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: S6O-04291

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what it will do to address any difficulties with recruitment and retention in local government due to the reported declining value of pay.

Question reference: S6O-04309

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the importance of the A737 to North Ayrshire.

Question reference: S6O-04307

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6O-04310

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding Ineos proceeding with the closure of Scotland's only refinery at Grangemouth, in light of the UK Government's reported £600 million loan to the company for a project in Belgium.

Question reference: S6O-04294

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what factors it considered when determining not to introduce any new bands or increase the rates of Scottish income tax for the remainder of this parliamentary session.

Question reference: S6O-04265

Asked by: Emma Roddick, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 29 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to the Scottish Prison Service to help give people in custody the best chance of reintegrating into the community at the end of their sentence.

The Scottish Government provides funding to local authorities and third sector delivery partners to provide throughcare support to people leaving custody to help them transition back into the community.

This includes over £3 million a year to support short-term prisoners address essential needs such as healthcare, social security payments, housing and employment opportunities. This support is available across the prison estate and begins 12 weeks before an individual is released.

We will be building on this existing support by funding a new national throughcare service for all short-term prisoners and those on remand, commencing in April 2025.

Question reference: S6W-33859

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 29 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to consult stakeholders on the future of the Sea Fish (Prohibition on Fishing) (Firth of Clyde) Order 2024.

Question reference: S6W-33908

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 29 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much the Marine Directorate spent on the (a) maintenance, (b) repair and (c) fuel costs of the (i) patrol boats and (ii) patrol planes that it has had access to in each year since 2021.

Patrol Vessels

The following table sets out the patrol vessel spend for the last three financial years, for the purposes of the response maintenance includes the maintenance of the vessels, cranes and landing craft both at refit and on an ongoing basis.

Vessels	2021-22				2022-23				2023-24
Vessels	Hirta	Jura	Minna	Total	Hirta	Jura	Minna	Total	Hirta	Jura	Minna	Total
Fuel	£529,446	£504,358	£280,870	£1,314,674	£919,617	£916,924	£439,914	£2,276,455	£738,498	£667,363	£401,065	£1,806,926
Maintenance	£55,696	£232,007	£50,430	£338,133	£181,903	£139,499	£162,687	£484,089	£685,172	£400,509	£277,382	£1,363,063
Repairs	£82,756	£129,213	£54,481	£266,450	£84,780	£139,971	£108,982	£333,734	£126,259	£417,382	£83,118	£626,759

Patrol Aircraft

The Scottish Government engages an external contractor to provide aerial surveillance services utilising our aircraft by providing certification, maintenance and crewing for the aircraft. The following table sets out the aerial surveillance costs for the last three financial years of which a small proportion of the maintenance cost is borne by the external contractor with the main proportion being carried by the Scottish Government and billed as part of the contracted cost.

Aircraft	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24
Fuel	173,097	199,586	141,102
Aerial Surveillance Ops	1,324,482	1,407,115	1,529,433

Question reference: S6W-33845

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 29 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to update its approach to dealing with gear conflict, in light of the last Marine Scotland report of the Task Force on Gear Conflict being published in 2015.

In June 2020 the Scottish Government built on the findings of the Task Force on Gear Conflict by introducing the Marking of Gear (Scotland) Order 168/2020. This order introduced restrictions on how buoys should be used to mark static gear, aimed at reducing gear conflict by making it easier to identify the owner of lost or displaced gear. This order requires that all creels and fleets of creels to be marked with a buoy manufactured for that purpose and that all buoys be of a bright colour and bear the registration number of the fishing vessel that deployed it.

As part of a pragmatic approach to gear conflict, Marine Directorate provides ongoing support where appropriate, encouraging fishers to work together to resolve difficulties locally and where possible, support local voluntary codes of conduct. In addition, our Coastal Offices operate a reporting mechanism for reporting gear loss. The aim of this is to utilise the available evidence to determine which vessels were active in the area and to establish contact, assisting those involved in arriving at an amicable outcome. It also ensures the necessary information is available, should Police Scotland require to be involved.

Question reference: S6W-33937

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 29 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what impact the proposed reduction in its 2025-26 draft Budget for the Marine Directorate from £83 million in 2024-25 to £79.6 million in 2025-26 will have on its ability to operate effectively.

The 2024-25 budget that was used as the comparator included a number of transfers that occurred at Autumn Budget Revision. The main transfer related to the inclusion of deferred Coastal Communities payments from 2023-24, this was a one-off occurrence which resulted in a net increase of £5 million from the 2024-25 starting budget position.

In comparison to the 2024-25 starting budget there has been a £1.6 million increase in the overall resource budget available to Marine Directorate in 2025-26 which when excluding depreciation is an additional £2 million of resource funding.