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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-38955

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 3 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many wrasse have been taken from Loch Sunart since the wrasse fishery was regulated.

ICES statistical rectangle is the finest spatial resolution data that the Scottish Government hold on the number of individual wrasse extracted from an area. ICES statistical rectangles are approximately 30 nautical miles by 30 nautical miles in size.

Loch Sunart is contained within ICES statistical rectangle 42E4 along with other areas of sea. Therefore, it is not possible to deduce the number of individual wrasse specifically taken from Loch Sunart.

Wild wrasse fishing activity is not currently authorised in Sunart Special Area of Conservation.

Question reference: S6W-38843

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 20 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 3 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-38293 by Angela Constance on 18 June 2025, how (a) much has been spent on compensation payments to prisoners and (b) many such payments have been made, in each of the last five years.

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

Since 2020 SPS has paid 753 compensation payments to prisoners, resulting in a total expenditure of £1,443,627, broken down as follows:

	Compensation Payments Made to Prisoners
	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25
Number of payments	149	140	154	164	146
Total Cost	838,883	277,312	84,759	54,755	187,918

Question reference: S6W-38894

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 20 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 3 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will update its Fair Work First guidance to recognise that "Unions – not staff forums – are the legitimate voice of workers", as recommended in the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) report, Freelance and Forgotten.

The Scottish Government is aware of the report and the (then) Minister for Employment and Investment held a roundtable meeting with the STUC and Creative Industries trade unions on 3 June, where a discussion on the report formed part of the agenda.

The Scottish Government recognises the vital role that trade unions play in providing effective worker voice and continues to highlight trade union recognition as a key example of good practice within the Fair Work First guidance.

Our Fair Work First policy has been designed to apply to, and be adaptable across, all organisations and sectors. It recognises the different mechanisms for achieving an effective voice will vary at collective and individual levels, and according to sectoral practices and worker choice. The guidance promotes trade union recognition as good practice, and also supports a range of worker voice mechanisms to reflect the diversity of workplaces across Scotland, and the different ways workers can choose to be represented.

There are no immediate plans to revise the Fair Work First guidance which was updated in November 2024 to streamline administrative processes and address points of clarity following consultation with key stakeholders, including the STUC.

Question reference: S6W-38871

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 20 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 3 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether Scotland's Railway will commission a project to extend mobile phone network coverage to the Cowlairs Tunnel.

Question reference: S6W-38746

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 3 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether restocking rivers with eyed ova and unfed fry would have a greater impact on increasing salmon stocks than releasing hatchery reared fry and parr into Scottish salmon rivers; what the reasons are for its position on this matter, and whether this position is based on any peer reviewed scientific evidence.

Decisions on stocking in salmon fishery districts are a matter for District Salmon Fishery Boards (where such Boards exist) under the provisions of the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 2003.

Decisions on the life stages used in stocking should be aligned with the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation’s guidelines, available at CNL2461_Stocking-Guidelines.pdf and the peer reviewed scientific literature as recently summarised in a Scottish Government report (available at Science of salmon stocking: report - gov.scot). This report found that if stocking is to take place, it should involve the youngest possible life stage to minimise hatchery exposure and artificial selection.

Question reference: S6W-38749

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 3 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what studies it has commissioned to ascertain what long-term impact water abstraction through (a) dams and (b) borehole abstraction has on the (i) dynamics and (ii) water flow of streams and rivers.

The Scottish Government supports a wide range of research projects investigating the impacts of water abstraction, including on river dynamics and water flow.

The Scottish Government’s Strategic Research Programme (2022-2027) is modelling future drought risks and ecosystem service impacts using water abstraction data. Between 2023-2025, the Scottish Government funded Centre of Expertise for Waters completed three research projects providing evidence considering the effect of impoundments on river dynamics and water flow.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) conducts its own assessments which evaluate the effects of licenced abstractions. These include borehole monitoring to assess groundwater levels and impacts on river flow.

Question reference: S6W-35202

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 3 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many working groups currently exist within its (a) departments and (b) agencies, and how this compares with each year since 1999.

Question reference: S6W-38738

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 3 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-37224 by Ivan McKee on 13 May 2025, what the annual running cost was for each of its offices from January to December 2024.

The following table shows the annual total running costs for each of the leased Scottish Government offices as per the response to question S6W-37224. These figures include all associated costs for running each office building and cover January to December 2024.

Property	Total running costs
10 Commerce Street (Fraserburgh Fishery Office)	£29,809.00
28 Cunzie Street (Anstruther Fishery Office)	£32,356.75
40 Hall Street (Campbeltown Fishery Office)	£25,895.50
5 Atlantic Quay	£3,982,638.25
7 Ferry Terminal Building (Kirkwall Fishery Office)	£36,320.00
AB1 Building	£77,675.50
Alexander Fleming House	£139,131.50
Alexandra Buildings (Lerwick Fishery Office)	£64,520.00
Bothwell House (Ground and First Floors)	£50,159.25
Brooms Road - Dumfries	£379,197.75
Caley Building (Peterhead Fishery Office)	£94,501.00
Charlotte House	£205,861.75
Compass House	£107,486.25
Culag Pier (Lochinver Fishery Office)	£17,765.75
Custom House (Stornoway Fishery Office)	£48,248.50
Denholm House	£231,818.50
Fishmarket Building (Eyemouth Fishery Office)	£29,355.75
Hadrian House	£125,719.50
Harbour Buildings (Mallaig Fishery Office)	£18,971.75
Inchbraoch House	£69,534.75
Kinlochbervie Fishery Office - Number 5	£1,985.00
Kinlochbervie Fishery Office - Number 7	£17,557.75
Office at Tarbert Fish Market	£3,759.50
Russell House	£529,154.00
Scotland House - Brussels	£282,994.08
Scotland House - London	£753,112.00
St Ola House (Scrabster Fishery Office)	£83,325.25
Strathearn House	£954,122.75
The Douglas Centre (Buckie Fishery Office)	£17,243.25
The Island Centre, Crossapol	£31,108.75
The Links, Golspie	£42,587.00
Unit 4B Kinlochleven Business Park	£157,549.00
Unit 5, Old Quay - Campbeltown	£3,884.50
West Shore Street (Ullapool Fishery Office)	£41,350.25

Question reference: S6W-38760

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 3 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of recent media coverage of a video showing discarded fish on the Scottish seabed, what due diligence it carries out regarding any fines or convictions for illegal discard prior to it providing any funding to any fishing companies or vessels.

Applicants to the Marine Fund Scotland (MFS) are subject to scheme rules and eligibility criteria which include, where appropriate, assessment of any previous relevant offences and convictions. This is set out in detail in the MFS scheme guidance Marine and fisheries grants - gov.scot. The assessment of applications prior to funding award decisions includes liaison with Scottish Government Marine Directorate Compliance teams to consider any relevant fines and convictions.

Question reference: S6W-38755

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 3 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many scheduled sailings were (a) provided and (b) cancelled, broken down by incident, on (i) the MV Alfred and (ii) other vessels on the Arran ferry route between 18 April 2024 and 12 June 2025.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Contractual reporting is by route. However, CalMac have provided the following data as requested:

Vessel Name	Scheduled Sailings	Operated Sailings	Cancelled Sailings	Additional Sailings	Weather Cancellations	Technical Cancellations	Other Cancellations
MV Alfred	1423	1863	84	524	44	26	14
Other vessels	3376	3023	418	65	322	96	0

*This shows CalMac’s audited figures up to 31 May, 2025.