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-04932

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 September 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure freedom of expression is respected at cultural venues.

Question reference: S6O-04942

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 September 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what actions it is taking to address the illegal use of off-road bikes, e-bikes and e-scooters.

Question reference: S6O-04933

Asked by: Roz McCall, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 September 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is planning to make any changes to Historic Environment Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-04940

Asked by: Bob Doris, MSP for Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 September 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what support is available to women preparing for release from prison.

Question reference: S6O-04945

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 September 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it is working with authorities in Mid Scotland and Fife to address antisocial behaviour.

Question reference: S6W-40325

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 10 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it promotes a higher birth rate, in light of reports that the number of births in Scotland in 2024 dropped to its lowest number in 169 years.

Falling birth rates are a trend across many high-income countries, with significant implications for our economies, communities and public services. It is not for government to dictate or influence whether an individual should have children, which is rightly a matter for individuals and couples.

Our 2021 Population Strategy sets out our ambition that Scotland is the ideal place to raise a family, and that people are enabled to have the number of children they wish to. In December 2024, the Ministerial Population Taskforce considered potential lessons from family friendly policy interventions internationally, and officials are currently exploring next steps in the Scottish context, including scoping further research into the role of parental leave uptake on decisions to have children.

Question reference: S6W-40272

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 10 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of there being a reported over 40,000 live applications for homelessness assistance, what urgent measures it is taking to reduce homelessness.

In my statement to Parliament on 2 September, I set out a suite of urgent actions to be taken in response to the housing emergency. Some of the measures to reduce homelessness include:

Committing to a multi-annual, multi-billion pound affordable housebuilding project worth up to £4.9 billion over the next four years, capable of delivering up to 36,000 affordable homes or put another way, providing 24,000 children with a safe, warm and affordable home.
Doubling investment in our immediate acquisitions fund from £40 million to £80 million this year. This will support the acquisition of at least 1,200 homes over the 18 months of the fund, helping families move out of temporary accommodation and into permanent tenancies without waiting on the construction of new homes.
Investing a £3 million capital grant to expand Housing First and create new tenancies, alongside a £1 million uplift to local authorities to accelerate existing Housing First programmes.
Extending rapid rehousing transition plan funding to 2026-27 to enable local authorities to prioritise settled housing for homeless households.
Rolling out a £1 million new national ‘fund to leave’. This could help up to 1,200 women and their children to leave abusive relationships.
Investing up to £2 million through the discretionary housing payments scheme to support households currently in temporary accommodation to find settled homes in the private rented sector. This is in addition to £97 million already being invested in discretionary housing payments in 2025-26 including £79m to mitigate the UK Government’s Bedroom Tax.

I called on partners across the housing sector and beyond to support work to accelerate the delivery of high-quality homes of all tenures, with a focus on the delivery of affordable and social homes. I have also set out the government’s expectation that local authorities, in compliance with ALACHO guidance, should contact every family in good quality temporary accommodation to explore opportunities to convert those temporary tenancies to permanent tenancies.

Question reference: S6W-40184

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 01 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 10 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the funding provided to each Scottish Mountain Rescue team, in each of the last five years.

The Scottish Government provides an annual grant to Scottish Mountain Rescue, which they distribute onwards to all of Scotland’s volunteer mountain rescue teams including Glencoe and Cairngorm which are not affiliated with Scottish Mountain Rescue, according to an agreed and established formula. Information from Scottish Mountain Rescue on the funding that each team has received in the last 5 years is set out in the following table:

Team Name	Apr 2020 - Mar 2021	Apr 2021 - Mar 2022	Apr 2022 - Mar 2023	Apr 2023 - Mar 2024	Apr 2024 - Mar 2025	Total
Aberdeen MRT	10,024.66	10,372.88	10,721.08	10,848.40	10,443.18	52,410.20
Arran MRT	12,259.62	11,745.61	12,287.49	11,280.23	11,011.71	58,584.66
Arrochar MRT	11,395.85	11,003.03	11,529.98	11,485.21	11,589.07	57,003.14
Assynt MRT	9,220.56	9,580.92	10,234.07	10,970.49	10,698.58	50,704.62
Borders Search and Rescue	10,859.48	11,000.25	11,607.48	11,685.47	11,347.64	56,500.32
Braemar MRT	13,626.03	14,101.65	14,370.18	14,342.12	14,312.52	70,752.50
Cairngorm MRT	16,052.56	16,052.56	16,978.67	16,978.67	16,978.67	83,041.13
Dundonnel MRT	14,783.79	14,760.47	15,573.25	16,118.53	15,510.59	76,746.63
Galloway MRT	11,281.85	11,271.54	11,711.36	11,559.73	11,072.40	56,896.88
Glencoe MRT	18,453.12	18,453.12	19,517.72	19,517.72	19,517.72	95,459.40
Glenelg MRT	6,907.97	6,985.66	7,151.30	7,049.61	6,898.61	34,993.15
Glenmore Lodge MRT	4,000.00	4,000.00	4,230.77	4,230.77	4,230.77	20,692.31
Hebridean Search and Rescue	9,092.94	9,334.97	9,379.41	9,084.53	8,722.56	45,614.41
Killin MRT	13,747.67	14,435.01	15,255.26	14,892.53	14,494.62	72,825.09
Kintail MRT	8,531.18	8,479.04	8,912.36	8,694.06	8,970.64	43,587.28
Lochaber MRT	24,484.53	24,484.53	25,897.10	25,897.10	25,897.10	126,660.36
Lomond MRT	13,451.78	13,959.31	15,050.04	15,065.03	14,905.52	72,431.68
Moffat MRT	10,345.26	10,460.14	11,066.28	10,941.19	10,231.33	53,044.20
Oban MRT	11,034.07	10,800.00	11,378.44	11,334.58	11,855.42	56,402.51
Ochils MRT	11,163.73	11,371.75	12,460.79	12,905.25	12,455.10	60,356.62
Search and Rescue Aerial Association	0	0	0	0	3,485.59	3,485.59
Search and Rescue Dog Association Scotland	6,478.10	5,810.99	5,668.24	5,796.72	5,624.45	29,378.50
Search and Rescue Dog Association Southern Scotland	4,706.59	4,478.90	4,563.12	4,735.35	4,771.54	23,255.50
Scottish cave Rescue Organisation	4,185.17	4,399.23	6,093.27	6,016.83	5,876.95	26,571.45
Skye MRT	16,751.66	15,652.75	16,232.34	16,483.51	16,883.22	82,003.48
Tayside MRT	14,398.93	14,013.34	14,992.87	14,699.51	16,090.32	74,194.97
Torridon MRT	9,971.20	9,480.18	9,556.21	9,477.21	8,742.02	47,226.82
Tweed Valley MRT	14,791.70	15,512.16	17,580.91	17,909.64	17,382.16	83,176.57

Question reference: S6W-40192

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 01 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 10 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what resources it is providing to SEPA to support the implementation of the Environmental Authorisation (Scotland) Regulations 2018.

The Scottish Government aims to resource all of its agencies to deliver on their key statutory duties and frontline services for the people of Scotland. In SEPA’s case, resourcing includes Grant in Aid funding, as agreed by Parliament, through the approval of annual budget bills as well as funding raised by SEPA through its various charging schemes.

It is for SEPA to determine how it allocates funding to deliver against each of its priorities. Implementation of the integrated authorisation framework, as set out under the Environmental Authorisation (Scotland) Regulations, was identified as a high priority in SEPA’s 2024-27 Corporate Plan. In each year that the Corporate Plan covers, SEPA’s annual operating plans will set out how resources will be allocated.

Question reference: S6W-40144

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 10 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-39428 by Gillian Martin on 28 July 2025, what consideration it has given to barring companies repeatedly convicted of unlawful activity, including corruption, bribery, fraud, and human trafficking and exploitation, in the last five years, from applying to Crown Estate Scotland for seabed leasing for (a) offshore wind development and (b) other marine renewable energy developments.

I refer to the answers I provided to questions S6W-39428 on 28 July 2025 and S6W-39996 on 3 September 2025 and confirm that Crown Estate Scotland is responsible for managing seabed leasing for offshore wind and other marine renewable energy developments. Therefore, the process for leasing the seabed, as well as the criteria underpinning it, is a matter for Crown Estate Scotland.

Companies applying for a seabed lease are required to demonstrate appropriate experience, financial robustness, and overall suitability. The leasing process is designed to prevent companies from being offered a lease option if they are in breach of laws governing corruption, bribery, and fraud as well as human trafficking and exploitation. This includes companies convicted repeatedly for these crimes. Detailed guidance notes setting out the criteria underpinning the ScotWind process are published for the purposes of transparency and accountability on the Crown Estate Scotland website.

Crown Estate Scotland are committed to taking all appropriate action to prevent the Scottish seabed from being used by any company that does not meet its terms of lease, and reserves the right to void any application (or terminate any agreement) in relation to companies which are found to have provided false information.

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.