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-04997

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 September 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when it last engaged with the UK Government on domestic food and drink markets.

Question reference: S6O-05021

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6W-40602

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 24 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action Police Scotland is taking to provide frontline officers with a better understanding of the agricultural industry to improve their knowledge of rural crime.

The Scottish Partnership Against Rural Crime (SPARC) is a multi-agency partnership which works across all Police Scotland divisions to deliver the SPARC strategy’s key rural crime priorities. The service’s National Rural, Acquisitive and Business Preventions Team (RAB-PT) has trained over 100 officers across North, East and West on rural machinery thefts. Through this partnership working, 12 officers will shortly enter through a stolen vehicle examiners accreditation course which is dovetailed with rural machinery theft training giving Police Scotland additional capacity for such investigations across Scotland. RAB-PT have also developed metal theft training with partners and will deliver this in areas most affected by renewables and metal thefts in the coming year.

Question reference: S6W-40604

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 24 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) 999 and (b) 101 calls Police Scotland has received from registered farm businesses in each year since 2021, also broken down by how many times a police officer provided an on-site visit in response, and what the average time taken was to provide the response.

Question reference: S6W-40601

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 24 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action Police Scotland is taking to improve the recording of instances of rural crime.

Question reference: S6W-40546

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 24 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the acquisition of the Woodland Invest portfolio by Gresham House Forest Fund VI LP, which was concluded in August 2025, what assessment it has made of the potential impact of this on (a) community wealth building, (b) sustainable development, (c) local democracy, (d) environmental quality and (e) biological diversity.

The purchase of forest estates by Gresham House FF VI LLP was conducted via normal market mechanisms. The Scottish Government does not monitor land or forest sales in Scotland and does not carry out assessments around the impacts of individual land transactions. All forest land should, however, be managed according to the principles of sustainable forest management as laid out in the UK Forestry Standard regardless of the ownership. The UK Forestry Standard contains requirements and guidelines on environmental quality, managing and improving biodiversity and community engagement.

Question reference: S6W-40527

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Independent
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 24 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-37508 by Jim Fairlie on 29 May 2025, whether NatureScot presented its final version of the species licensing review to the Scottish Ministers in April 2025, and, if so, by what date the findings will be published.

Further to my response to S6W-37508, the Species Licensing Review was sent for external review in July but the completion of this review has been delayed. NatureScot anticipate that the external review will be completed shortly and returned to NatureScot before being presented to Ministers for consideration prior to being published.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

Question reference: S6W-40550

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 24 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the acquisition of the Woodland Invest portfolio by Gresham House Forest Fund VI LP, which was concluded in August 2025.

Question reference: S6W-40502

Asked by: Annabelle Ewing, MSP for Cowdenbeath, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 24 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government by what date it will (a) reach and (b) announce its decision on the infrastructure investment plan refresh review for the years beyond 2025-26.

Question reference: S6W-40397

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 24 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to identify all residential buildings containing Large Panel System concrete.

The Scottish Government takes matters of building safety seriously. While building owners have responsibility for their properties, the matter of Large Panel System buildings has been considered by the Ministerial Working Group on Building and Fire Safety and discussed within the Cross Sector Building Safety Forum. This Forum has been established to ensure that potential building safety issues are identified and shared amongst those who may have an interest, to allow them to take action where necessary.

Owners are advised to engage appropriate expert consultants to advise them using the authoritative guidance on Large Panel Systems from the Building Research Establishment and the Institution of Structural Engineers