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-02997

Asked by: Annabelle Ewing, MSP for Cowdenbeath, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 January 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the importance of the salmon industry for Scotland’s economy.

Question reference: S6O-03011

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 January 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take to ensure that it meets its affordable homes target by 2032.

Question reference: S6O-02996

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 January 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what financial support will be made available to farmers in 2024-25.

Question reference: S6W-24275

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 17 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is giving to living heritage organisations.

The Scottish Government delivers support for culture and heritage organisations through the sponsorship of our public bodies. In turn, Historic Environment Scotland and Creative Scotland deliver grant programmes to support many varied heritage, traditional skills and cultural practices.

Museums Galleries Scotland, the national development body for Scotland’s museum sector, also distributes grant funding for the Scottish Government to support accredited museums in Scotland which can also showcase living heritage.

Question reference: S6W-24064

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 17 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-22664 by Patrick Harvie on 16 November 2023, what its position is on how the proposal that "Owner occupied homes that have ended their use of polluting heating by 2033 will not be required to meet the minimum energy efficiency standard", as set out in its consultation on proposals for a Heat in Buildings Bill, promotes a "fabric first approach".

Owner occupied homes which no longer use polluting heating by 2033 will have already, as a result of this change, removed all direct emissions associated with the heating of those homes.

This means that there would be no need for a legal requirement to meet an energy efficiency standard; however, there will still be strong incentives for homeowners to invest in energy efficiency and improvements to the fabric of those homes in order to reduce their energy bills.

Question reference: S6W-24268

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 17 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether there will be a chapter on seaweed aquaculture in the National Marine Plan 2 (NMP2) to reflect the value of this activity within the Scottish marine area.

We are committed to the sustainable development of our seas and are working with stakeholders on our updated National Marine Plan (NMP2), a key delivery mechanism for Scotland’s Blue Economy Vision. NMP2 will provide the guiding planning framework to support our future licencing and consenting decisions.

We will work with stakeholders from across the marine sectors on the development of NMP2 planning policies to support management of our marine space, and reflecting our latest policy developments, including our recently published Vision for Sustainable Aquaculture which sets out our long-term ambitions for the sustainable development of the finfish, shellfish and seaweed sectors.

Question reference: S6W-24254

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Friday, 22 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 17 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether the forthcoming Regional Marine Plans will be required to identify locations where seaweed cultivation is to be supported.

The development of the marine planning framework will build on the existing consenting regime for aquaculture developments. Planning permission for finfish and shellfish farms are determined in accordance with National Planning Framework 4 and Scotland’s National Marine Plan. Seaweed farming is subject to the requirements set out under section 15 of the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 regarding decisions of public authorities affected by marine plans, including the National Marine Plan and any Regional Marine Plan, once adopted.

We will seek to ensure that National Planning Framework 4 and National Marine Plan 2 are aligned and consider any updates which are required to Planning Circular 1/2015: relationship between the statutory land use planning system and marine planning and licencing - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Regional marine plans are developed by Marine Planning Partnerships, and must conform with the National Marine Plan currently in effect. The content of the regional marine plan is for these partnerships to determine based on local priorities.

In 2017 The Scottish Government published a Seaweed Cultivation Policy Statement to help facilitate the growth of the sector by setting out policy on the suitability of seaweed cultivation in different scenarios. This provides those wanting to operate in this sector with a better understanding of the type of development that may be given approval.

Question reference: S6W-24179

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by George Adam on 17 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many ministerial visits were made in Scotland in 2023, broken down by parliamentary (a) constituency and (b) region.

Question reference: S6W-24204

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 17 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what investment it has made to grow rail freight capacity in each year since 2016.

The Scottish Government’s leadership in support for rail freight is outlined in our rail freight strategy and put into practice with significant investment and our first of a kind innovative regulatory growth targets. Benefits for rail freight are included in our rail pipeline projects and our mode shift capital and revenue support grants. We have also flexed passenger services on the Highland Mainline to accommodate a longer freight service and the Scottish Government will continue to maximise benefits for freight in its future investment in the rail network. The details Mr Cameron has requested from 2016 are as follows.

Dedicated rail freight projects:-

2012 – 2019 Investment of £13 million to deliver electrification to the Grangemouth freight terminals.

2018 – 2019 Investment of £11.3 million to provide a new rail freight connection at Blackford and improvements to Inverness Needlefield Yard. This also included investment on the Waterloo branch to improve the link with Aberdeen Terminals and the capability of the line to accept more traffic.

2019 – 2020 Investment of £4.2 million for a new crossover at Craiginches (between Aberdeen and Stonehaven), continued work at Inverness Needlefield Yard and trials on the Highland Mainline (between Perth and Inverness) to support longer trains.

2020 – 2021 Investment of £2.5 million including further work on Craiginches crossover and Needlefield yard and a trial to support moving timber by rail.

2022 – 2023 Investment of £3.2 million to provide a new freight connection at Dalcross and a linespeed improvement at Garriongill (near Wishaw), benefiting freight capacity.

2016 to date Investment of £6m inFreight Facilities Grants to support new and updated rail freight facilities.

2016 to date Investment of £4 million in Mode Shift Revenue Support.

Rail pipeline projects with benefits for freight:-

2012 – 2019 Investment of £160 million to deliver electrification and gauge clearance on the Shotts line along with signalling improvements benefiting freight capacity and improving access to Mossend Freight Terminal.

2019 - 2020 Investment of £13.5 million to provide increased capacity between Newtonhill (between Aberdeen and Stonehaven) and Craiginches.

2022 - 2023 Investment of £160 million to renew and modernise Carstairs Junction including the longest freight loop in Scotland, capable of accommodating 775-metre-long freight trains. An additional £6.8 million was invested to remodel Barnhill Junction to increase the speed of trains and provide capacity improvements over the constrained Tay Viaduct, enabling additional freight services. A further investment of £63 million was provided to electrify the route to Barrhead which is the first step in electrifying the Glasgow & South Western route from Glasgow to Carlisle.

Question reference: S6W-24074

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 17 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to gathering data on double glazing and draught-proofing measures fitted in Scotland's buildings.