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-32752

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 16 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many existing croft houses have been brought back into use through the Croft House Grant Scheme for each year since 2016, broken down by local authority area.

The information as requested is not available.

The house improvement option enables crofters to make both minor and significant improvements to their croft house. In 2023, we introduced energy efficiency measures, allowing crofters to apply for 80% grants of up to £38k, to improve the energy performance of their property and contribute to energy cost savings.

Area *	Croft House Grant Funding Awarded for House Improvements since 2016 (£)
Argyll	239,281.54
Barra	143,442.68
Caithness	78,416.36
Harris	72,473.60
Inverness	34,717,60
Lewis	622,726.37
North Uist	68,473.20
Ross-shire	84,022.80
Shetland	263,077.61
Skye	440,124.36
South Uist	232,556.44
Sutherland	379,751.92

*Figures are broken down by the Rural Payments and Inspections Division by area not by local authority area.

Question reference: S6W-32726

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 16 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to enable Creative Scotland to allocate more funding to projects in the Highlands and Islands region.

The Scottish Government has committed a further £34m to the culture sector next financial year. This includes an additional £20 million for Creative Scotland’s multi-year funding programme. This will enable Creative Scotland to roll-out its multi-year funding programme from April 2025 – ensuring that the highest ever number of artists and organisations across Scotland including in the Highlands and Islands region receive regular funding. The Culture Collective programme will also be restarted which will benefit Scottish communities, community organisations, individual artists and freelancers.

Question reference: S6W-32973

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 16 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how the National Planning Framework 4 accounts for the cumulative impact of energy infrastructure projects on rural Scotland, and, in light of the reported feedback from affected communities, whether it plans to revisit these provisions.

NPF4 places climate and nature at the centre of our planning system and makes clear our support for all forms of renewable, low-carbon and zero emission technologies. Potential impacts on communities and nature, including cumulative impacts, are important considerations in the decision-making process and all applications are subject to site-specific assessments.

While Scottish Ministers can decide to amend the NPF or review it in full at any time, having an established and consistent policy framework enables confidence in the planning system and so we expect to exercise this power sparingly. We have no current plans to amend NPF4.

Question reference: S6W-32774

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 20 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 16 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many patients have attended chronic pain clinics in each NHS board in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-32585

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 16 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the projected total subsidy for the next five years is for (a) ScotRail and (b) Caledonian Sleeper services.

Question reference: S6W-32530

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 16 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish the five-year review of the Civil Litigation (Expenses and Group Proceedings) (Scotland) Act 2018, in light of it being overdue.

Question reference: S6W-33094

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 16 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to increase the availability of (a) bicycles and (b) other sustainable transport options for its staff.

The Scottish Government does not currently plan to increase the availability of bicycles for use by staff. We do not have any plans to increase the availability of other sustainable transport options.

Our staff already have access to cycle mileage expenses for official business journeys, a cycle to work scheme for commuting journeys, a season ticket scheme covering public transport operators, and discounted personal car hire and car club journeys through our staff benefits package.

Question reference: S6W-33090

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 16 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many bicycles it currently (a) owns and (b) leases, and how they are currently utilised by its staff.

Question reference: S6W-33075

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 16 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it monitors and evaluates the performance of Registers of Scotland in delivering public services.

Registers of Scotland is accountable to the Scottish Parliament and its performance is regularly scrutinised by the Economy and Fair Work Committee. The Scottish Government also receives regular reports on the progress RoS is making in delivery of its Corporate Plan 2022-2027 strategic objectives, which includes updates on the achievement against RoS’s Key Performance Indicators for its service performance (timeliness, quality and customer satisfaction).

Question reference: S6W-32914

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 16 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the availability of (a) the drug, naloxegol, and (b) alternatives to this drug in the event of a shortage.

The supply of medicines is currently a reserved matter for the UK Government. We continue to engage with the UK Government’s Department of Health and Social Care on all medicines supply issues. The NHS in Scotland has robust processes in place to manage supply issues when they do arise and normally there are alternative products which can be prescribed and dispensed.

The Scottish Government is aware that, since April 2024, there has been ongoing supply issues with the availability of naloxegol (Moventig®) tablets. Initially both strengths (12.5mg and 25mg) were impacted by this supply issue. The latest information provided by the Department of Health and Social Care indicates that supplies of naloxegol (Moventig®) 25mg strength are back in stock however supply issues remain for the 12.5mg strength and that this supply issue is expected to continue until May 2025. The Scottish Government issued advice to NHS Scotland in April 2024 on this supply issue and available alternatives.