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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-41741

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Friday, 07 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 21 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government to what extent AI was used in the process to determine the awarding of funding from the Future Farming Investment Scheme, and for what reasons.

As was made clear to Jamie Halcro Johnston and Douglas Ross in the Chamber on 5 November 2025, the claims that an AI based system was used to assess applications are not correct. Applications were assessed through a standardised framework that cross checked application data against the Single Application Form (SAF) and other system held data to ensure consistency, transparency, and audit defensibility.

Assessment work was led by the Agricultural Development Team, supported by staff from across the RPID area office network, which is experienced in delivering Scottish Government grant schemes. Independent validation was undertaken by a Project Board, which also included RPID Area Office representatives, as well as being reviewed by Internal Audit representatives.

Question reference: S6W-41846

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 21 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-24400 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 23 January 2024, what progress has been made regarding its agreement with the UK Government in principle to proceed with a Section 104 Order relating to changing marriages to civil partnerships covering the reserved law of Scotland only.

Discussions are ongoing at official level between Scottish Government and UK Government officials in relation to the proposed section 104 Order to enable the conversion of a marriage into a civil partnership.

If regulations were made by the Scottish Ministers without a section 104 Order covering matters reserved to Westminster, this could result in conversions not being recognised in the rest of the UK and could negatively impact the pensions of some couples who convert their relationship. Therefore our original policy proposal remains to also proceed with a section 104 Order.

The latest meeting my officials had with the Scotland Office was productive, however it was noted that there would be no progress made on this Order until after the Scottish general election in 2026.

Question reference: S6W-41822

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 21 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) fatal and (b) serious accidents there have been on each road in the trunk road network covering the Highlands and Islands region in each year since 2021.

The following tables presents the total number of personal injury collisions on the trunk roads in Highland Council Region between 1 January 2021 and 5 October 2025 (latest date for which data is available for serious and slight collisions and 12 November 2025 for fatal collisions), broken down by month and severity.

Personal Injury Accident Statistics: By route as noted in tables

Route	Year	Fatal	Very Serious	Moderately Serious	Less Serious	Slight	Total
A82	2021	3	5	2	8	20	38
	2022	2	2	5	2	13	24
	2023	1	6	4	6	20	37
	2024	2	6	8	7	17	40
	2025	2	2	6	4	4	18
	Total	10	21	25	27	74	157

Route	Year	Fatal	Very Serious	Moderately Serious	Less Serious	Slight	Total
A828	2021	0	0	0	1	1	2
	2022	0	0	0	0	0	0
	2023	0	0	0	0	0	0
	2024	0	0	0	1	0	1
	2025	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Total	0	0	0	2	1	3

Route	Year	Fatal	Very Serious	Moderately Serious	Less Serious	Slight	Total
A830	2021	0	0	0	2	4	6
	2022	0	1	1	0	3	5
	2023	0	0	1	1	1	3
	2024	0	1	2	3	3	9
	2025	1	1	0	0	1	3
	Total	1	3	4	6	12	26

Route	Year	Fatal	Very Serious	Moderately Serious	Less Serious	Slight	Total
A835	2021	0	1	0	1	3	5
	2022	1	0	1	2	4	8
	2023	1	1	1	5	4	12
	2024	0	0	2	1	2	5
	2025	0	1	1	0	6	8
	Total	2	3	5	9	19	38

Route	Year	Fatal	Very Serious	Moderately Serious	Less Serious	Slight	Total
A86	2021	0	2	0	2	0	4
	2022	0	1	1	0	1	3
	2023	0	1	0	4	1	6
	2024	0	1	0	2	4	7
	2025	0	0	0	0	3	3
	Total	0	5	1	8	9	23

Route	Year	Fatal	Very Serious	Moderately Serious	Less Serious	Slight	Total
A87	2021	1	0	2	6	5	14
	2022	1	0	2	2	2	7
	2023	2	3	1	3	9	18
	2024	1	2	4	6	9	22
	2025	3	0	1	1	7	12
	Total	8	5	10	18	32	73

Route	Year	Fatal	Very Serious	Moderately Serious	Less Serious	Slight	Total
A887	2021	0	0	0	0	1	1
	2022	1	0	0	0	0	1
	2023	0	0	0	0	0	0
	2024	0	1	0	1	1	3
	2025	0	0	0	1	2	3
	Total	1	1	0	2	4	8

Route	Year	Fatal	Very Serious	Moderately Serious	Less Serious	Slight	Total
A889	2021	0	0	0	1	0	1
	2022	0	0	0	0	0	0
	2023	0	0	0	0	1	1
	2024	0	0	0	0	0	0
	2025	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Total	0	0	0	1	1	2

Route	Year	Fatal	Very Serious	Moderately Serious	Less Serious	Slight	Total
A9	2021	2	6	4	3	14	29
	2022	8	5	3	1	16	33
	2023	2	9	6	7	16	40
	2024	7	12	7	7	16	49
	2025	4	3	3	2	7	19
	Total	23	35	23	20	69	170

Route	Year	Fatal	Very Serious	Moderately Serious	Less Serious	Slight	Total
A95	2021	0	1	0	1	1	3
	2022	1	1	1	0	0	3
	2023	0	2	2	0	2	6
	2024	0	0	0	0	4	4
	2025	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Total	1	4	3	1	7	16

Route	Year	Fatal	Very Serious	Moderately Serious	Less Serious	Slight	Total
A96	2021	1	0	0	1	3	5
	2022	1	0	4	0	6	11
	2023	0	3	4	5	5	17
	2024	2	0	1	4	3	10
	2025	2	1	0	0	3	6
	Total	6	4	9	10	20	49

Route	Year	Fatal	Very Serious	Moderately Serious	Less Serious	Slight	Total
A99	2021	1	0	0	0	2	3
	2022	0	0	0	0	0	0
	2023	1	0	1	0	3	5
	2024	0	0	0	0	2	2
	2025	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Total	2	0	1	0	7	10

*Data up to 5-1-2025 for serious and slight accidents provided from Transport Statistics Injury Road Collision database and fatal accidents up to 12/11/2025 provided from Transport Statistics Injury Road Collision database and Transport Scotland Fatal Accident Register.

Source: Transport Statistics Injury Road Collision database /Transport Scotland’s Fatal Accident Register

Notes:

Statistics for Parliamentary Question

Date Period: 01-01-2021 – 5-10-2025 (for slight and serious) 31-8-25 (for fatal)

Date Extracted – 12-11-2025

Please note that the personal injury accident information provided above is based on the current figures available. The following are potential reasons for an accident not appearing on our system:

Transport Scotland only holds accident information which is provided to us by Police Scotland. Transport Scotland does not hold information relating to damage only accidents (i.e. not involving an injury).

Transport Scotland only holds accident information for the trunk road network. The accident information Transport Scotland holds is subject to change. For example, we receive late returns from Police Scotland, who are responsible for recording details of injury accidents.

Annual Scottish accident figures are published by Transport Scotland on a yearly basis and can be found by entering Reported Road Casualties Scotland into your search engine.

From summer 2019, Police Scotland introduced a new system for recording traffic collisions. Due to improved recording and categorisation processes, it is expected that there will be an increase in the number of casualties and accidents on Scottish roads that are classified as serious.

Statisticians within the Department for Transport have devised a method for adjusting the road casualty figures to ensure that they can be compared over time on a consistent basis. Transport Scotland’s Key Reported Road Casualties and Reported Road Casualties statistics publications will present both adjusted and unadjusted figures.

Question reference: S6O-05122

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Independent
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 November 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what assessment it has made of the operational resilience of the Parliament's information technology systems, in light of the disruption to the stage 3 proceedings for the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill.

Question reference: S6O-05225

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 November 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it will commit to structured engagement with MSP staff trade unions on an ongoing basis.

Question reference: S6O-05222

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6O-05223

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 November 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it will consult MSP staff trade unions before deciding on uprating the Staff Cost Provision in the 2026-27 financial year.

Question reference: S6O-05224

Asked by: Lorna Slater, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 November 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it will review its interim position on the use of facilities and services at the Parliament, following the Supreme Court ruling, and seek specialist legal advice, in light of the Equality and Human Rights Commission withdrawing its interim guidance.

Question reference: S6O-05188

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 November 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what recent discussions it has held with Police Scotland about the policing of protests at the Scottish Parliament.

Question reference: S6O-05189

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 November 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what action it is taking to ensure that visits to the Scottish Parliament are inclusive and accessible to all school pupils.