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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-43347

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 January 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 10 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what recent communication it has had with (a) Aberdeen City Council, (b) Aberdeenshire Council, (c) Moray Council, (d) SEPA and (e) Energy From Waste (EfW) Ness regarding the shutdown of the waste incinerator in East Tullos.

Question reference: S6W-43344

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 January 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 10 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact on (a) environmental, (b) air and (c) water quality of the shutdown of the waste incinerator in East Tullos.

Question reference: S6W-43345

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 January 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 10 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to (a) environmental, (b) air and (c) water quality as part of its assessment of energy from waste incineration facilities in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-43346

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 January 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 10 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to (a) local authority, (b) co-operative and (c) worker ownership as part of its assessment of energy from waste incineration facilities in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-42531

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 6 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government when it last discussed the safety of oil and gas workers in the central and northern North Sea with the UK Government.

The Scottish Government recognises the paramount importance of workplace health and safety in the offshore energy sector.

Health and safety legislation is, however, a matter reserved to the UK Government, with the Health and Safety Executive as the regulator across Great Britain. Maritime safety is also a reserved competence of the UK Government undertaken by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

Scottish Government officials meet regularly with UK Government counterparts and regulators to discuss a range of matters related to the offshore energy sector.

Question reference: S6W-42530

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 15 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 5 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update from the (a) Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and (b) Health and Safety Executive in Aberdeen regarding the fatality on the Valaris 121 jack-up rig on 14 November 2025.

Question reference: S6W-42532

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 31 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding staff pay for offshore regulators, when it last discussed the funding of the Health and Safety Executive with the UK Government.

Question reference: S6W-42286

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 16 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what support it offers or plans to provide to landowners of fewer than 200 hectares, including those who are community groups and private individuals, who wish to manage land for the restoration of natural processes.

Scottish Government provides a wide range of support for landowners of fewer than 200 hectares, including community groups and private individuals, who wish to manage land for nature restoration purposes. This includes advisory support from Government and public bodies and also financial support from schemes such as:

Agricultural support;
the Forestry Grant Scheme (FGS);
Peatland ACTION;
the Nature Restoration Fund (NRF).

We also support the Woodland Carbon and Peatland Codes (WCC and PC) which are high-integrity market mechanisms for private investment in woodland creation and peatland restoration respectively. Further actions to increase the private investment opportunities for nature restoration are outlined in our Natural Capital Market Framework.

Question reference: S6W-42285

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 16 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the contribution of natural processes, such as natural regeneration, natural river dynamics and trophic interactions, toward meeting statutory nature recovery targets.

The Scottish Government is following a 4-step process to select statutory nature restoration targets. Target selection is based on the best scientific advice available, through recommendations provided by the Biodiversity Programme Advisory Group (PAG), which is made up of independent external experts.

This robust scientific advice has taken into account the role of natural processes in achieving biodiversity regeneration by 2045 and will be reflected in the indicators set against the target topics.

Question reference: S6W-42284

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 16 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to align the ecosystem metrics used in the Ecosystem Restoration Code with other policy frameworks and mechanisms, including through nature recovery targets and public funding mechanisms.

Scottish Government’s work on the Ecosystem Restoration Code (ERC) includes consideration of ecosystem metrics that:

Measure change in ecosystem condition and biodiversity;
Align with the metrics used for environmental policy frameworks, targets and public funding mechanisms;
Enable the issuance of ERC credits that meet the requirements of high-integrity buyers and investors.

The development of an ERC is building on the discovery and stakeholder engagement phases undertaken earlier this year, which covered policy alignment and measurement related aspects. Details of those phases can be found at the weblinks below:

Discovery – https://www.gov.scot/publications/ecosystem-restoration-code-engagement-paper/

Engagement – https://www.gov.scot/publications/ecosystem-restoration-code-erc-engagement-phase-results-analysis-paper/