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-42888

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Independent
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 January 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 22 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish all of the analyses referred to by the Minister for Public Finance during the debate on motion S6M-20295 on 7 January 2026, including (a) the analysis of the estimated level of revenue that will be raised from non-domestic rates should the revaluation proceed in line with the draft rateable values and (b) what its estimate is of the revenue that could be lost on that basis due to the potential closure of businesses that may no longer be able to trade profitably.

Question reference: S6W-42658

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Independent
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 8 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-41922 by Jim Fairlie on 1 December 2025, whether all of the £100,000 will be disbursed to local authorities and if not, by whom will it be spent and what it will it be used for.

Question reference: S6O-05362

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Independent
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 January 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the economy secretary has had with ministerial colleagues regarding the potential economic impact of fully dualling the A96, in order to provide faster and safer transport links between the two key economic areas of north east Scotland and the Highlands, and to support the significant number of renewable energy sector jobs that it and Highlands and Islands Enterprise anticipate will be generated in the coming decades.

Question reference: S6W-42516

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Independent
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 7 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what cumulative impact assessment it has carried out of the regulatory and fiscal changes affecting microtourism businesses over the last five years.

The Scottish Government undertakes a range of impact assessments when developing or introducing new policy, taking account of other ongoing policy development that may interact with the options being considered. Where relevant, this includes Business and Regulatory Impact Assessments, which consider businesses of all sizes and the cumulative impact of multiple policy changes and their timing.

The Scottish Government report on the 2023 non-domestic rates revaluation was published on 5 July 2023. The report set out the changes in rateable values for different property classes as a result of the 2023 revaluation. A report on the 2026 revaluation will be published once final values are available.

On Short-term lets we continue to work with stakeholders to monitor implementation of the licensing regime. In response to stakeholder feedback we commissioned VisitScotland to launch an expert group to revise short-term let guidance, bringing industry and local authorities together to provide recommend updates to short-term let licencing guidance.

In relation to the visitor levy, impact assessments were carried out to support the original Visitor Levy Bill/Act and we are revising them for the new Bill, but these were on the overall impact of a Visitor Levy. Each Local Authority must assess the impact of its proposed local Visitor Levy’s scheme while it is developing and consulting on it.

Question reference: S6W-42494

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Independent
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 5 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the £100,000 that it has committed for tackling disruptive urban gull populations, how much in total has been distributed to date, and which organisations (a) have received and (b) will receive funding, broken down by how much has been allocated to each, including how much has been allocated to the Inverness pilot.

NatureScot has written to all 32 Local Authorities updating them on funding of £100,000 being made available to facilitate an area based management for gulls.

NatureScot has prioritised the funding, in the first instance, to areas where they have been involved in significant casework whether through wider scale licensing requests or advice on mitigation measures.

As a first tranche the local authorities prioritised for funding are:

Moray Council
Highland Council
Aberdeenshire Council
Aberdeen City Council
Fife Council
Scottish Borders Council
Dumfries and Galloway Council

It is likely that funding to each local authority will be in the region of £10k. While prioritising the seven local authorities in the first instance, NatureScot has offered to consider support to all of the other local authorities where there is significant gull issues and where they are seeking to develop an area-based management approach.

NatureScot is looking to conclude funding arrangements with the local authorities in early January 2026. As such, no funds have been distributed to local authorities to-date.

The £100k funding does not include additional costs for other elements of the action plan, such as for Best Practice Guidance, survey work, and for the proposed four regional roundtables, which are being resourced by NatureScot separately.

Additional funding of £10,000 from NatureScot has been made available to Highland Council as part of the Inverness Gull Management Pilot.

Question reference: S6W-42544

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Independent
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 29 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether NHS Highland is behind in its provision to schools of vaccinations for the winter influenza and, if so, what the reason is for the delay, and by what date the provision will be on schedule.

Question reference: S6W-42515

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Independent
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 23 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of any potential reduction in Scotland’s overall visitor accommodation capacity if a percentage of self-catering businesses exit the market following the non-domestic rates revaluation, in addition to other regulatory interventions.

Draft rateable values for the 2026 revaluation were published on 30 November 2025 but may be subject to change. The final valuation roll will come into effect on 1 April 2026 and the Scottish Government will publish its report on changes in rateable values once final valuations are available.

In the meantime, ministers have received representations from the self-catering accommodation sector regarding the implications of changes in draft rateable values and I met with the Chief Executive of the Association of Scotland’s Self Caterers on 17 December 2025.

Decisions on non-domestic rates policy for 2026-27 including reliefs are considered in the context of the Budget in line with other government priorities and will be set out on in the budget on 13 January 2026.

Question reference: S6W-42464

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Independent
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 23 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the decision taken in the UK Budget to provide a permanent business rate discount for retail and hospitality in England from April 2026, what steps it is taking to ensure that the New Deal for Business Group Implementation Plan recommendation to maintain the "most competitive environment to do business" on business rates is delivered in respect of these two industry sectors.

Question reference: S6W-42465

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Independent
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 23 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the decision taken in the UK Budget to provide a permanent business rate discount for retail and hospitality in England from April 2026, what analysis or assessment it has undertaken of the potential risk to commercial investment in retail and hospitality moving to England, in the event that Scotland does not introduce a commensurate reduction in the business rate.

Ministers regularly discuss matters of importance, including budget priorities and the views of stakeholders, in the run-up to the Scottish Budget. Decisions on non-domestic rates policy for 2026-27 will be set out on in the budget on 13 January 2026. The Non-Domestic Rates Consultative group will continue to meet regularly, providing an opportunity for ongoing discussion on how the non-domestic rates system can best support business growth, investment and competitiveness and the impact of external events such as the 2026 revaluation. After the final valuation roll becomes available on 1 April 2026, the Scottish Government will publish a report on the 2026 revaluation as it did at the 2023 revaluation.

Question reference: S6W-42628

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Independent
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 22 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported comments in The Scotsman on 16 December 2025 from the Scottish Retail Consortium, Scottish Tourism Alliance, UKHospitality Scotland, ukactive and the UK Cinema Association that, if Scotland does not follow England and introduce a permanent business rate discount for all retail, hospitality and leisure premises, it will be at odds with the vision of the Scottish Government’s New Deal for Business Group Implementation Plan to deliver the most competitive business rates regime.