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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: S6F-03794

Asked by: Rona Mackay, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 February 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 February 2025

To ask the First Minister whether he will provide an update on the Scottish Government’s work to keep The Promise, in light of the fifth anniversary of it being made.

Question reference: S6F-03777

Asked by: Lorna Slater, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 February 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 February 2025

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-03776

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 03 February 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 February 2025

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-33933

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 3 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many people were prosecuted on the suspicion of committing an offence listed in the Salmon (Fish Passes and Screens) (Scotland) Regulations 1994 in each year since 2021.

The Salmon (Fish Passes and Screens) (Scotland) Regulations 1994 were revoked in 2013. Therefore, there have been no prosecutions for offences under these regulations since 2021.

The Salmon (Fish Passes and Screens) (Scotland) Regulations 1994 were revoked in 2013 and regulation of activities affecting the water environment, including barriers to salmon migration, is now done under the Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2011. This framework allows for a broader suite of enforcement options compared with the Salmon (Fish Passes and Screens) (Scotland) Regulations 1994, which only allowed prosecutions.

Enforcement Actions by Type	Number of enforcement actions for offences under Regulation 44 of The Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2011
Enforcement Actions by Type	2024	2023	2022	2021	TOTAL
Final Warning Letter	6	6	6	5	23
Statutory Notice	1	0	1	0	2
Variable Monetary Penalty	6	7	4	1	18
Fixed Monetary Penalty	2	0	0	0	2
TOTAL	15	13	11	6	45

Question reference: S6W-33957

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 24 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 3 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is aware of the Spanish Tax Lease system, which is applied to finance agreements for the purchase of ships, making it possible for shipping companies to purchase ships built by Spanish shipyards at a 20% to 30% discount, and whether it (a) can and (b) will develop a similar system in Scotland.

The Scottish Government is aware of the Spanish Tax Lease system.

The Spanish tax lease system refers to a Corporation Tax depreciation process.

Corporation Tax is entirely reserved to the UK Parliament, and so it would be beyond the devolved competency of the Scottish Government to introduce a similar system in Scotland.

It is the position of the Scottish Government that all tax powers, including those over Corporation Tax, be devolved to the Scottish Parliament so that the tax system can be redesigned to better suit the people and business who live and operate in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-33946

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 3 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on strengthening (a) planning law and (b) national guidance to improve the provision of accessible parking spaces.

Accessible parking space provision is influenced by many regimes including planning, building standards and roads policy. It is for the local authority to decide on the suitable parking requirements in each locale, taking a place based approach. Planning law does not govern car parking provision, rather, it is for the local authority to manage existing parking in public car parks and on the road network and requirements for new developments (set out in building standards guidance).

Scottish Government funding for electric vehicle charge points now requires operators to take steps to ensure a reasonable proportion of accessible spaces.

Question reference: S6W-33941

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 3 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many times since being appointed to the post the (a) Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands and (b) Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity has met the Coastal Communities Network Scotland where the fishing industry was part of discussions.

Question reference: S6W-33986

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 3 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to foster improved trust from distillers and small-scale spirits producers, in light of the reported issues with the Deposit Return Scheme.

Scotland’s DRS was due to launch in March 2024 and we would have been enjoying the benefits of a DRS now if the previous UK Government had agreed a full Internal Market Act exclusion to our scheme.

The Scottish Government continues to engage with businesses regarding Scotland’s Circular Economy and the implementation of Extended Producer Responsibility schemes, including the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS).

In 2023, following a significant amount of engagement with businesses, including small-scale drinks producers, we amended DRS Regulations so that any product with fewer than 5,000 units on the market may be registered as a low volume product. As part of the development of the 3 nations scheme our officials shared the experience of developing the Scottish Scheme and due to this low volume products will be exempt from most of the requirements of the deposit return schemes across the UK.

Draft regulations recently notified to the WTO confirmed that glass will no longer be included in Scotland’s scheme. Because spirits are normally packaged in glass bottles, this means that the majority of distillers and small-scale spirits producers will be out of scope of DRS when it launches in October 2027.

Question reference: S6W-33960

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 24 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 3 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of the delivery of its winter vaccination programme was achieved in November 2024, broken down by NHS board area.

The following table shows the breakdown of this winter’s COVID-19 and flu vaccination uptake that was achieved as of 1 December 2024, broken down by Health Board. The table also shows the uptake as a percentage for the whole for Scotland.

This data is publicly accessible via the Public Health Scotland (PHS) Open Source website: Flu & COVID vaccinations - Datasets - Scottish Health and Social Care Open Data

Uptake as of 1 December 2024:

Health Board	Covid Uptake %	Flu Uptake %
NHS Ayrshire and Arran	41	44.9
NHS Borders	50.6	53.4
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	48.8	52.5
NHS Fife	44.3	48.2
NHS Forth Valley	42.9	48.7
NHS Grampian	37.5	41.1
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde	33.6	37.7
NHS Highland	41	43.5
NHS Lanarkshire	41	45.5
NHS Lothian	43.3	48
NHS Orkney	50	54.8
NHS Shetland	46	48.6
NHS Tayside	41.9	45
NHS Western Isles	37.8	41.7
Overall uptake for Scotland	40.4	44.4

Question reference: S6W-33987

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 3 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the current regulations are for the (a) labelling and (b) marketing of Scotch whisky, and how these are enforced.

The Scotch Whisky Regulations 2009 set out requirements for the marketing and labelling of whisky alongside the Food Labelling (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 1989 and The Spirit Drinks Regulations 2008. This is enforced by the relevant food authority in the UK or port health authority. The protection Scotch Whisky has under the GI scheme and associated legislation is certified and enforced by HMRC. The Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 also sets out additional regulations on the display and promotion of alcohol, which are enforced by the relevant local authority.

Furthermore, retained EU Regulation 110/2008, amended by the Agricultural Products, Food and Drink (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 as well as Regulation 2019/787, amended by the Agricultural Products, Food and Drink (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (SI 2020/1637) and the Agricultural Products, Food and Drink (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 continue to apply to the definition, description, presentation, labelling and the protection of GIs for spirit drinks.