- Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 28 August 2025
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Current Status:
Answer expected on 25 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what actions have been carried out to align agri-environment climate schemes for peatland restoration and peatland action projects.
Answer
Answer expected on 25 September 2025
- Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 28 August 2025
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Current Status:
Answer expected on 25 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, with regard to the objectives of the Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Act 2024, what assessment it has made of enabling farming and crofting tenants to cull deer on unimproved land and moorland on common grazings.
Answer
Answer expected on 25 September 2025
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 28 August 2025
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Current Status:
Answer expected on 25 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-39896 by Angus Robertson on 27 August 2025, whether it will provide the information requested regarding whether the topic of Scottish independence was discussed in the meeting between the First Minister and the President of the European Commission on 26 July 2025.
Answer
Answer expected on 25 September 2025
- Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 28 August 2025
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Current Status:
Answer expected on 25 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what changes are required to facilitate, encourage and enable peatland restoration projects through grazings committees.
Answer
Answer expected on 25 September 2025
- Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 28 August 2025
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Current Status:
Answer expected on 25 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what conclusions it has drawn from the study commissioned on the uptake of sustainable and regenerative agricultural practices in Less Favoured Areas.
Answer
Answer expected on 25 September 2025
- Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 15 August 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Siobhian Brown on 28 August 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of whether the Scottish
Ministers are currently not complying with any of their duties under the
Children (Scotland) Act 2020; which duties, if any, it considers the Scottish
Ministers are currently not complying with, and how many instances of failure
to comply with their duties under the Act have occurred to date.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to implementing the Children (Scotland) Act 2020 and ensuring that Scottish Ministers are complying with their duties under the Act. The Act covers a wide range of areas, many of which involve complex implementation activity. On that basis, the Scottish Government has approached the commencement of provisions in the Act - and the duties on Scottish Ministers in those provisions - in stages.
A number of provisions are already in force: The Children (Scotland) Act 2020 (Commencement No. 1 and Saving Provisions) Regulations 2020.
- Section 13: promotion of contact between looked after children and siblings
- Section 14: duty to consider contact when making etc. compulsory supervision order
- Section 15: clarification of order-making power
- Section 23: funding for alternative dispute resolution (commenced to allow Scottish Ministers to make reports on progress with implementation)
- Section 24: pilot of mandatory information meetings on alternatives to court (commenced to allow Scottish Ministers to make reports on progress with implementation)
- Section 25: opportunity to participate in hearing
- Section 26: appeal against relevant person decision
- Sections 32, 33, 34, 35: final provisions
Sections 23 and 24 are not yet implemented for remaining purposes, but six progress reports on have been laid in the Scottish Parliament to date.
A number of provisions have been commenced for certain purposes in The Children (Scotland) Act 2020 (Commencement No. 2) Regulations 2021:
- Section 7(3) and (4): register of solicitors where person prohibited from conducting their own case [superseded by Part 3 of the Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform Bill]
- Section 9: register of child welfare reporters – for purposes of making regulations
- Section 10(1) and (3): regulation of child contact services
- Section 17(1) and (3): register of curators ad litem – for purposes of making regulations
In terms of the duties contained in those provisions:
- Section 7 will be repealed and replaced by provisions in Part 3 of the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform Bill and will be implemented following enactment of the Bill.
- An update on timings in relation to section 9 of the 2020 Act was provided to the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee on 24 June 2025 [see below]. Implementation of the register of curators ad litem under section 17 will be carried out at the same time.
- Scottish Ministers plan to lay secondary legislation to regulate child contact services in the coming weeks, but intend to use powers in the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010, rather than section 10 of the 2020 Act.
We made a further set of commencement Regulations on 22 May 2025: The Children (Scotland) Act 2020 (Commencement No. 3 and Saving Provision) Regulations 2025 covering:
- Section 1(2): on the views of the child being considered when parents are making major decisions.
- Section 30(1), (3), (4), (5), (6) and (7): on delay in children’s hearings and adoption and permanence proceedings.
We plan to make a further set of commencement Regulations in October 2025 as committed to at a meeting of the Committee on unimplemented legislation on 24 June 2025: Official Report (see columns 10 to 14).
- Asked by: Rona Mackay, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 August 2025
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Current Status:
Initiated by the Scottish Government.
Answered by Angela Constance on 28 August 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its plans to add the characteristic of sex to the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021.
Answer
Today the Scottish Ministers have laid a draft of a Scottish Statutory Instrument (SSI) in Parliament which adds the characteristic of sex to the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 ("the 2021 Act") and published a consultation paper seeking views on the draft instrument. The consultation can be viewed at https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781806430857.
The effect of the SSI is to add the characteristic of sex to the list of characteristics covered by the offence of stirring up hatred and the statutory aggravation concerning offences aggravated by prejudice. This will ensure that women and girls have the same protections as victims of hate crime targeted because of their religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity, age, disability or variations in sex characteristics. The provision will also provide protection to men and boys.
There is a requirement in the 2021 Act for the draft SSI to be laid in Parliament for at least 40 days, excluding any period where the Parliament is in recess for more than 2 days. The consultation will run until 10 October 2025. The responses to the consultation will help inform consideration of the SSI to be laid in Parliament after the end of the consultation.
- Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 15 August 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 28 August 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that the Scottish Ambulance Service is able to reach patients within its response time targets, especially in rural locations.
Answer
The Scottish Government is clear that there should be no unnecessary delays in responding to patients, regardless of their location. The Scottish Ambulance Service’s 2025-26 budget is £437.2 million. This represents increased investment of £88 million from 2024-25, including additional funding to provide for prior year pay deals as well as a range of funding to support vital frontline services, including in rural and island communities.
- Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 August 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Siobhian Brown on 28 August 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether section 30(1) and (3) to (7) of the Children (Scotland) Act 2020 came into force on 22 June 2025.
Answer
Yes. Section 30(1), (3), (4), (5), (6) and (7) of the Children (Scotland) Act 2020 came into force on 22 June 2025 as set out in:
The Children (Scotland) Act 2020 (Commencement No. 3 and Saving Provision) Regulations 2025.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 August 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 28 August 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what work it has undertaken to devise a statutory definition of honour-based abuse, and when it plans to introduce that definition.
Answer
Defining an issue is a vital first step towards creating a shared understanding of the problem. This lays the foundation for ensuring our collective response is more effective and leads to better outcomes for victim-survivors. This is particularly important in relation to honour-based abuse which has been misunderstood by professionals, meaning it is often not recognised and the required support to survivors not offered.
We have developed a policy definition of honour-based abuse that will provide staff responding to survivors with a consistent understanding of honour-based across different sectors. To do so, we undertook a literature review and worked with specialist organisations and academics in the Addressing Violence Against Minority Ethnic Women and Girls Network, and mainstream services including Social Work Scotland, Police Scotland, COPFS, NHS Scotland and local authorities to inform our work. We are currently working with these partners to explore practical ways the definition can be applied across services.
Developing a statutory definition will require extremely careful consideration and consultation to ensure it captures the complexities of honour-based abuse and aligns with legal frameworks. We will continue to work with our experts and partners to work through these challenges thoughtfully and ensure that our approach to addressing honour-based abuse, including a statutory definition if necessary, is robust and effective.
