- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Independent
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Date lodged: Friday, 14 November 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 26 November 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what the overspend by NHS Highland was in the financial year 2024-25, and whether it will provide a breakdown of this overspend.
Answer
NHS Highland received financial support from the Scottish Government of £49.7 million to deliver a breakeven position in 2024-25. This support is repayable once the Board returns to financial balance.
A breakdown is available from NHS Highland in their 2024-25 Annual Report and Accounts and publicly available Board papers.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 November 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 26 November 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the meeting between the First Minister and the leader of Plaid Cymru (PC) at Bute House on 30 October 2025, at which the First Minister commented that, "I will be delighted to work with my friends in Plaid Cymru to show the people of Scotland and Wales that there is a positive alternative", what role in their official capacity its ministers are playing in advising or supporting PC in its preparations for possibly forming the next administration in Wales; whether it will publish any (a) formal and (b) informal (i) correspondence, (ii) minutes and (iii) briefing material relating to any meetings in this regard with PC representatives; whether it sought advice from the Permanent Secretary or its senior civil servants ahead of such activity, and whether any public funds have been used by it (A) directly or (B) indirectly to support such cooperation, and, if so, (1) for what specific reason, (2) on what date and (3) how much was spent.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to forging a constructive relationship with nations across the UK and collaborating on issues of mutual interest. The First Minister meets a range of people from across the UK and abroad and is supported in doing so by civil servants as appropriate.
The meeting on 30 October 2025 was requested by Rhun ap Iorwerth, leader of Plaid Cymru, and covered the close relationship between Wales and Scotland, and the challenges both countries face, such as tackling child poverty.
This engagement was separate and distinct from any engagement that may take place between Plaid Cymru and the SNP, which is not supported by the civil service.
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Current Status:
Withdrawn
- Asked by: Clare Adamson, MSP for Motherwell and Wishaw, Scottish National Party
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Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Date lodged: Monday, 24 November 2025
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Current Status:
Initiated by the Scottish Government.
Answered by Angus Robertson on 25 November 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its commitment to a review of Creative Scotland.
Answer
The Chair of the independent Review of Creative Scotland, Angela Leitch CBE, has today published her report. This sets out 36 recommendations for how a strong national arts body should support the arts, culture and creative sectors. I will consider these in full before setting out a full response. The recommendations and report are available here: https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781806433643
- Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 24 November 2025
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Current Status:
Initiated by the Scottish Government.
Answered by Angus Robertson on 25 November 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what the publication costs were for the recent paper, Your Right to Decide.
Answer
The publication costs for Your Right to Decide were £2,179.92 including VAT. A full breakdown can be found in the following table.
Formatting, design and publication | VAT % | VAT £ | Net Price £ |
Total | 20.00 | 363.32 | 1,816.60 |
- Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 17 November 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 25 November 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many units of affordable housing have been constructed in the (a) Stirling, (b) Fife, (c) Perth and Kinross and (d) Clackmannanshire local authority areas in each year since 2015, and how many were delivered compared with local delivery plans.
Answer
Statistics relating to the Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP) by local authority are published quarterly on the Scottish Government website. These figures relate to the number of approvals, site starts, and completions of social and affordable homes, and can be accessed using the following link: https://www.gov.scot/publications/affordable-housing-supply-programme-quarterly-updates-on-approvals-site-starts-and-completions/
The homes provided through the AHSP comprise homes for social rent, for mid-market rent and for low cost home ownership. These homes take various forms including; new build homes, rehabilitation projects, conversions and off-the-shelf purchases of both new and second hand homes.
The following table provides a breakdown of the number of homes completed in the (a) Stirling, (b) Fife, (c) Perth and Kinross and (d) Clackmannanshire local authority areas in each year between 2015-2016 and 2024-25:
Local Authority | Clacks | Fife | Perth and Kinross | Stirling |
2015-2016 | 50 | 386 | 318 | 164 |
2016-2017 | 72 | 611 | 251 | 118 |
2017-2018 | 117 | 960 | 446 | 68 |
2018-2019 | 63 | 547 | 465 | 98 |
2019-2020 | 90 | 500 | 486 | 73 |
2020-2021 | 78 | 495 | 235 | 231 |
2021-2022 | 118 | 405 | 408 | 171 |
2022-2023 | 98 | 721 | 294 | 103 |
2023-2024 | 60 | 524 | 260 | 77 |
2024-2025 | 28 | 414 | 262 | 119 |
TOTAL | 774 | 5563 | 3425 | 1222 |
Local authorities, as the strategic housing and, in most cases, planning authority are responsible for assessing housing need and demand in their area and setting out their investment priorities in their annual Strategic Housing Investment Plans (SHIPs).
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 November 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 25 November 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding how many controlled
parking zones have been introduced by each local authority in each year since
1999, also broken down by how many parking permits have been sold for these
each year, and how much has been raised by these sales.
Answer
Local authorities have a duty under the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 to manage and maintain local roads in their area and this includes the introduction of controlled parking zones. The Scottish Government does not monitor how many of these zones have been introduced, or the revenue from parking permit sales. This information would only be available from the local authorities directly.
- Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 14 November 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 25 November 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what (a) scientific and (b) other advice led to the decision to license at least 26 vessels in each of the last five razor clam electro-fishery trial seasons.
Answer
Scientific advice has underpinned the decision to authorise derogations permitting licensed fishing vessels to catch, land and sell razor clams while participating in the trial.
The biological and ecological goals describe the areas in which the scientific trial has sought to further our knowledge. These are:
1.to gather local level information on razor clam populations and stocks, including collating accurate data gathered by trial participants to supplement stock survey work;
2.to ensure sustainable harvesting levels; and,
3.to gather further information about the impacts of the electrofishing method on target and non-target species.
A summary of this advice for each of the last five trial seasons is provided below.
2021-2022:
- Authorising fishing was necessary to gather data to understand trends in landings per unit effort, work that was planned for the previous season but was hampered by the COVID pandemic.
2022-2023:
- To gather data to understand size at maturity and time of spawning.
- To allow scoping development of stock assessments.
- To understand the benefits of REMand to inform applicability to other fisheries.
2023-2024:
- The trial was extended for a two-year period from 1 February 2022 and the advice for 2022-23 applied to 2023-24.
2024-2025:
- To gather data and publish stock assessments. These were published in the Progress Report on the Biological and Ecological Goals of the Trial in September 2024.
- To study the effect of introducing a seasonal closure during the spawning period.
2025-2026:
- To gather data to refine published stock assessments and to publish further assessments for other trial areas.
A range of factors were considered when assessing the merits of all options for the trial. This included the socioeconomic impact of these options, as well as the impact on The Scottish Government and our public sector partners as regulators.
Ultimately however, these decisions rest on the scientific advice.
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 13 November 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 25 November 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what support and funding is being made available to help Scotland's seafood (a) exporters, (b) processors and (c) suppliers meet the upgraded export requirements under the new EU traceability rules, which come into effect on 10 January 2026.
Answer
We will continue to ensure the interests of the Scottish industry are considered throughout this process. The Scottish Government will also continue to push for the UK to deliver as much assistance as possible to enable our industry to comply with the new requirements and minimise the impact on trade.
Longer term, UK Fisheries Administrations – including Scottish Government - are currently progressing the introduction of a revised UK Control and IUU Regulations in light of these EU changes. This is a complex process with many considerations.
As the IUU changes have a direct impact on the ability of Third Counties to continue to export fisheries products to the EU this has to be taken into consideration when assessing our regulatory alignment.
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 13 November 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 25 November 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how it is working with the Marine Management Organisation campaign, Fish, Trace, Ship, to publicise the new EU traceability rules, which come into effect on 10 January 2026.
Answer
The programme of informing the UK industry of these changes is being led by the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) with input and support by Devolved Governments. The Scottish Government has been closely involved in the development of the MMO campaign, including at the recent virtual industry engagement sessions that have progressed during October and November.
To supplement the MMO campaign, Marine Directorate officials have organised meetings with key stakeholders in Scotland to raise awareness of the forthcoming changes.
This includes in September, when meetings took place with some of Scotland’s largest seafood exporters.
