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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-44050

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Independent
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 March 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 17 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is aware of any plans by the Auditor General to carry out an inquiry into the £1.83 million grant awarded to Offshore Solutions Group, a company whose latest accounts, as of April 2024, show net current assets of around £131,000.

Question reference: S6W-43885

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 March 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 17 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what role the constitution of Wave Energy Scotland as a subsidiary of Highlands and Islands Enterprise played in its decision-making when it allocated funding in its draft Budget 2026-27, and what its position is on whether this type of arrangement supports the security of employment of public sector workers.

Wave Energy Scotland (WES) is a subsidiary of Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE). As a non-departmental public body, HIE operates independently of the Scottish Government and is responsible for setting out arrangements between itself and its subsidiaries, including WES.

Transitional funding for WES will be provided in financial year 2026-2027, giving WES the opportunity to explore longer term funding solutions.

Question reference: S6W-44052

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Independent
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 March 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 17 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it took, prior to awarding a £1.83 million grant to Offshore Solutions Group, to assess whether that grant could cause displacement through loss of business or loss of opportunity to other sectors, including loss of revenue for ports and harbours with existing capacity to provide the required storage and for the inshore fishing sector, whose fishing grounds might be severely affected by the use of those areas for the storage of around 60 large offshore wind platform bases.

Question reference: S6W-43884

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 March 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 17 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many meetings the Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy has attended with workers at Wave Energy Scotland to discuss the organisation's future funding, and what its position is on whether the principle of effective worker voice has been upheld during its consideration of the organisation.

Question reference: S6W-44051

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Independent
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 March 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 17 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has evidence demonstrating that the storage requirements for offshore wind platform bases cannot be met by combining onshore storage and storage in existing ports and harbours and, if so, whether it will publish this.

Question reference: S6W-44030

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 March 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 17 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-42347 by Gillian Martin on 16 December 2025, how many overflow monitors will be installed at combined sewer overflows in the Highlands and Islands region in 2026.

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water, I have asked them to respond. Their reply is as follows:

This information is not available by parliamentary region; however Scottish Water has provided the closest equivalent which includes the local authority areas of: Shetland, Orkney, Na h-Eileanan an Iar, Highland, and the whole of Moray and Argyll and Bute.

Scottish Water currently has 306 event duration monitors (EDMs) installed in this region. This includes 198 installed with information already available on its website, 100 installed but not yet onboarded or quality assured (QA), and 8 installed and onboarded/QA due to be added to the website shortly.

Scottish Water’s approach in 2026 is to focus on getting as many of the already installed EDMs live on its online map rather than installing more new EDMs.

Question reference: S6W-44043

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 March 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 17 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-43618 by Gillian Martin on 17 February 2026, and in light of the evidence given by the Scottish Fiscal Commission at the Finance and Public Administration Committee meeting on 3 March 2026, whether it will commission work to examine the implications for Scotland of the issues covered in the UK Government report, Global biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and national security.

Question reference: S6W-44031

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 March 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 17 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many combined sewer overflows there are in the Highlands and Islands region.

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water, I have asked them to respond. Their reply is as follows:

Question reference: S6W-44033

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 March 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 17 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-42347 by Gillian Martin on 16 December 2025, how many combined sewer overflows do not currently have an overflow monitor in place.

Question reference: S6T-02955

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 March 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking in response to reports that one in five adults in Scotland are unable to access dental care.