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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-42219

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 9 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its news release, Harnessing data and technology to revolutionise public services, on 20 November 2025, whether installation and use of its planned digital public services app will be mandatory, or optional, following its introduction.

Question reference: S6W-42220

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 9 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its news release, Harnessing data and technology to revolutionise public services, on 20 November 2025, what “further functionality” it has planned for its digital public services app.

Question reference: S6W-42218

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 9 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its news release, Harnessing data and technology to revolutionise public services, on 20 November 2025, whether people not installing or using its planned digital public services app will result in them not being able to access certain public services.

Question reference: S6W-42167

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 9 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the findings of the 2022 Scottish Government Independent Review of the Role of Incineration in the Waste Hierarchy in Scotland that "given the risks that incineration poses to human health and the environment, and the risk of lock-in, Scotland should not construct more capacity than it needs and only some of the currently planned capacity should be built", how this aligns with its reported plans to delay the landfill ban by building additional incinerator facilities to begin operating in 2026 and 2027.

The ban on landfilling biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) is a crucial part of delivering Scotland’s net zero ambitions and in line with Committee for Climate Change advice. It will come into force on 31 December this year.

While significant efforts and investment have been made by local authorities and commercial waste operators to prepare for the ban, due to a temporary shortfall of energy from waste capacity in Scotland, some parts of the waste sector identified challenges in fully complying with the upcoming ban.

Taking account of these challenges, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency published a Regulatory Position Statement on 29 October outlining its approach to enforcing the ban.

The Scottish Government recognises the findings of the Independent Review of the Role of Incineration in the Waste Hierarchy in Scotland, including its determination that in the short-term incineration will have a role to play in managing our waste as we transition to a circular economy.

The Scottish Government is committed to limiting EfW capacity, as part of our transition to a circular economy. Our National Planning Framework 4 makes it clear that development proposals for new EfW facilities will not be supported except under limited circumstances, and there have been no planning applications for new EfW developments since 2023.

Question reference: S6W-42371

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 18 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-41729 by Angela Constance on 18 November 2025, how many prisoners mistakenly released from Scotland's prisons have not been returned to prison, in each of the last five years, including 2025-26 to date.

Question reference: S6W-42370

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 18 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to increase awareness of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), in light of a recent survey by Crohn's & Colitis UK, which found that around half of respondents from Scotland are not very familiar with IBD, and over three in five do not know that IBD can be life-threatening.

Question reference: S6W-42129

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 24 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 4 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6T-02727 by Jim Fairlie on 4 November 2025, when it will publish further details of the awards made under the Future Farming Investment Scheme.

I refer the member to the answers to questions S6W-42039 and S6W-42047 on 1 December 2025.

Regarding the allocation of funding to island based businesses, priority status alone did not guarantee funding; investments also had to demonstrate strong alignment with scheme objectives and deliver measurable outcomes. Delivering on the scheme objectives was the most important element of scoring and this approach was designed with stakeholders, including the NFUS.

Many applicants from priority groups applied for standard items of agricultural equipment, mainly for general livestock management, which, while not deemed ineligible, when assessed against other capital investments did not demonstrate strong delivery against the scheme’s objectives. Examples included cattle clippers, sheep shearing machines, footbaths, water troughs, creep feeders, self-locking feed barriers, and feed storage bins.

Although these items are useful for routine livestock management, they were assessed as providing limited measurable benefit in terms of improving environmental performance, resource efficiency, or climate outcomes. For smaller businesses, these capital investments can represent meaningful improvements, however within a competitive assessment framework they did not score as highly as proposals that delivered more substantial benefits in line with the schemes purpose and objectives.

Many people will be disappointed if they were not successful, but there are many others who were and will share in £21 million that will make a real difference to their business. The following table provides a summary of items grant offers were issued for, demonstrating positive investment in the sector and supply chains to deliver on environmental performance, resource efficiency, and climate outcomes.

Category	Number of Investments Supported	Total Grant Value (£)
Livestock Handling and Weighing Equipment	915	£ 5,694,830.39
Precision Farming Equipment	284	£ 2,530,230.36
Soil Health Equipment	145	£ 1,695,552.90
Slurry Handling and Spreading Equipment	108	£ 1,410,649.63
Water Efficiency Equipment	177	£ 1,477,182.74
Efficient Feeding of Livestock Equipment	84	£ 1,178,298.11
Livestock Comfort Equipment	165	£ 1,535,480.88
Sustainable Grassland Improvement Equipment	189	£ 1,293,011.92
Livestock Feeding and Feed Handling Equipment	353	£ 1,299,048.96
Biodiversity and Habitat Enhancement	293	£ 800,281.81
Livestock Health Monitoring Equipment	76	£ 589,051.32
Crop Management - Moisture and Temperature Monitoring	114	£ 590,782.22
Environmental Management - Livestock Grazing Control	58	£ 475,468.00
Grazing Management Equipment	207	£ 405,462.87
Livestock Improved Ventilation Equipment	48	£ 320,395.37
Livestock EID Equipment	305	£ 281,858.42
Efficient Dairy Farming Equipment	19	£ 153,504.50
Livestock Standard Management and Care Equipment	113	£ 127,337.91
Energy Efficiency Equipment - Grassland Management	52	£ 107,511.18
Livestock Management Remote Monitoring Equipment - Cameras	56	£ 61,162.45
Livestock Management Remote Monitoring Equipment - Drones	23	£ 58,651.68
Energy Efficiency Equipment - Lighting	28	£ 33,790.67
Efficient Livestock Health Treatment Equipment	32	£ 26,403.00
Environment Monitoring Equipment	9	£ 16,294.98
Livestock Improved Welfare Equipment	28	£ 12,564.20
Wildlife Monitoring Equipment	3	£ 1,800.00

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Question reference: S6W-41857

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 27 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of removing peak ferry fares on routes that it supports through public service contracts, including the Northern Isles Ferry Services.

Question reference: S6W-41856

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 27 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6O-05134 by Angela Constance on 12 November 2025, what work has been done to establish a cross-sector coalition aimed at protecting children from online violence and abuse.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that children and young people in Scotland are safe and supported in their online lives. We recognise the significant risks posed by harmful online content and the importance of robust regulation to protect children from exploitation, abuse, and exposure to inappropriate material.

We also recognise that real progress can only be achieved through partnership working, bringing together the knowledge, skills and expertise required to prevent and reduce the effects of online harm, informed by lived experience.

To help prevent violence, including online, and reduce its harm, the Scottish Government supports the work of multiple cross sector partnerships with justice, education, health and across communities. This includes the work of the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit, Medics Against Violence and Youthlink Scotland, who have collaborated to create a Quit Fighting for Likes campaign to support front line practitioners working with young people, to encourage conversations about their online experiences, including discussions on the impact of filming and sharing harmful violent content online.

In 2024, the Scottish Government established the National Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Strategic Group - gov.scot, which comprises of operational partners, including Police Scotland, and other expert stakeholders from the statutory, third-sector, academic and service delivery organisations, to review current actions and agree where additional focus is needed to better protect children from abuse and exploitation, including online-enabled harm. This group’s overarching priority is prevention and will work together to identify priorities and actions to more effectively prevent, disrupt and provide support to victims of child sexual abuse and their families, including those facing online harms.

In January 2025, I announced the establishment of an Online Safety Taskforce to strengthen our approach to keeping children safe online, providing oversight and direction to work being undertaken across Scottish Government, and identifying what more can be done to protect children and young people. A responsibility that I and the Minister for Victims and Community Safety as Ministerial leads take very seriously.

The Taskforce is currently considering how engagement on the government’s overarching approach to online harm can be enhanced further to support a more joined up dialogue with stakeholders including the third sector and those with lived experience.

Question reference: S6W-41818

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 25 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what programmes are currently in place to prevent prisoners from developing new drug dependencies while in custody.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

SPS work collaboratively with key partners such as Scottish Drugs Forum, Crew 2000 and Scottish Recovery Consortium to enhance and develop approaches to deliver consistent recovery pathways and diversionary activities that support integration back into our communities.

The SPS Alcohol & Drug Strategy, published in January 2025, provides a framework for improving outcomes for those living in prison through the prevention and reduction of alcohol and drug related harm to inspire positive change.

Furthermore, NHS and SPS Staff continue to work together to promote and support access to the Prison to Rehab Pathway, ensuring that people in our care are aware of innovative projects and structured programmes designed to support them on their recovery journey.