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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-42088

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 2 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide information on its policy regarding the use of revenue collected from the Scottish Government carbon levy on business flights, including (a) the objectives of the levy, (b) the criteria and process for selecting carbon reduction projects on the core estate to be funded from the levy, (c) the governance and oversight arrangements for managing the levy funds, including which directorates are responsible, (d) how often the rate and operation of the levy have been reviewed since its introduction and (e) what changes have been made as a result of any such reviews.

(a) The objectives of the levy

The levy is designed to raise money from business flights to be invested in carbon reduction and active travel projects to reduce the impact of business travel and improve health and wellbeing.

In 2018 the Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform approved a proposal to focus the money raised from the levy to reduce the Scottish Government’s carbon emissions to help compensate for the carbon emitted from business travel, which was the original purpose of the Levy. This has the benefit of reducing the Scottish Government’s carbon emissions in a measurable and reportable way.

(b) Projects are selected based on the potential for carbon reduction either via fully or partially funding projects, funding behaviour change initiatives, training or promoting active travel options.

(c) The carbon levy is administered by the Environmental Management Team within Workplace Division in the Scottish Procurement & Property Directorate.

(d) The rate of the carbon levy has not been reviewed since it was created in 2009. Officials are currently carrying out a review. The operation of the levy was reviewed in 2018.

(e) A review is currently underway. No changes have been made to the rates since the levy was introduced. The review in 2018 resulted in a change to the way the levy was spent. Agreement was given to support using the levy to fund carbon reduction projects on the Core Scottish Government Estate.

Question reference: S6W-41883

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 2 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding what the median waiting time at the point of referral was for patients registered with GPs in (a) Aberdeen City and (b) Aberdeenshire who travelled to NHS (i) Greater Glasgow and Clyde and (ii) Lothian, in each of the last five years, compared with patients treated in NHS Grampian for the same conditions.

Question reference: S6W-42086

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 2 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S6W-41711, S6W-41712 and S6W-41713 by Ivan McKee on 13 November 2025, whether it will provide information on how much has been collected through its carbon levy on business flights in each financial year since the levy was introduced, and what the (a) cumulative total collected to date, (b) cumulative total spent to date and (c) current balance remaining in the carbon levy fund is.

The Carbon Levy was implemented in financial year 2006-7. Historical data on the amount collected each year prior to 2017-18 is not available.

2017-18 - £33,321

2018-19 - £32,211

2019-20 - £40,534

2020-21 - £558

2021-22 - No money collected

2022-23 - No money collected

2023-24 - No money collected

2024-25 £40,512

Between 2021 and 2024 no money was transferred from the travel provider. The money accumulated and was paid in 2024-25

The cumulative total spend to date is £440,000.

The current balance is £147,136

Question reference: S6W-41893

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 1 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to use the discussions and outcomes from the COP30 UN climate summit in Belem, Brazil, to inform the finalisation and implementation of its draft Climate Change Plan, including any changes that it anticipates making to the actions and timescales set out in the draft plan up to 2040.

Question reference: S6W-41888

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 1 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on the total estimated cost to it of its delegation attending the COP30 UN climate summit in Belem, Brazil, broken down by (a) travel, (b) accommodation, (c) subsistence and (d) any other associated costs, and, for each of these categories, what the estimated cost is for (i) ministers, (ii) special advisers and (iii) officials.

Question reference: S6W-41891

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 1 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its objectives are for engagement at the COP30 UN climate summit in Belem, Brazil, with (a) activists, (b) civil society partners from the Global South and (c) partners in its Climate Justice Fund programmes, and how it will evaluate the outcomes of this engagement.

Question reference: S6W-41887

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 1 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many of its (a) ministers, (b) special advisers and (c) officials are attending the COP30 UN climate summit in Belem, Brazil, as part of its delegation, and for how many days each category of attendee is scheduled to be present at the summit.

Question reference: S6W-41894

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 1 December 2025

Question reference: S6W-42092

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 1 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-41715 by Neil Gray on 18 November 2025, in light of the cabinet secretary’s comment that the “cost of translation services can be obtained from Health Boards individually”, whether it will provide the information that was requested and confirm what the cost of translation services has been to each NHS board in each of the last seven financial years, and whether it considers that the response provided meets the commitment set out in paragraph 1.7(d) of the Scottish Ministerial Code 2025 edition, which states that “Ministers should be as open as possible with the Parliament and the public, reflecting the aspirations set out in the Report of the Consultative Steering Group on the Scottish Parliament”, and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

While it is always our intention to be as open with the Parliament and the public as possible, as outlined in the answer to question S6W-41715, the Scottish Government is unable to provide the information requested as it does not hold this.

It is the responsibility of the Scottish Government to provide policies, frameworks and resources to NHS Boards to ensure that they can deliver services that meet the needs of their local population. However, the Scottish Government is not involved in the day to day operations and each NHS Board is individually responsible for appropriately utilising the resources provided.

Question reference: S6W-41880

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 1 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding (a) how many and (b) what proportion of patients registered with GPs in (i) Aberdeen City and (ii) Aberdeenshire who received care delivered by NHS (A) Greater Glasgow and Clyde and (B) Lothian in each of the last five years were offered a “Near Me” or other form of remote consultation as an alternative.