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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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S6W-33864

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 30 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will reopen the Marine Fund Scotland scheme in 2025-26, and how much funding will be allocated to it.

Question reference: S6W-33862

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 30 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) successful and (b) unsuccessful applications there have been each year for Marine Scotland Fund payments, broken down by applicant type.

Many applications do not proceed to assessment due to them either being withdrawn by the applicant or because they are identified as ineligible. No data is held on the numbers or types of these applications.

Of those eligible applications which are fully assessed the breakdown is in the following tables;

a) Successful applications

	2021-2022	2022-2023	2023-2024	2024-2025	Totals
Aquaculture	10	5	9	13	37
Environment	3	7	8	15	33
Marketing	2	2	2	4	10
Seafood processing	19	18	19	10	66
Sea fisheries	80	24	42	9	155
Research & Innovation	6	4	11	16	37
Total	120	60	91	67

b) Unsuccessful applications

	2021-2022	2022-2023	2023-2024	2024-2025	Totals
Aquaculture	0	1	6	5	12
Environment	0	0	1	1	2
Marketing	0	0	4	0	4
Seafood Processing	1	4	3	8	16
Sea Fisheries	9	18	23	21	71
Research & Innovation	1	0	7	4	12
Total	11		44	39

Question reference: S6W-33890

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 30 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on whether any fishing vessel owners have been charged additional costs for using port waste reception facilities to dispose of end-of-life gear since it published its marine litter strategy in September 2022.

The Scottish Government conducted an internal review and mapping exercise of port waste reception facilities relevant to the fishing sector in Scotland in both 2023 and 2024 in order to inform future policy development. Of the nine main ports and harbours which have dedicated collection facilities for the disposal of end-of-life fishing gear, see the answer to question S6W-33889 on 30 January 2025, two apply additional charges for the use of these facilities. The provision of adequate waste facilities available to all vessels, including fishing vessels, encourages responsible disposal behaviour. Information on the individual numbers of fishing vessel owners being charged these additional costs was not collected. 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-33898

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 30 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish its updated Sectoral Marine Plan for Offshore Wind Energy.

Question reference: S6W-33927

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 30 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government on how many occasions the current (a) Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands and (b) Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity has met with the Scottish Anglers National Association since they were appointed to their role.

The Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity and I have not met directly with the Scottish Anglers National Association (SANA).

However, representatives of SANA were part of the stakeholder group that advised on the development of the Wild Salmon Strategy published in 2022. Since then, three Scottish angling governing bodies – SANA, the Scottish Federation for Coarse Angling and Scottish Federation of Sea Anglers - have been brought together under the umbrella of Angling Scotland. Angling Scotland now represents the interests of SANA in Marine Directorate stakeholders groups.

Question reference: S6W-33861

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 30 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been allocated to the Marine Fund Scotland in each year, and how much has been distributed to successful applicants.

£14m has been made available each year under the Marine Fund Scotland (MFS).

In some cases, not all the funding made available is drawn down within the financial year by the applicant. Expenditure against awards is as follows;

2021-2022 £12.23m

2022-2023 £11.59m

2023-2024 £12.63m

2024-2025 £2.21m (This isn't for a full year, historically most payments are made in the last quarter of the financial year).

Question reference: S6W-33817

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 30 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what funding it has provided to PetroIneos toward Project Willow at the Grangemouth refinery site, and whether all material in relation to the project will be made publicly available.

As set out in our Draft Just Transition Plan, the Scottish Government is committed to supporting a long term and sustainable future for the Grangemouth industrial cluster.

Alongside the UK Government, we have jointly funded £1.5m to support the development of ‘Project Willow’ which has identified a shortlist of low carbon alternatives which could be deployed in the future at the Refinery site. These alternatives include low carbon hydrogen, eFuels and sustainable aviation fuel.

The work is due to conclude shortly and key outputs and recommendations will be made available via a public communication. As I set out in my reply to S6W-31864 on 10 December 2024, the Scottish Government will provide an update to Parliament on the findings of Project Willow in due course.

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-33763

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 30 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to government-issued mobile phones, how much mobile data has been used by its departments in each of the last five years, and what the associated costs were.

The mobile data used in terabytes (Tb) on the Scottish Government’s account as part of our mobile voice and data contracts is shown below. This data is only available from August 2020, it is not possible to separate the associated mobile data costs by department from the overall spend.

January 2024 to December 2024 - 82.59Tb

January 2023 to December 2023 - 94.87Tb

January 2022 to December 2022 - 97.77Tb

January 2021 to December 2021 - 125.07Tb

July 2020 to December 2020 - 39.99Tb

Question reference: S6W-32709

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 30 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the campaign for parole reform being pursued by two survivors, and The Courier’s Voice for Victims campaign, particularly in relation to the current (a) necessity for a confidentiality agreement prior to participation and (b) non-requirement for an admission of guilt before consideration of parole.

We are committed to listening to the victims’, and their families, views on how the parole system can be improved.

This why the First Minister, Minister for Victims, and I, are committed to meeting victims and hear how we can better support them through the parole process.

Continuous improvement is essential to ensuring the parole system remains effective and fit for purpose.

However, any proposals to amend parole rules need to be carefully considered, and fully assessed, to understand their impact.

Question reference: S6W-33489

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 30 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many and (b) what percentage of compulsory purchase orders issued in each of the last five years were contested, and how many of these contests resulted in changes to the original orders.

The Scottish Government regularly publishes a register of compulsory purchase orders (CPOs) submitted to the Scottish Ministers for confirmation since 2012: https://www.gov.scot/publications/compulsory-purchase-order-register/. The current register, published in December, includes CPOs received up to the end of October 2024.

Whilst the register of CPOs does not include information on whether orders submitted for confirmation were opposed, it does indicate where orders were confirmed with modifications.