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-32635

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 20 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 14 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what role local authorities will play in supporting community flood groups under the Flood Resilience Strategy.

Under the Flood Risk Management Planning process introduced as part of the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009, SEPA, local authorities, Scottish Water and others to work together to deliver actions to increase our flood resilience.

Scottish Government also supports the Scottish Flood Forum to work with communities and local authorities across Scotland to reduce the impacts of flooding on individuals and communities.

Question reference: S6W-32611

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 20 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 14 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that spending on international offices is (a) transparent and (b) accountable to taxpayers.

Question reference: S6W-32604

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 20 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 14 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of Scotland's railway rolling stock it anticipates will still rely on diesel by (a) 2035 and (b) 2040.

Question reference: S6W-32892

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 14 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many Tesla cars it currently (a) owns and (b) leases.

Question reference: S6W-32195

Asked by: Clare Adamson, MSP for Motherwell and Wishaw, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 14 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address colonoscopy waiting times to improve early diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), in light of Public Health Scotland data from September 2024 showing the highest proportion of patients waiting a year or more for a colonoscopy since January 2023.

Significant additional activity is already underway following the allocation of £30 million funding to target reductions to the national backlogs that built up throughout the pandemic. This includes over 40,000 extra diagnostic procedures.

To specifically support scope based diagnostics we have published an Endoscopy and Urology Diagnostic Recovery and Renewal Plan backed by £70 million. The plan focuses on key areas such as: Balancing Demand and Capacity; Workforce Training and Development; Infrastructure; and Innovation and Redesign.

To provide further support for timeous diagnosis, the Scottish Government commissioned Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) will shortly publish a newly developed Inflammatory Bowel Disease pathway to support earlier identification and management of the disease.

The Budget we set out on 4 December 2024 will throw the weight of the government behind performance improvements with almost £200 million to reduce waiting lists and help support reduction of delayed discharge. By March 2026, we expect no one to be waiting longer than 12 months for a new outpatient, inpatient treatment or day case treatment.

Question reference: S6W-32904

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 14 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what evaluation it has made of the use of Experimental Traffic Regulation Orders (ETROs) since 2021.

Changes to legislation came into force in November 2021 which allow for local authorities to put experimental projects on the ground with 7 days’ notice and a minimum 6 month consultation period which begins on the day the project is put in place. There is also a streamlined process to follow if the authority then wish to make the Experimental Traffic Regulation Order (ETRO) a permanent Traffic Road Order (TRO).

No full review of this process has been undertaken since 2021 but officials have had a number of discussions with local authorities to provide further information on the change in process and to assist in putting the new measures in place. No concerns regarding the new procedures have been raised during these discussions.

Question reference: S6W-32797

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 14 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take to prevent so-called "ghost fishing".

“Ghost fishing” results from abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear and has a negative impact on our environment. Some loss is unavoidable because of weather, snagging or gear failure, and fishers make every effort to retrieve this gear where possible. Marine litter resulting from fishing gear is a shared global problem and we will continue our work in Scotland set out in our Marine Litter Strategy, and internationally through the Oslo Paris Convention (OSPAR) and the Global Ghost Gear Initiative to help tackle it.

Marine Directorate Coastal Offices currently operate a mechanism for reporting gear loss with an aim of helping fishers work together to recover and identify lost gear. Additionally, in 2020 we introduced The Gear Marking (Scotland) Order, which makes it a legal requirement for a fishing vessel to deploy buoys made for that purpose displaying their name and registration number. This builds on the Best Practice Guidance for Marking Static Fishing Gear we published in 2018 and gives the best possible chance for fishers to be reunited with displaced gear. We are also encouraging the industry to develop voluntary codes of conduct to reduce instances of gear conflict, and our national network of Regional Inshore Fisheries Groups are the correct medium for such proposals to be developed.

Throughout 2025 we will promote improved gear design to help reduce the risk of loss and resulting environmental impact using the European standard for circular design of fishing gear and aquaculture equipment, published in November 2024. The standard will also support our work with industry to improve the collection and recycling of end-of-life fishing gear when it is brought ashore. We will use the learning from our extensive research over the last 3 years to develop policy options that could help our fleets with their waste management and support the growth of our circular economy. Fishers' professional training modules will continue to educate on the issue of plastic pollution and environmental impact. We will also continue to fund KIMO’s Fishing for Litter programme which is now active in 32 Scottish harbours, enabling the landing of passively caught waste including fishing gear, as well as encouraging responsible waste management.

The intentional disposal of gear at sea remains an offence covered by the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) regulations which are enforced by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA). We will continue to report information regarding intentional dumping from any fishing vessel through our intelligence system to the MCA.

Question reference: S6W-32596

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 14 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how the reported decision to delay the decarbonisation of the railway network will impact Scotland’s wider climate targets for 2045.

Question reference: S6W-32576

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 14 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many passengers have used the Caledonian Sleeper in each of the last five years, and what the corresponding subsidy per passenger was.

Question reference: S6W-32584

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 14 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the average ticket price currently is for passengers on Caledonian Sleeper services, and how this compares with the average subsidy per passenger.