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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-44183

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 March 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 18 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consult with a wide number of chronic pain patients in future decisions relating to chronic pain services, as the Scottish Health Technologies Group did when reviewing NHS specialist pain relief for people with chronic pain.

The Scottish Government acknowledges the Scottish Health Technologies Group recommendations regarding specialist interventions for managing chronic non-malignant pain in adults. NHS Scotland is required to consider SHTG recommendations and discussions are underway to understand how those recommendations can inform sustainable, consistent and effective service delivery across Scotland.

We will continue to engage with a wide range of stakeholders including clinical professionals, third sector organisations and those with lived experience of chronic pain as we progress ongoing delivery of the actions in our Pain Management Service Delivery Framework.

We have set out the wider policy within which NHS Scotland is expected to deliver services and expect all NHS Boards, including NHS Highland, to provide high quality care that is safe, effective and person-centred. We expect that decisions about the appropriateness of treatment for chronic pain, or specific medications for pain management, will be made by the clinician in discussion with the patient to ensure the most suitable treatment is made available based on their medical history.

Question reference: S6W-44136

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 March 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 17 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers by Jim Fairlie to question S6W-26881 on 5 June 2024 and question S6W-35356 on 11 March 2025 in relation to financing natural capital, whether it will provide information on (a) how much private finance was arranged under the support of the Natural Investment Partnership and spent on (i) tree planting and (ii) peatland restoration between 1 March 2025 and 28 February 2026, (b) who the private finance providers involved were, (c) how much was invested and (d) which projects received investment.

Question reference: S6W-44016

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 02 March 2026
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 13 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that its new national housing agency prioritises affordable housing in the Highlands, to prevent local residents from being priced out by any increased demand from large infrastructure projects.

More Homes Scotland will bring together housing, land, planning and delivery expertise to simplify, scale and speed up the delivery of homes across Scotland, including in Highland. A design phase is underway, and an update will be provided to Parliament in March.

Our record £926 million budget in 2026-27 and our commitment to multi-year funding provide certainty for affordable housing and increase sector confidence. This year, we have increased investment in Highland to £47.6 million to deliver properties for affordable housing.

Question reference: S6W-44017

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 02 March 2026
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 10 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what specific measures are being introduced to improve access to legal advice in rural island communities, beyond fee increases, to address the logistical challenges of travel and service delivery.

We know that change is needed to ensure that we have an adaptable, flexible, affordable and sustainable legal aid system in Scotland that supports people who are facing challenging issues and problems. Consideration is being given to primary legislation in the next Parliamentary term that will consolidate the Government's recent reform to legal aid in Scotland. This will ensure continued support to people who are facing challenging issues, of course including those in rural island communities. The decision to take this forward will be for the next Government.

This government has continued its investment in the legal aid system which is generally effective in delivering help to those in need, however we do recognise there are some challenges in relation to certain types of cases or locations.

There are several ways in which access to solicitors can be facilitated remotely, and funding is available to allow solicitors to travel to rural and remote parts of the country to carry out work, meaning that individuals do not have to rely on local provision alone when seeking publicly funded legal assistance.

The Civil Legal Assistance Office has been established and is a network of 3 offices in Scotland that helps people with civil legal problems. Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) employed solicitors can provide advice and assistance to people with particular types of civil legal problems across Highlands and Islands, Argyll and Bute, Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, and Edinburgh and the Lothians. Further, the Scottish Legal Aid Board manage 16 regional grant funded projects to support people facing legal action. This includes in island locations such as the Western Isles and Orkney Islands.

All of these services can operate across a wide geographical area and, through our ongoing reform programme, we are considering how different funding models can be used to strengthen access to legal aid where it is most needed.

Question reference: S6W-43976

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 10 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on how long an investigation into a pollution incident at a loch should take.

We take pollution incidents very seriously. It is important that any investigation into pollution incidents is given sufficient time ensure a comprehensive and accurate understanding of both the causes and the environmental impacts before any findings are issued.

The time required to conclude an investigation of a pollution incident will vary depending on the scale and complexity of the event, the type and volume of pollutants involved, the sensitivity of the receiving environment, the availability and quality of evidence, and any requirement to coordinate with other regulatory or enforcement authorities.

Question reference: S6W-43874

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 23 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 4 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6F-04638 by John Swinney on 5 February 2026, and his commitment to contact the Highland Council regarding the funding of domestic abuse services in the Highlands, whether it has made this contact since then, and, if so, whether it will provide an update on any discussions.

I wrote to the Chief Executive of Highland Council on 11 February 2026, highlighting the concerns raised with the First Minister in relation to funding and future operational models of domestic abuse services in the Highlands. I requested Highland Council consider engaging with cross-party MSPs in the Highlands, to better understand the challenges and how they can be resolved.

We continue to encourage local authorities to utilise the joint COSLA and Scottish Women’s Aid guidance on good practice in commissioning specialist domestic abuse services.

Question reference: S6W-43596

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 19 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government when the Marine Directorate Licensing Operations team will release its findings into the pollution event that took place at Loch Hourn in April 2025.

Question reference: S6O-05517

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 February 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what the obligations of local government are in relation to the funding of local arts, heritage and culture services.

Question reference: S6W-43412

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 4 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service is meeting its legal obligations to protect its staff and to ensure compliance with equalities and health and safety legislation.

Question reference: S6W-43410

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 4 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will set key benchmarks for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to measure response times for the first responding appliance.

There are no plans to set benchmarks for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) to measure response times for the first responding appliance. SFRS’s targeted approach to risk and allocation of resources overtook the focus given to response times some years ago. It is important to focus on outcomes, rather than a simplistic look at response times. There can be a variety of reasons why response times vary, such as traffic conditions, street furniture or distance, particularly in remote and rural areas.

In its report (March 2019) on its scrutiny of the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012, the Justice Committee noted it was not convinced that setting response time targets is necessarily the correct approach, given the geographic area covered by the Service.

SFRS attends all emergencies and mobilises the nearest available appliance using established mobilisation arrangements. SFRS uses pre-determined attendance arrangements based on incident type and risk and an Officer in Charge is identified for incidents in line with operational guidance. The Service mobilises the necessary weight of resources appropriate to the information available at the time and adjusts this (up or down) as incidents progress. The resources required at an incident can change as more information becomes available, which can make fixed benchmarks difficult to apply consistently. Incident outcomes are therefore influenced by professional judgement, skills, and equipment, as well as the timely mobilisation of resources. Setting benchmarks to record the time when all of the required response assets reach the scene of all incidents would not therefore be a meaningful measurement.

SFRS continues to respond to every emergency incident with the appropriate level of resources.