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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-36652

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 6 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish the human rights checks that are carried out by Scottish Enterprise when determining whether to issue a grant, including the guidance that is issued to the agency's staff when completing these.

Question reference: S6W-36649

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 6 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its policy not to provide support for the manufacture of munitions through its enterprise agencies, how it defines "munitions".

Question reference: S6W-36650

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 6 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it and its enterprise agencies determine whether companies that have been linked to breaches of international humanitarian law can be excluded from receiving grants.

Question reference: S6W-36569

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 04 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 2 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Israeli parliament’s reported decision to ban the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) from operating inside Israel coming into effect on 30 January 2025, what plans it has to provide funding for UNRWA in 2025-26.

Question reference: S6W-36020

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 21 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 2 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what support it will provide to landowners for the (a) creation and (b) management of riparian buffer strips for beaver reintroduction.

In July 2023, Scottish Forestry launched the Woodlands for Riparian Benefits Forestry Grant Scheme, targeting specific areas to enhance Scotland’s riparian woodlands. The scheme offers increased grant rates for areas along watercourses. Around 175,000 hectares have been identified where planting riparian woodland can be prioritised to deliver and maximise multiple benefits.

There are also measures in the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme for the management of water margins, management of wetlands and floodplains and capital items to support river restoration approaches. While these are not specific to beaver reintroduction, these schemes can be used to enhance riparian habitats in those circumstances.

Question reference: S6W-36019

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 21 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 2 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action NatureScot is taking to (a) carry out strategic environmental assessments (SEA) of new catchments for beaver release and (b) streamline the SEA process.

NatureScot has published Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEA for Tayside, Knapdale, the Forth catchment, Loch Lomond catchment, the River Spey and the Beauly catchments, as well as publishing a screening report for the Rivers Ness and Lochy catchments.

Given the body of work to date and the likelihood of assessing similar environmental effects in different catchments, NatureScot has proposed that it will adopt an SEA screening approach to new catchments to determine if there are novel interests and interactions that may require a more detailed assessment. This will streamline the approach to future SEA assessments. Prioritising assessments will depend on where there is interest from land managers and organisations in hosting beavers.

Question reference: S6W-36016

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 21 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 2 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether its approach to issuing lethal control licences for beaver mitigation is consistent with the approach that it uses for licensing lethal control for other European protected species.

Yes. The approach NatureScot take, as the licensing authority for the issuing of lethal control licences for beaver management, is consistent with the approach that it uses for licensing lethal control for other European Protected Species, in that the licensing tests are the same. The interpretation of these will have some nuance depending on the interests being affected, the availability of satisfactory alternatives for different conflict situations and the conservation status of the species.

Question reference: S6W-36018

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 21 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 2 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the NatureScot report, Scotland's Beaver Strategy 2022-2045, how it will maintain the supply of sites for beaver translocation.

Question reference: S6W-36017

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 21 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 2 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many sites have been identified in a pipeline of new receptor sites for beaver management translocations, and how many beavers each receptor site is likely to accommodate.

Work has been ongoing within public agencies to identify sites where beaver release may take place, within and on the edge of current range and in new catchments. A licence issued to the Cairngorms National Park Authority allows for a further five beaver families to be released. Forestry and Land Scotland have submitted an application for beaver translocation to Glen Affric within the Beauly catchment which is currently being assessed by NatureScot.

NatureScot encourages any landowner who is interested in hosting beavers to come forward so that they can discuss the licence application process with them and the suitability of sites. The number of beavers hosted will vary depending on the number of release sites and the local circumstances, however, this forms part of the application process considered by NatureScot.

Question reference: S6W-36021

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 21 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 1 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether in applications for (a) lethal control and (b) trap and removal licences for beavers, evidence is required to prove that alternative mitigation options have been tried but deemed unsuccessful.

All applications for trapping or lethal control of beavers require that satisfactory alternatives are considered.

The beaver licence application form asks what alternative mitigations have been attempted. NatureScot specialists can advise whether there are other satisfactory alternatives that could be put in place and can require that these should be attempted first, before determining an application for a licence.