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-41905

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 26 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many board meetings of Historic Environment Scotland the Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture has attended since May 2021, and on what dates.

Since May 2021, Ministerial oversight of Historic Environment Scotland (HES) has been led by the Minister for Europe and International Development until January 2022, then the Minister for Culture, Europe and International Development from January 2022 until May 2024. I took over Ministerial oversight of HES in May 2024.

In that time period, I have not attended any board meetings of HES. However, the Cabinet Secretary and Ministers have met regularly with the Chief Executive as is normal convention for non-departmental public bodies.

Question reference: S6W-41910

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 26 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many board meetings of the National Records of Scotland the Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture has attended since May 2021, and on what dates.

National Records of Scotland (NRS) is a non-ministerial department of the devolved Scottish Administration. The NRS Chief Executive is supported by an advisory board in the effective discharge of their statutory responsibilities. It would not be appropriate for the Scottish Ministers to attend these meetings.

In the last twelve months, I have met the NRS Chief Executive on 11 separate occasions. The NRS Chief Executive also provides me with routine written updates.

Question reference: S6W-41912

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Independent
Date lodged: Friday, 14 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 26 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the overspend by NHS Highland was in the financial year 2024-25, and whether it will provide a breakdown of this overspend.

Question reference: S6W-41792

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 26 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the meeting between the First Minister and the leader of Plaid Cymru (PC) at Bute House on 30 October 2025, at which the First Minister commented that, "I will be delighted to work with my friends in Plaid Cymru to show the people of Scotland and Wales that there is a positive alternative", what role in their official capacity its ministers are playing in advising or supporting PC in its preparations for possibly forming the next administration in Wales; whether it will publish any (a) formal and (b) informal (i) correspondence, (ii) minutes and (iii) briefing material relating to any meetings in this regard with PC representatives; whether it sought advice from the Permanent Secretary or its senior civil servants ahead of such activity, and whether any public funds have been used by it (A) directly or (B) indirectly to support such cooperation, and, if so, (1) for what specific reason, (2) on what date and (3) how much was spent.

The Scottish Government is committed to forging a constructive relationship with nations across the UK and collaborating on issues of mutual interest. The First Minister meets a range of people from across the UK and abroad and is supported in doing so by civil servants as appropriate.

The meeting on 30 October 2025 was requested by Rhun ap Iorwerth, leader of Plaid Cymru, and covered the close relationship between Wales and Scotland, and the challenges both countries face, such as tackling child poverty.

This engagement was separate and distinct from any engagement that may take place between Plaid Cymru and the SNP, which is not supported by the civil service.

Question reference: S6W-42134

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6W-42126

Asked by: Clare Adamson, MSP for Motherwell and Wishaw, Scottish National Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Monday, 24 November 2025
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Angus Robertson on 25 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its commitment to a review of Creative Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-42127

Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 November 2025
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Angus Robertson on 25 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the publication costs were for the recent paper, Your Right to Decide.

Question reference: S6W-41952

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 17 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 25 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many units of affordable housing have been constructed in the (a) Stirling, (b) Fife, (c) Perth and Kinross and (d) Clackmannanshire local authority areas in each year since 2015, and how many were delivered compared with local delivery plans.

Statistics relating to the Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP) by local authority are published quarterly on the Scottish Government website. These figures relate to the number of approvals, site starts, and completions of social and affordable homes, and can be accessed using the following link: https://www.gov.scot/publications/affordable-housing-supply-programme-quarterly-updates-on-approvals-site-starts-and-completions/

The homes provided through the AHSP comprise homes for social rent, for mid-market rent and for low cost home ownership. These homes take various forms including; new build homes, rehabilitation projects, conversions and off-the-shelf purchases of both new and second hand homes.

The following table provides a breakdown of the number of homes completed in the (a) Stirling, (b) Fife, (c) Perth and Kinross and (d) Clackmannanshire local authority areas in each year between 2015-2016 and 2024-25:

Local Authority	Clacks	Fife	Perth and Kinross	Stirling
2015-2016	50	386	318	164
2016-2017	72	611	251	118
2017-2018	117	960	446	68
2018-2019	63	547	465	98
2019-2020	90	500	486	73
2020-2021	78	495	235	231
2021-2022	118	405	408	171
2022-2023	98	721	294	103
2023-2024	60	524	260	77
2024-2025	28	414	262	119
TOTAL	774	5563	3425	1222

Local authorities, as the strategic housing and, in most cases, planning authority are responsible for assessing housing need and demand in their area and setting out their investment priorities in their annual Strategic Housing Investment Plans (SHIPs).

Question reference: S6W-42019

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 25 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding how many controlled parking zones have been introduced by each local authority in each year since 1999, also broken down by how many parking permits have been sold for these each year, and how much has been raised by these sales.

Question reference: S6W-41859

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 25 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) scientific and (b) other advice led to the decision to license at least 26 vessels in each of the last five razor clam electro-fishery trial seasons.

Scientific advice has underpinned the decision to authorise derogations permitting licensed fishing vessels to catch, land and sell razor clams while participating in the trial.

The biological and ecological goals describe the areas in which the scientific trial has sought to further our knowledge. These are:

1.to gather local level information on razor clam populations and stocks, including collating accurate data gathered by trial participants to supplement stock survey work;

2.to ensure sustainable harvesting levels; and,

3.to gather further information about the impacts of the electrofishing method on target and non-target species.

A summary of this advice for each of the last five trial seasons is provided below.

2021-2022:

Authorising fishing was necessary to gather data to understand trends in landings per unit effort, work that was planned for the previous season but was hampered by the COVID pandemic.

2022-2023:

To gather data to understand size at maturity and time of spawning.
To allow scoping development of stock assessments.
To understand the benefits of REMand to inform applicability to other fisheries.

2023-2024:

The trial was extended for a two-year period from 1 February 2022 and the advice for 2022-23 applied to 2023-24.

2024-2025:

To gather data and publish stock assessments. These were published in the Progress Report on the Biological and Ecological Goals of the Trial in September 2024.
To study the effect of introducing a seasonal closure during the spawning period.

2025-2026:

To gather data to refine published stock assessments and to publish further assessments for other trial areas.

A range of factors were considered when assessing the merits of all options for the trial. This included the socioeconomic impact of these options, as well as the impact on The Scottish Government and our public sector partners as regulators.

Ultimately however, these decisions rest on the scientific advice.

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