and whether it will provide stakeholders with advance sight of the consultation documents before publication.

The consultation on proposed fisheries management measures for inshore Marine Protected Areas and Priority Marine Features will launch in the coming weeks.

Extensive engagement with all stakeholders has been undertaken throughout this process. We have worked closely with the fishing industry to refine the proposals and to understand the potential socio-economic impacts. This engagement will continue throughout the consultation period with 26 in person events across Scotland and 15 online sessions.

Question reference: S7W-02203

Asked by: Andrew Baxter, MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 31 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 1 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many of its advertising campaigns were carried by community radio stations in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S7W-02231

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 03 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 1 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to establishing a local news fund to provide financial support for local, independent and hyperlocal news publishers.

Question reference: S7W-02312

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh North Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 1 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to identify the scale of dry weather sewage spills in Scotland.

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water I have asked them to respond. Their reply is as follows:

"Environmental Standards Scotland has previously welcomed that Scottish Water and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) are working to develop an approach to identify overflows where action is needed to prevent dry weather spills from happening.

In the first instance, Scottish Water responds to and carries out any operational interventions to check for blockages, misconnections or other potential faults where any overflow events appear to be happening in dry weather. Scottish Water has also proposed a definition for dry day overflow events and is working in the background to investigate overflows using data from Event Duration Monitors installed as part of commitments made in its ‘Improving Urban Waters Route map’. Where overflow events are confirmed to be occurring in dry weather because of insufficient capacity in the sewerage system, a process is being developed whereby these will be identified as Unsatisfactory Intermittent Discharges (UIDs) and will be agreed with SEPA as a priority for improvement."

Question reference: S7W-02754

Asked by: Paul McLennan, MSP for East Lothian Coast and Lammermuirs, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 31 August 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 15 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is aware that no Local Government Pension Scheme administering authority reportedly publishes data on the proportion of its fund invested in Scotland and, if so, what estimate it has of current such pension scheme investment nationally, and what evidence informed its decision to include this as an indicator in the Community Wealth Building (Scotland) Act 2026.

Question reference: S7W-02791

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 31 August 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 15 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, what assessment it has made of (a) whether establishing additional areas that are protected from bottom-towed fishing would displace trawling to other areas, (b) any impact that such a displacement could have on the environmental status of the seabed, and whether it will model and publish the net effect of any such displacement when appraising future spatial measures.

Question reference: S7W-02744

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 31 August 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 15 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to empower communities to engage in basic flood protection and flood preparedness activities.

Question reference: S7W-02764

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 31 August 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 15 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the closure of the Emergency Heating Oil scheme on 30 September 2026, what support it will make available to households that currently rely on heating oil and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to retrofit their homes and transition to low-carbon and renewable heating systems.

Question reference: S7W-02795

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 31 August 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 15 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether the remedial action plan that it is seeking to agree with Environmental Standards Scotland (ESS) will include the implementation timetable required by recommendation 3 in ESS' report, Protecting Scotland's seafloor: an assessment of Scottish Ministers' implementation of the Marine Strategy Regulations 2010.

Question reference: S7W-02787

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 31 August 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 15 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding areas where the use of static fishing gear is permitted, what controls it considers are necessary to mitigate (a) excessive creel density, (b) cetacean and basking-shark entanglement, (c) gear conflict, (d) ghost fishing and (e) marine litter.