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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-38839

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 3 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many projects have registered an interest in carbon contracts since the launch of the call for interest in the carbon contracts pilot.

Question reference: S6W-38841

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 3 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government which of its departmental budgets will be used to pay for any contingent liability from carbon contracts, and whether the Peatland ACTION budget will be affected.

Question reference: S6W-38838

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 3 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what criteria it will use to determine which projects that register an interest will be offered a carbon contract under the carbon contracts pilot; whether it will utilise the services of consultants to help assess projects for acceptance, and, if so, which consultants.

Question reference: S6W-38842

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 3 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) steps it has taken and (b) plans it has to report any contingent liability arising from the carbon contracts pilot.

Question reference: S6W-38869

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 3 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to improve the (a) accessibility and (b) affordability of inter-island ferry travel for disabled passengers.

The recently published Strategic Approach of the Islands Connectivity Plan sets Accessibility as one of four priorities for future ferry services and identifies a number of actions to support the delivery of this priority, including development of a Ferries Accessibility Standard and reopening of the Ferries Accessibility Fund.

We have also invested significantly to keep ferry fares affordable for all, including on Road Equivalent Tariff and islander fares, as well as the Older and Disabled Persons Concessionary Travel Scheme. In addition, a number of local authorities already provide concessionary ferry travel for disabled people.

Question reference: S6W-38837

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 3 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the reported call for the registration of peatland restoration projects for carbon contracts, how many hectares of degraded peatland it anticipates the carbon contracts pilot will restore, and how many tonnes of CO2e reductions it estimates this restoration will deliver.

Carbon Contracts are to be piloted as part of the Peatland ACTON programme. All projects will be required to meet Peatland ACTION quality criteria. Scottish Government has not undertaken modelling to estimate the exact impact of the Carbon Contracts pilot on levels of peatland restoration and CO2 emissions reductions. The pilot itself will play a key role in assessing the potential impact of the Carbon Contracts mechanism on rates of peatland restoration.

Question reference: S6W-38840

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 3 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has set an upper limit on the (a) annual and (b) cumulative amount of any contingent liability associated with the carbon contracts pilot.

Question reference: S6W-38723

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 27 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when it anticipates that the new zero-emission ferry that it has part funded will begin transporting passengers on Orkney Ferries routes.

Question reference: S6W-38724

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 27 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to any recent discussions by members of the Ferry Replacement Task Force, whether it will list the scheduled replacement dates for the nine vessels in the Orkney Ferries fleet.

Question reference: S6W-38704

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 13 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 26 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what guarantees it can provide that the proposed debris flow shelter on the A83 Rest and Be Thankful section will withstand future landslides and protect the road and users.

The Scottish Government is committed to an infrastructure solution to address the A83 Rest and Be Thankful landslip risks. Delivery of a permanent and resilient solution is a priority and we will continue to seek ways to achieve that as quickly as possible.

The design of the debris flow shelter follows both national and international design standards and good practice, including, but not limited to, the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges, British Standards and Eurocodes. This is being informed by data collected on the A83 site as well as the extensive experience of Transport Scotland and its technical advisors who have designed similar structures in Europe and around the world.

For the majority of landslide events, material from landslides will not collect on the roof of the debris flow shelter, albeit the roof is being designed to withstand these larger landslide events. Large catchpits are located at the rear of the debris flow shelter to capture any material from landslide before it reaches the shelter for all but the most significant landslide events. The roof will predominantly be used for access to clear material from the catchpits allowing the A83 Trunk Road to continue running during clearance operations.

The proposed solution of the debris flow shelter has been applied across Europe in similar situations, as well as similar approaches taken on railway projects, such as Dawlish rockfall shelter in England. The link to the website can be found here: https://www.transport.gov.scot/publication/design-manual-for-roads-and-bridges-dmrb-stage-two-route-options-assessment-report-a83-access-to-argyll-and-bute/.