- Asked by: Annabelle Ewing, MSP for Cowdenbeath, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 September 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 24 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government by what date it will (a) reach and (b) announce its
decision on the infrastructure investment plan refresh review for the
years beyond 2025-26.
Answer
The upcoming Infrastructure Strategy and associated delivery plan pipeline will be published as part of our fiscal event this winter. Publishing the strategy, planned pipeline, the spending review and budget plans together ensures a long-term, strategically aligned investment prospectus that is fully costed. The exact date of the fiscal event is being agreed with Parliament just now.
- Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 September 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 24 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that patients in Scotland have travelled abroad for surgery to confirm an endometriosis diagnosis due to long waiting times.
Answer
Excessively long waiting lists are not acceptable and the Scottish Government apologises to all patients waiting too long.
We know that endometriosis can have a significant impact on people’s lives, that the symptoms can be debilitating and impact relationships, work, education, and mental health.
Women’s Health is a key priority for this government, which is why we published an ambitious Women’s Health Plan in August 2021 aiming to reduce health inequalities and improve health outcomes for girls and women. Enhancing care and support for those with endometriosis is one of the early priorities set out in the plan. It includes actions to improve access to appropriate support, speedy diagnosis and best treatment for endometriosis.
We are considering how best to ensure that all women receive a timely diagnosis and access the care and support they need as we develop the next phase of the Women’s Health Plan.
We are determined to do more and our Budget will provide a record £21.7 billion for health and social care, with more than £110 million allocated to health boards to help tackle long waits. Funding has been assigned to specialty areas where it can have the greatest impact– this includes over £8 million for gynaecology.
- Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 September 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 24 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the acquisition of the Griffin Forestry Estate by Gresham House FF VI LLP, which was concluded in July 2025, what assessment it has made of the potential impact of this on (a) community wealth building, (b) sustainable development, (c) local democracy, (d) environmental quality, and (e) biological diversity.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-40546 on 24 September 2025. 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.
- Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 September 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 24 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the acquisition of the Griffin Forestry Estate by Gresham House FF VI LLP, which was concluded in July 2025.
Answer
The Scottish Government expects all managers of afforested land, including Gresham House, to meet the requirements of sustainable forest management as outlined in the UK Forestry Standard. The UK Forestry Standard contains requirements and guidelines on environmental quality, managing and improving biodiversity and community engagement.
- Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 September 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 24 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the acquisition of the Woodland Invest portfolio by Gresham House Forest Fund VI LP, which was concluded in August 2025.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-40549 on 24 September 2025. 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.
- Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 September 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 24 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the acquisition of the Woodland Invest portfolio by Gresham House Forest Fund VI LP, which was concluded in August 2025, what assessment it has made of the potential impact of this on (a) community wealth building, (b) sustainable development, (c) local democracy, (d) environmental quality and (e) biological diversity.
Answer
The purchase of forest estates by Gresham House FF VI LLP was conducted via normal market mechanisms. The Scottish Government does not monitor land or forest sales in Scotland and does not carry out assessments around the impacts of individual land transactions. All forest land should, however, be managed according to the principles of sustainable forest management as laid out in the UK Forestry Standard regardless of the ownership. The UK Forestry Standard contains requirements and guidelines on environmental quality, managing and improving biodiversity and community engagement.
- Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Independent
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 September 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Fairlie on 24 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-37508 by Jim Fairlie on 29 May 2025, whether NatureScot presented its final version of the species licensing review to the Scottish Ministers in April 2025, and, if so, by what date the findings will be published.
Answer
Further to my response to S6W-37508, the Species Licensing Review was sent for external review in July but the completion of this review has been delayed. NatureScot anticipate that the external review will be completed shortly and returned to NatureScot before being presented to Ministers for consideration prior to being published.
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.
- Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 September 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Fairlie on 24 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many times, in each of the last three calendar years, its Agricultural Wages Enforcement Team has reported concerns to local authorities regarding the standards of accommodation provided in their areas to migrant workers, broken down by (a) local authority and (b) what the outcome was.
Answer
(a) The Agricultural Wages Enforcement Team’s (AWET) role is to ensure compliance with the Agricultural Wages (Scotland) Order, which sets out minimum pay and conditions for workers in the sector. The Order does not specifically cover the standard of accommodation but during wages inspections workers are given the opportunity to raise any concerns associated with their employment. If a worker raises any accommodation concerns, this information would be recorded and passed on to the relevant authority. In the last three calendar years, no migrant workers have raised accommodation concerns as part of an inspection.
(b) No outcomes arose as no migrant workers reported accommodation concerns to the AWET.
Responsibility for monitoring and enforcing standards of tied or seasonal worker accommodation rests with local authorities, primarily through their environmental health and housing functions. For migrant workers, the Seasonal Worker Visa scheme’s (SWV) guidance states that any housing or other concerns should be reported to their Scheme Operators (SOs), as they have a duty to ensure workers are housed in hygienic and safe accommodation that is in a good state of repair. All migrant workers receive this guidance in their induction pack. In addition, all SOs provide a confidential helpline through which workers can report their concerns.
As a condition of their licence, SOs are responsible for the welfare of workers, which includes ensuring that accommodation provided is safe, suitable and hygienic.
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 18 September 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 23 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-40091 on 8 September 2025 by Shirley-Anne Somerville, whether APS Group (Scotland) has ever issued a product recall in instances where items included in baby boxes have been reported as faulty or damaged, and, if so, whether it will provide details of this.
Answer
APS Group (Scotland) have never had to issue a product recall of any of the items contained in Scotland’s Baby Box. As detailed in response to PQ S6W-40091, out of over 352,000 Baby Boxes issued since August 2017, APS have only received reports of 190 faulty or damaged items. These individual items were from 14 different lines of items provided within Baby Box and not across a complete line, which would have necessitated a product recall.
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.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 15 September 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 23 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government on what date VisitScotland agreed to support the DP World Tour Nexo Championship, which was held at the Trump International Golf Links, Aberdeenshire, in August 2025.
Answer
An agreement in principle to support the Nexo Championship was discussed between VisitScotland and DP World Tour at this year’s Genesis Scottish Open, which took place 10-13 July. The final decision to support the event was taken following contract review and negotiations that same month.
The tournament was a late addition to the DP World Tour schedule, announced midway through the season on 6 May 2025. It followed the cancellation in December of a DP World Tour event which had been originally scheduled for the week of 7-10 August 2025.