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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.

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Question reference: S6W-38214

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-35205 by Jim Fairlie on 11 March 2025, whether it has reconvened the working group with third sector representatives to explore delivery options for free bus travel for asylum seekers, and, if it is the case that it has not yet done so, when this commitment is likely to be delivered.

Question reference: S6O-04832

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 June 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body, further to the response to question S6O-04050, what the findings were of the review of the terms and conditions of staff employed by MSPs, particularly in relation to parental leave policies.

Question reference: S6O-04824

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 June 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its discussions with the UK Government regarding the Asylum Right to Work Pilot proposal, in light of the Home Office reportedly stating that it is unable to commit to exploring the feasibility of the proposal.

Question reference: S6W-38215

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 10 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S6W-35787 and S6W-27244 by Jim Fairlie on 26 March 2025 and 13 May 2024 respectively, whether it will provide an update on how many (a) journeys have been made and (b) young people have now received a free bus pass through the Young Persons' (Under 22s) Free Bus Travel scheme, broken down by local authority area, based on the latest available data.

The following table shows a) the number of Young Persons’ Free Bus Travel Scheme cardholders broken down to local authority level as of 31 May 2025, and b) the number of journeys, broken down by local authority, made through the Young Persons’ Free Bus Travel Scheme since its launch in January 2022 up to 31 May 2025. Journeys are based on the local authority in which the card was issued, therefore some journeys will have been undertaken out with the local authority area.

Local Authority	Cardholders	Journeys
Aberdeen City	32,890	12,965,715
Aberdeenshire	39,462	6,422,788
Angus Council	15,266	3,098,694
Argyll & Bute	10,137	1,766,719
City of Edinburgh	90,476	46,677,709
Clackmannanshire	5,793	1,062,834
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar	3,234	321,498
Dumfries and Galloway	16,725	3,106,846
Dundee City	24,377	10,008,686
East Ayrshire	18,402	5,586,745
East Dunbartonshire	15,052	3,012,501
East Lothian	17,579	6,438,478
East Renfrewshire	16,090	2,966,398
Falkirk	21,162	3,295,980
Fife	62,111	17,636,651
Glasgow City	94,983	29,954,613
Highland	26,002	4,707,157
Inverclyde	11,675	3,385,868
Midlothian	14,901	5,983,790
Moray	12,049	1,880,556
North Ayrshire	20,684	6,272,609
North Lanarkshire	52,612	9,089,543
Orkney Islands	2,587	316,030
Perth & Kinross	20,255	5,065,882
Renfrewshire	26,335	7,508,699
Scottish Borders	14,428	2,976,138
Shetland Islands	3,551	608,594
South Ayrshire	13,508	3,242,870
South Lanarkshire	51,409	8,284,182
Stirling	12,339	2,811,432
West Dunbartonshire	14,478	3,921,799
West Lothian	25,559	5,382,597
Total	806,111	225,760,601

Question reference: S6W-37801

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 3 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports of fires at recycling centres across the Mid Scotland and Fife region, what action it is taking to (a) identify and (b) reduce any risk of fires at recycling centres, particularly in relation to the correct storage of recycled batteries.

Following the fire at the WEEE Solutions site in Linwood in June 2024, I asked my officials to consider the safety of these sites and battery energy storage (BESS) sites. In particular, this was to examine whether existing safety provisions and regulations are sufficiently robust, whilst also considering compliance and enforcement aspects.

This concluded that the current legislative and regulatory framework is sufficiently robust, recognising however that it is complex and requires inter-agency cooperation to be effective. Moreover, responsibility also lies with the operators of waste, recycling and BESS sites to ensure that they have effective and robust arrangements in place to minimise the fire risk involved with the disposal and storage of batteries.

Also, on 4 April Siobhian Brown MSP, Minister for Victims and Community Safety, wrote to all MSPs and MPs to highlight the recent work that the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) has undertaken recently concerning public safety awareness on the use of lithium-ion batteries.

Moving forward, Scottish Government officials are working with sector partners to host a workshop in the near future in order to further explore these issues and to identify if any potential changes can be made to reduce the risk of fire at recycling centres.

Question reference: S6F-04145

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 June 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 June 2025

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to secure a direct ferry route between Scotland and France.

Question reference: S6W-37704

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 16 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 30 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-31971 by Gillian Martin on 12 December 2024, and the publication of its Programme for Government 2025-26, for what reason it no longer plans to introduce new primary legislation on drinking water and wastewater in the current parliamentary session.

Question reference: S6W-37508

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 29 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-35785 by Jim Fairlie on 26 March 2025, whether (a) NatureScot presented its final version of the species licensing review to the Scottish Ministers in April 2025 and (b) it will provide an update on when it expects the findings to be published.

To clarify, as I set out in my response to S6W-35785, NatureScot had intended for the draft species licensing review to undergo an external review in April 2025 before being submitted to Ministers at a later date.

The external review has been delayed slightly and NatureScot anticipate that it will now take place over the coming weeks. Following completion of the external review, the species licensing review will then be presented to Ministers for consideration prior to being published.

Question reference: S6O-04749

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on using the powers outlined in the International Criminal Court (Scotland) Act 2001 to prosecute nationals and residents of the UK residing in Scotland who have committed war crimes.

Question reference: S6O-04729

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take to support transgender people following the recent Supreme Court ruling, in light of reported concerns from transgender people, and their friends, family and allies that it undermines the rights and risks the personal safety of transgender individuals.