Seòmar agus comataidhean

This information is not centrally held.

This data is not centrally held.

The Scottish Government has no current plans to introduce a point of entry levy for visitors to islands.

Any future consideration of additional local discretionary taxation powers, including those that may be of interest to island authorities, would require detailed assessment, consultation with affected communities and businesses, and engagement with local government partners.

Our current priority is supporting local authorities to implement the discretionary visitor levy provided for in the 2024 Act. We are currently working with local authorities and industry to progress further primary legislation and necessary secondary legislation and guidance. It is important to support and learn from this process before considering whether further reforms may be appropriate.

The former Ramsar protection policy dated 22 January 2019 will be archived when the updated web-pages, including information relating to Ramsar sites and the updated Ramsar policy protection statement dated 9th July 2025, is published in March 2026.

Officials are currently reviewing and updating Scottish Government web pages relating to biodiversity policy, including that relating to Ramsar sites, nature reserves, and other protected areas. This will include the updating/replacement of redundant web-links. It is anticipated that the updated pages relating to Ramsar and nature reserves will be uploaded before the end of March 2026.

As outlined in the response to Parliamentary Question S6W-43661 on 23 February 2026, the review and update of the Scottish Government web content relating to Ramsar sites is underway and will be published in March 2026.

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.

Draft valuations for the 2026 revaluation were published on 30 November 2025. Valuations are carried out by independent Assessors and we recognise that while some ratepayers will see their rateable values fall, a number will see significant increases.

While Assessors may use local Practice Notes to value properties, all Assessors are voluntary members of the Scottish Assessors Association (SAA) which has subject-specific committees that regularly meet to discuss valuation matters pertaining to specific subject categories. It also publishes subject-specific Practice Notes to ensure consistency of valuation approach and practice by property type across Scotland, including self-catering holiday accommodation. Practice Notes are developed in conjunction with relevant bodies and affected stakeholders where appropriate and major changes to Practice Notes are consulted on. Individual valuations reflect the local information held by the Assessor responsible for valuing the property.

Valuations can be challenged via the appeals system, the first stage of which is the proposal system and the rules of procedures for which are set out in the Valuation (Proposals Procedure) (Scotland) Regulations 2025. In prescribed circumstances, the outcome of proposals can be appealed to the Local Taxation Chamber, first-tier Tribunal, which operates across all of Scotland. Decisions are published and serve as the case law basis for consideration of future cases on comparable matters.

An report on draft 2026 valuations was published on 13 January 2026, and further expanded on 11 February 2026. This includes, in Table 2a, a breakdown of changes by council area and property class. The report is available at: Non-domestic rates revaluation 2026: draft valuation roll statistics - gov.scot.

A further report will be published after final rateable values are available. This will include more detailed breakdowns, including by council area and property core description.

The recent fares freeze has been implemented to help people with the cost of living while ensuring ScotRail services are sustainable in the longer term and has been supported by Scottish Government funding.

It will be important in going forward that ScotRail budgets align with the overall funding available and therefore improving the effectiveness of securing revenue from tickets will be needed.

ScotRail undertake significant public revenue protection activities, including ticket barriers at the busiest stations and visits to other stations by revenue protection teams. The result of these activities is that 95% of passengers travel with a ticket.

However, fare evasion does remain an issue, and is estimated to cost ScotRail over £11 million per year in lost revenue. It is right that ScotRail take action to ensure that all passengers pay the correct fare - protecting the significant investment being made in Scotland’s Railways to keep rail travel affordable for passengers.

We have therefore accepted ScotRail’s proposal to introduce a minimum fares policy from 1 April 2026 when staff will start informing passengers and educating them but the formal implementation of this will take effect from July 2026

We expect ScotRail to publish more details of this policy imminently.

Access to toilet facilities is a fundamental human right. Changing Places Toilets (CPT) offer a vital facility for people with disabilities and their families and carers whose needs cannot be met through standard accessible toilet provision.

The Scottish Government committed £10 million over two years through its Changing Places Toilets Fund for the development of new facilities across Scotland.

In December 2025, I announced awards of £4.7 million from the first tranche of funding for 59 projects across Scotland. I am delighted to confirm that I have now approved funding for an additional 25 projects, bringing total confirmed awards to over £7 million for 84 projects.

I am very grateful to Mr Balfour for his continued commitment to and engagement on this issue. As Mr Balfour is aware, the Scottish Government has included in its draft budget an additional £10 million for Changing Places Toilets over the next three financial years, which would bring total investment to £20 million.

Local authorities are responsible for food safety sampling to ensure food producers comply with food safety legislation, however, it is the responsibility of food businesses to demonstrate the safety of their products. Sampling data is recorded centrally by Food Standards Scotland (FSS) on the Scottish Food Sampling Database to find data, spot trends and guide sampling and interventions.

The Scottish Government does not hold any data on microplastics in farmed salmon. There are currently no regulatory standards for microplastics in food and animal feed and methods for measuring microplastics in these matrices have not yet been standardised and harmonised.

The Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD), an agency of the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), is responsible for the analysis of chemical contaminants in salmon and organises the testing of salmon samples for heavy metals, per and polyfluoroalkyl substances and antibiotic residues. Details of the testing outputs can be found on the VMD's webpage.