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A new ferry service from Scotland to Continental Europe would be a commercial operation led by a private ferry operator. As employment law is reserved, any new ferry service will be required to comply with UK employment laws, including the Seafarers’ Wages Act 2023.

Our application of Fair Work First criteria in procurement and grant offers is designed to raise employment standards in Scotland. More stringent grant conditionality was introduced from July 2023, requiring employers receiving public sector grants to pay at least the real living wage. Any company receiving Scottish Government grant support would also be required to demonstrate that all workers, including agency workers, have access to effective workers’ voice channels.

The Scottish Government does not hold the regional dataset that underpins the National Energy System Operator’s modelling of data centre demand in its 2025 Future Energy Scenarios (FES) publication.

NESO does not break down the FES data centre demand data further, to be able to show the location-specific scenarios of data centre demand.

The Scottish Government has not made an estimate of the level of public funding required for a ferry service between Scotland and continental Europe. The costs of any such service are a commercial matter for ferry operators to consider. The Scottish Government is open to discussions with ferry operators and other stakeholders about proposals for new ferry services. However, the possibility of public support would depend on the strength of the business case, the availability of funding and compliance with subsidy control rules and other relevant regulations.

The Energy Company Obligation (ECO4) is a UK Government scheme based upon Westminster regulations and administered by Ofgem, the independent regulator. The obligation requires energy suppliers to achieve energy bill savings by funding the installation of energy efficiency improvements in domestic properties. The design of the scheme and any requirements to undertake remediation are reserved to the UK Government.

Since the beginning of the Ukraine conflict the Scottish Government has urged businesses in Scotland to, where possible, cut ties with Russia. We fully support the UK Government’s sanctions regime against Russia and apply additional discretionary economic measures, whereby the Scottish Government and its economic agencies will not support trade and investment activity with Russia.

The case of Seapeak, and their role in transporting Russian liquified natural gas (LNG) to European countries, was previously raised in the Scottish Parliament on 4 September 2024 by Patrick Harvie MSP (S6O-03656).

That same month I raised the case of Seapeak in a letter to the then UK Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs and encouraged the UK Government to take all possible action to ensure the effectiveness of the UK’s sanctions regime in exerting pressure on the Russian regime.

All Enterprise Agencies – Scottish Enterprise, Highland and Islands Enterprise and South of Scotland Enterprise – also confirmed at that time that they did not have a relationship with Seapeak, and have recently reconfirmed that they continue to have no ongoing relationship with Seapeak.

I understand that the EU has since adopted, on 23 October 2025, further sanctions including a ban on Russian LNG imports, applying to long-term contracts from January 2027, with earlier termination of short-term contracts. The UK, on 12 November 2025, announced its intention to introduce a maritime services ban on Russian LNG, to be phased in over 2026 in coordination with the EU.

This should affect what is permissible for UK companies to do in regards to Russian LNG, and I will be writing to the UK Government to ask for further clarity on this in due course.

All answers to Oral 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/official-report/search-what-was-said-in-parliament

The Scottish Government does not have a position in relation to this issue as Food Standards Scotland (FSS) has policy responsibility for general food labelling in Scotland and as such Scottish Ministers are advised by FSS on such matters.

FSS does not have published formal guidance on low and no alcohol claims.

Currently, the general requirements in Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 on the provision of food information to consumers (FIC) apply and stipulate that all food information must be clear, accurate and not mislead the consumer. Therefore, the product’s label should also include the abv or state that it contains no alcohol. The name of the food, net weight and alcoholic strength must also appear in the same field of vision although businesses have some flexibility in how this is done.

By way of background, The Food Labelling Regulations 1996, revoked in 2018, previously set out the detail of certain descriptors and the alcohol by volume level associated with each. For the claim alcohol free, this was no more than 0.05% alcohol by volume.

As the body with policy responsibility for these regulations, FSS has confirmed that there is currently no plan to review the current food labelling requirements in respect of alcohol content or expand the list of substances classed as allergens.

Used Cooking Oil (UCO) is classified as Controlled Waste under the Environmental Protection Act (1990). As a result, its storage, handling and transportation are subject to strict regulatory requirements.

A priority action in the Scottish Government’s Circular Economy and Waste Route Map to 2030 is to co-design a new statutory Code of Practice for household recycling. This will set national standards for waste collection services across Scotland, helping to increase recycling rates and cut emissions. The potential for introducing new household recycling collection services is being explored as part of the co-design.

The Route Map also sets out plans to co-design measures to improve commercial waste service provisions (commencing by 2030). We expect the scope of this work to include consideration of Controlled Waste streams such as UCO.

Zero Waste Scotland has an advice page on recycling options for cooking oils Used cooking oil | Recycling | How to Waste Less - from this, small amounts of cooking oil, can be disposed of in your food waste recycling service.

a) i) The Scottish Government has responded to UK Government consultations on artificial intelligence and has engaged at both official and ministerial level on AI policy and regulation, including correspondence from the Deputy First Minister and the Minister for Business to the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology on Scotland’s potential role in AI Growth Zones.

ii) The Scottish Government has engaged with other administrations such as Enterprise Agencies, Academia and Business to share learning on the opportunities, risks and responsible use of AI in public services.

b) i) The Scottish Government is continuing engagement with the UK Government, including the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, on anticipated AI legislation and the implications for public service delivery in Scotland. The Scottish Government are creating a new AI Strategy which will seek to explore how Scotland can harness the economic opportunities of AI.

ii) The Scottish Government continues to engage with our Enterprise Agencies and other bodies on AI governance, ethics and public trust.

There is a commitment to a process of inquiry into the circumstances of the malicious prosecutions. Details of the process of inquiry will be progressed once all related investigations and proceedings are concluded. COPFS advise Shelagh McCall KC has been instructed to independently consider reports of criminal conduct relating to the Rangers prosecutions and this is to ensure that any allegations are considered fairly and objectively. It would not be appropriate to comment further while this process continues.

The Scottish Government is clear that there is an important role for bioenergy, including biofuels, in reducing emissions and contributing to our circular economy ambitions.

We are currently engaging with potential projects, particularly via the Grangemouth Investor Taskforce, which could not only increase our domestic production of biofuels, but also secure an industrial future for Grangemouth.