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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-40615

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 7 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many employer accounts there are on the Energy Skills Passport pilot scheme, broken down by (a) oil and gas, (b) offshore wind, (c) onshore renewables, (d) construction, (e) defence and (f) any other sector.

The initial version of the industry-led Energy Skills Passport is a tool to support oil and gas workers identify training pathways into key offshore wind roles. Accounts are created by individual workers.

The Energy Skills Passport is an industry-led project, with Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) and RenewableUK (RUK) as the lead bodies.

The latest information available to Scottish Government regarding uptake, which covers the period from launch in January to August 2025, is that around 480 user profiles have been set up on the Passport’s digital system.

For the most up to date figures, we recommend contacting OEUK and RUK directly.

Question reference: S6W-40623

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 7 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what additional public funding, beyond the initial £3.7 million announced in its news release of 22 January 2025, Energy Skills Passport, it has committed to the Energy Skills Passport pilot scheme, and what representations it has made to the UK Government regarding the scheme getting support from Great British Energy.

The Scottish Government has supported the initial phases of industry led development of an Energy Skills Passport by providing £3.7 million through the Just Transition Fund for the North East and Moray over the financial years 2022-23 and 2023-24. There are no plans at this time for further funding from the Scottish Government.

We nonetheless remain a close project partner and Scottish Government officials engage regularly on the Passport with the lead industry bodies, Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) and RenewableUK (RUK), as well as with UK Government officials.

Following the launch of an initial version by the industry lead bodies in January, the Scottish Government is looking forward to now seeing the Passport develop further and provide more options and pathways for workers to transition between sectors. Success during “phase 2” of the Passport will require it to be fully supported from a range of bodies, including UK Government.

Question reference: S6W-40631

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 7 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what key performance indicators it is using to measure the success of the Energy Skills Passport pilot scheme, and what the current performance is against each indicator.

Question reference: S6W-40634

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 7 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether any approved change requests have altered the scope, cost or timeline for the Energy Skills Passport pilot scheme, and what the rationale has been for each change.

Question reference: S6O-05055

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 October 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to recent reports of a rise in recorded bullying incidents in schools.

Question reference: S6O-05025

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 September 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the £20 million Housing Infrastructure Fund that was launched in 2016, as part of the 10-year Aberdeen City Region Deal, has been spent.

Question reference: S6W-40474

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 18 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the original commitment of the Aberdeen to Central Belt Enhancement Project to spend £200 million by 2026 to reduce journey times between Aberdeen and the central belt by 20 minutes, whether it will confirm (a) how much has been spent by the project so far, and on what specific areas of work, (b) what the projected final cost of the project is and (c) by what date (i) work on the project will be completed and (ii) the reduced journey times will be fully operational.

To 19/7/2025, £24.5m has been spent on schemes to reduce journey times between Aberdeen on the central Belt.

This includes £6.8m on the project to improve rail line speeds in the Barnhill area between Perth and Dundee. This was a nine-month programme of alignment work to replace a curved section of track by installing a new single line and also remodelling the junction at Barnhill by replacing switches and crossings.

The remainder of the spend has been on design development of a package of enhancements to improve capacity and journey time including: Signalling works, enhancements at Aberdeen, Montrose, Arbroath and Dundee stations, and freight loops.

The estimated cost of constructing all of the interventions necessary to deliver the project outputs sought by the project reference group is estimated at £242 million.

Delivery timescales for the project remain under review. It is planned that project delivery and thus benefit delivery will be staged to align with planned Network Rail renewals and other enhancement schemes such as Fife Electrification and replacement of ScotRail’s suburban fleet.

Question reference: S6W-40376

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 17 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many ScotRail services have been (a) cancelled, (b) part-cancelled and (c) delayed by at least (i) one minute, (ii) 15 minutes, (iii) 30 minutes and (iv) 60 minutes in (A) each of the last three financial years and (B) 2025-26 to date, and how many of these were attributed to (1) air conditioning/cooling failures, (2) other rolling-stock defects, (3) train crew availability, (4) infrastructure or signalling faults, (5) the weather and (6) other causes, also broken down by ScotRail service group.

Question reference: S6T-02667

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 September 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Nuclear Industry Association's reported view that Scotland will miss out on thousands of new jobs due to its stance on nuclear energy.

Question reference: S6W-39595

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 1 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when its ministers last met with (a) Shell UK Limited, (b) ExxonMobil, (c) the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and (d) the Health and Safety Executive to discuss the Mossmorran complex, and what issues were discussed on each occasion.

The former Minister for Climate Action last met with representatives of the Shell Natural Gas Liquids plant, and Exxonmobil Fife Ethylene Plant on 28 October 2024. The Minister discussed with the businesses, their views on Just Transition planning, their long-term plans, as well as wider matters regarding participation in the Acorn project and engagement with the UK Government regarding the Track process.

Scottish Government Ministers have not met with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency or the Health and Safety Executive in that last 4 years to specifically discuss the Mossmorran industrial complex.