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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-42875

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 January 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 21 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding any implications for its energy strategy, what assessment it has made of the maximum data centre energy demand that can be accommodated in Scotland while aligning with its climate change targets.

Question reference: S6W-42881

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 January 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 21 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it will take to strengthen oversight of local authorities’ management of Common Good assets to ensure accountability and community benefit.

Question reference: S6W-42879

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 January 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 21 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures consistency in the application of guidance and protocols on Common Good governance across all local authorities.

Question reference: S6W-42673

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 19 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 6 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its response to the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee 1st Report 2025, Follow-up inquiry into salmon farming in Scotland (SP Paper 720), what specific "burden" it considers would arise from implementing the recommendation that all fish mortality data be made public; which Scottish Government directorate, agency or public body would bear that burden; what additional tasks or functions would be required to implement the recommendation; what assessment has been made of the associated costs, resource implications or operational impacts, and what analysis or evidence was used to reach the conclusion that publication of this data would constitute a "burden".

All mortality data collected by the Scottish Government and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency in relation to Scottish salmon farming is already made public on Scottish Government and Scotland’s Aquaculture websites, resulting in a high level of transparency and more data being available for salmon farming in Scotland in comparison to other farming sectors.

A formal assessment of impacts of data collection has not been undertaken. However, additional data is not required for regulation and its provision would generate data collection, handing and processing by producers at both a site and company level, as well as by the Scottish Government’s Fish Health Inspectorate, and this is disproportionate to the regulatory need.

Question reference: S6W-42653

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 January 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 19 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its reported commitment to integrate skills strategies into sectoral strategies, when these skills strategies will be published and which (a) sectors and (b) regions each will cover.

Question reference: S6F-04564

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 January 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 January 2026

To ask the First Minister whether he will provide an update on the rollout of the £2 bus fare cap pilot agreed as part of the 2025-26 budget negotiations.

Question reference: S6W-42677

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 5 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the environmental and climate impacts associated with the importation of salmon feed used in the aquaculture sector, including on transport emissions and the sustainability of any wild-caught fish.

The Scottish Government has not commissioned an assessment of the environmental and climate impacts associated with the importation of salmon feed, however the Scottish Government Rural Affairs and Environmental Portfolio Strategic Research Programme has supported relevant research by Scotland’s Rural College on greenhouse gas emissions from Scottish aquaculture, which can be found here: rpc-research-briefing-quantifying-aquaculture-greenhouse-gas-emissions.pdf

It is well known that fish feed makes up a significant proportion of carbon emissions in the salmon supply chain, and the sector is working to find ways to improve efficiency and reduce emissions further. Salmon Scotland’s sustainability charter commits to achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions in its operations before 2045 and our Vision for Sustainable Aquaculture commits to supporting the sector to using 100% responsibly sourced marine and vegetable ingredients in finfish feeds, identifying opportunities to use a greater quantity of novel ingredients, trimmings and other by-products.

Question reference: S6W-42652

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 5 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of Scotland’s 2045 target to balance climate-warming pollution that is emitted with what can be removed from the atmosphere, whether it will provide an update on how it plans to scale up education and training provision for green jobs in order to deliver that target.

Our recently published draft Climate Change Plan sets out how we will seize the opportunities of net zero to secure new jobs and economic growth. The plan sets out the action we are taking to Scottish Government to plan for a multi-skilled workforce that can benefit from opportunities across the energy system.

Since 2022, our Just Transition Fund has allocated £85 million projects across the North East and Moray, helping to create green jobs, support innovation and secure the highly skilled workforce of the future .This includes £4.5 million to support the Energy Transition Skills Hub in Aberdeen, and £3.7 million to develop the Energy Skills Passport, which supports oil and gas workers to identify raining routes into clean energy roles.

In 2025 we also launched the pilot of a new Oil and Gas Transition Training Fund in partnership with the UK Government to support oil and gas workers with careers advice and funding for training to access roles in sustainable energy.

The Offshore Wind Skills Priorities & Action Plan, developed with industry and key public sector partners, sets out 12 initial actions to be taken in supporting the required pipeline of skilled workers. We are also providing targeted funding to the college sector in 2025-26 to deliver an Offshore Wind Skills Programme, helping to create region-specific training hubs for offshore wind skills.

More broadly, the Scottish Government recognises the significant reforms to education and training to further the STEM skills needed to support high-quality green jobs. In the Programme for Government the First Minister committed to take responsibility for skills planning at the national level, while strengthening regional approaches, to ensure that post school provision becomes more responsive to Scotland’s strategic skills needs and priorities, including the transition to Net Zero.

Question reference: S6W-42679

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 5 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what the outcome was of any investigation into the pollution incident reported at Loch Hourn in April 2025; what the (a) source and (b) nature of any pollution was determined to be; whether any enforcement action has been taken as a result, and what steps have been taken to prevent any recurrence.

Question reference: S6W-42748

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 19 December 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 16 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports regarding poor housing standards experienced by seasonal farm workers, what consideration it has given to implementing section 315(6) of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987.