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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-35441

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 14 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason its indicator, the carbon footprint of Scotland’s waste, has reportedly not been updated since 4 November 2021.

The last report on the carbon footprint of Scotland’s waste [from all sources] was published by Zero Waste Scotland in 2021, reviewing 2018 data. Due to the SEPA cyber-attack, and limited waste data from all sources available for 2019 and 2020, producing carbon impact reports for these years in 2022 and 2023 was not feasible.

The final carbon metric report was published in 2023, on the 2021 carbon footprint of Scotland’s household waste.

In 2024 Zero Waste Scotland published the first Scottish Waste Environmental Footprint Tool (SWEFT) report. SWEFT is the successor to the Carbon Metric, and reports on the carbon impacts of waste alongside results of other environmental damage indicators such as biodiversity loss and air pollution. It is a vital tool in our work to address the climate and nature emergencies.

Currently SWEFT is only available for household waste, and Zero Waste Scotland intend to report on this on an annual basis. ZWS is currently reviewing the technical feasibility of SWEFT reporting on waste from all sources in the future.

Question reference: S6W-35440

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 14 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when Zero Waste Scotland will publish (a) the 2019 update and (b) other upcoming updates to the Material Flow Accounts and accompanying carbon footprint of waste.

With regards to the 2019 update, I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-23191 on 7 December 2023 by Lorna Slater MSP. This update to the old model will not be published to ensure clear communication of Scotland’s current material consumption. 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.

The revised Material Flow Accounts model is currently being developed and is expected to be released by June 2025. This will draw on the most recent dataset available from 2020.

Question reference: S6O-04442

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it is maximising the impact of its International Development Fund in its partner countries, including any of those affected by high levels of indebtedness.

Question reference: S6W-35212

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 7 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many GP surgeries there are and how many are recruiting new GPs, broken down by geographical area.

Public Health Scotland publish data in relation to the number of GP practices currently operating in Scotland – the data can be accessed at: https://publichealthscotland.scot/healthcare-system/primary-care/general-practice/general-practice-data/general-practice-list-size-and-demographics-information/.

Scottish Government does not hold details on GP recruitment at a practice level. However, more general information on GP vacancies can be found in the 2024 General Practice Workforce Survey: https://turasdata.nes.nhs.scot/media/2gdpo04l/generalpracticeworkforcesurvey2024_revised.html.

Question reference: S6O-04426

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it will reportedly not meet the target to reduce Scotland’s food waste by 33% by 2025.

Question reference: S6W-34503

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 4 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-28038 by Mairi McAllan on 14 June 2024, whether Scottish Water is now in a position to provide a detailed response on resolving water deficits in each water zone.

As shown in Scottish Water’s Long Term Strategy which was published on 4 February 2025, resolving water deficits is a matter for everyone not simply Scottish Water. At 180 litres per person per day Scotland has one of the highest rates of water consumption, compared to 125 litres in Germany and 105 litres in Denmark. As set out in its Strategy, it is important that Scottish Water continues to reduce rates of leakage, support demand reduction by customers and invest in new water sources and water treatment works.

Scottish Water will publish its draft business plan for the 2027-33 period this summer which will set out prioritised investment proposals to reduce the number of zones in deficit and secure supplies for customers. Each zone is unique and will have its own set of measures to put in place to secure supplies for customers.

Question reference: S6W-35011

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 4 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of any government-initiated programmes and initiatives focused on improving environmental outcomes since 2016 that it considers have been unsuccessful in achieving their stated outcomes, and what the original estimated costs and benefits were, based on an anticipated successful outcome, in each case.

Individual Scottish Government strategies and policies are periodically reviewed, taking account of progress towards objectives. Strategies and policies with environmental goals can be found on the Scottish Government’s website at https://www.gov.scot/environment-and-climate-change/.There are many sources of monitoring data on environmental outcomes in Scotland, an overview can be found at https://data.gov.scot/environment/.Environmental Standards Scotland is an independent body that promotes the effectiveness of environmental law through its work, and information on its investigations and monitoring can found on its website https://environmentalstandards.scot/our-work/.

Question reference: S6W-35010

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 4 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has conducted an analysis of any potential efficiency savings in the judicial system from the establishment of a dedicated environmental court, and, if not, whether it has any plans to do so.

The Scottish Government made a written statement to Parliament on 19 November 2024 on the effectiveness of environmental governance arrangements, following an earlier report and consultation. As stated in those documents, the Scottish Government does not see any strong argument for a change in the balance of parliamentary, administrative and judicial roles in decision making on environmental matters, or for the creation of a specialist court. Therefore, there are no plans to conduct any additional analysis of any potential efficiency savings in the judicial system from the creation of an environment court.

Question reference: S6W-35213

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 3 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when it will next raise the matter of the use of electric shock collars on dogs with the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee.

The Scottish Animal Welfare Commission has been asked to look at aversive devices training devices and is expected to report in the near future. A Review of electric shock collars is also underway as part of the wider review of the Animals and Wildlife (Penalties Protections and Powers) (Scotland) Act 2020, due to report by 1 April 2025.

The Scottish Government will carefully consider the recommendations from SAWC and the Review before deciding how to proceed.

Question reference: S6W-34899

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 26 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many of its buildings have had (a) renewable energy generation equipment, such as solar panels, installed and (b) investment in renewable energy generation projects in each of the last 10 years, and what proportion of overall energy use in these building this covers.

(a) 6 owned buildings on the core Scottish Government estate have solar PV (photovoltaic) panels, 2 buildings have biomass boilers, 1 building has an air source heat pump.

(b) Investment in renewable energy generation projects in owned core Scottish Government buildings in the last 10 years is:-

2024-25 - £0

2023-24 - £0

2022-23 - £929,705.00 1 building Air Source Heat, 1 building - Solar PV

2021-22 - £24,894 1 building - Solar PV

2020-21 - £18,000 1 building - Solar PV

2019-20 - £0

2018-19 - £728,000 3 buildings - Solar PV

2017-18 - £200,000 1 building - Biomass Boiler

2016-17 - £166,604 1 building - Biomass Boiler

2015-16 - £0

Biomass and air source heat systems provide 100% of the hot water demand for each building. Solar PV provides approximately 5% of each buildings annual electricity consumption.