Seòmar agus comataidhean

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

Criathragan Hide all filters

Displaying 1160 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6W-41482

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 10 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether Pupil Equity Funding has ever been allocated to schools to help (a) parents and (b) pupils meet ferry costs in relation to traveling to school.

Headteachers are empowered to take the decisions they judge will have the greatest impact for their pupils. They know their school communities best and are best placed to identify the approaches most likely to reduce barriers to learning.

The Scottish Government does not hold central records on individual schools’ expenditure decisions, and therefore does not record whether PEF has been used to meet ferry costs. However, funding can be used flexibly to remove barriers that prevent pupils from fully engaging in their education, where this can be evidenced as supporting equity of access and improved outcomes.

In island and rural communities, schools have used PEF in a variety of ways to address the particular challenges of geography and cost - for example, by supporting digital connectivity, access to school trips and extra-curricular activities, and targeted wellbeing interventions that help ensure pupils can participate fully in learning.

Question reference: S6W-41480

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 10 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of any additional in-year funding that it is currently providing to each NHS board in the Highlands and Islands region to reduce waiting lists.

As announced by the First Minister of 3 November 2025, health boards have been allocated an additional £25.5 million this year to allow them to deliver more planned activity for the longest waiting patients.

We have already allocated £110 million of additional funding this year, targeted at the speciality areas where it can have the biggest impact against the longest waits. Now we are providing a further boost to deliver more appointments and procedures, taking the total additional funding to £135.5 million for 2025-26.

The following tables set out the allocation of this funding in the Highlands and Islands region, broken down by health board and Planned Care speciality.

Table 1. NHS Highland

Health Board	Speciality	Total Cost 25-26 £000
NHS Highland	Cancer	259
	Dermatology	136
	ENT	638
	Gastroenterology	253
	General Surgery	469
	Gynaecology	414
	Imaging	81
	Neurology	36
	Ophthalmology	2454
	Orthopaedics	5535
	Rheumatology	70
	Urology	440
	Total	10784

Table 2. NHS Orkney

Health Board	Speciality	Total Cost 25-26 £000
NHS Orkney	ENT	93
	Ophthalmology	73
	Total	166

Table 3. NHS Shetland

Health Board	Speciality	Total Cost 25-26 £000
NHS Shetland	Dermatology	46
	ENT	44
	Gynaecology	33
	Imaging	132
	OMFS	14
	Ophthalmology	71
	Orthopaedics	102
	Paediatrics	27
	Rheumatology	45
	Total	512

Table 4. NHS Western Isles

Health Board	Speciality	Total Cost 25-26 £000
NHS Western Isles	Imaging	35
NHS Western Isles	Orthopaedics	36
	Total	71

Question reference: S6W-41503

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 10 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-28353 by Jenni Minto on 15 July 2024, whether it will provide an update on how many people have (a) been eligible for and (b) received a respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccination since the new programme was announced, broken down by NHS board area.

Scotland’s Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) vaccination programme for older adults and an RSV vaccination programme for pregnant women, providing protection to newborn babies, launched on 12 August 2024.

RSV Vaccination is currently offered every year to those turning 75 years of age:

In 2024-25 this included invites for all those turning 75 between 1 August 24 – 31 July 25.
In 2025-26 this includes invites for all those turning 75 between 1 August 25 – 31 July 26.

In 2024-25 there was also a catch-up programme and all those aged 75 to 80 years (i.e. 79 years + 364 days) as of 1 August 24 were invited forward.

Those eligible in previous years of the programme, who did not come forward at the time, remain eligible indefinitely and can come forward at any point in the future, should they request vaccination.

The Public Health Scotland Vaccination Surveillance Dashboard includes data on the number of RSV vaccinations administered for both the pregnancy and older adult programmes. The dashboard can be found at https://scotland.shinyapps.io/phs-vaccination-surveillance/.

The data for older adults does not display how many people have been eligible to receive the vaccine, but it does include a percentage uptake figure and the number of vaccinations administered. The data published is available at national and Health Board level, for both 2024-25 and 2025-26.

The data published for the maternal programme is only available at a national level.

Question reference: S6W-41484

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 10 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-18275 by Gillian Martin on 1 June 2023, on how many occasions the organisations that were awarded funding from the Hydrogen Innovation Scheme in the 2023 round failed to complete key project milestones.

Question reference: S6W-41618

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 7 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what support it has provided to communities to help them develop local place plans.

Planning Circular 1/2022: Local Place Plans (LPPs), provides advice to community bodies on preparing Local Place Plans (LPPs). Our Local Development Plan Guidance (May 2023) clarifies the role and requirements of a LPP in the preparation of the local development plan.

The Place Standard Tool is an easy to use method for communities to engage on issues and assess the quality of their local place, including physical and social aspects, which can inform LPPs. The Scottish Government also provides grant funding to Planning Aid Scotland to support community engagement and participation in planning across Scotland, including preparation of LPPs. Wider sources of support are also available for example through the Strengthening Communities Programme.

Online resources and guides to support communities to prepare local place plans are available at Community-led Plans - Planning Aid Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-41557

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 7 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government for what reasons the retired MV Hebridean Isles vessel is being dismantled at a facility in Denmark and not in Scotland.

CMAL, as vessel owner, sought competitive quotes on the open market for the recycling of the MV Hebridean Isles. Quotes were received from UK based suppliers which would have seen CMAL pay significant costs for the vessel to be recycled domestically.

Two notes of interest and one firm offer were received from EU bidders. CMAL confirmed the specialist knowledge, sustainable approach to recycling and track record of Smedegaarden A/S which is a dedicated recycling yard in Denmark. CMAL signed the contract with Smedegaarden A/S who have bought the vessel from CMAL ahead of recycling activity, providing guaranteed decommissioning work to the highest standards and better value to the public purse.

Question reference: S6W-41338

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 7 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what enforcement action it has taken in each year since 2014 against housing associations following failures to repay funding from Scotland's Charitable Bond Programme, broken down by association.

Question reference: S6W-41337

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 7 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government on how many occasions housing associations have failed to meet their repayment obligations after receiving loans from Scotland's Charitable Bond Programme, in each year since 2014.

Question reference: S6W-41486

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 6 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) successful and (b) unsuccessful applications to the Community Energy Generation Growth Fund there have been in each year since 2024, broken down by local authority area.

The Community Energy Generation Growth Fund, administered through the Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES), was first launched in 2024 and supports community groups to develop their own renewable energy projects, including wind and solar PV projects.

As of 30 October 2025, a total of 122 applications have been received to the fund since inception. Of this, 95 applications were approved for funding and 25 were not approved, and 2 were deferred for further consideration

A breakdown by local authority area is provided in the following table:

Local Authority Area	Approved	Not approved for funding
Aberdeen City	*	*
Aberdeenshire	6
Argyll and Bute	8	*
City of Edinburgh	6	*
Comhairle nan Eilean	9
Dumfries and Galloway	*
Dundee City Council	*
East Ayrshire	*	*
East Lothian	*
East Renfrewshire		*
Fife	*	*
Glasgow City	8	*
Highland	8	6
Midlothian	*	*
Moray	*
North Ayrshire	6	*
North Lanarkshire	*
Orkney Islands	*	*
Perth and Kinross	*	*
Renfrewshire	*
Scottish Borders	*
Shetland Islands	*
South Ayrshire	*
South Lanarkshire	*	*
Stirling	*	*
Various	*
West Dunbartonshire	*
West Lothian	*
Grand Total	95	25

Notes:

1.To preserve the anonymity of individual projects, all local authority awards totalling five or fewer have been redacted in accordance with disclosure control principles.[1]

2.An additional two applications were deferred, as detailed in the written response.

3.Where awards are listed as 'various', they were granted to organisations operating across multiple local authority areas.

[1] 4.5 Protect the confidentiality of individual and business information when producing statistics. Be transparent about the choices made in line with the producer’s published confidentiality policy and apply appropriate disclosure control methods before release
https://osr.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/blog/guidance-type/short-guide/.

Anonymisation guidance applied is per Government Guidance:
Anonymisation and data confidentiality – Government Analysis Function

Question reference: S6W-41485

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 6 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether any funding awarded to organisations from the Hydrogen Innovation Scheme has ever had to be paid back, and, if so, whether it will provide details of this.