Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-41655

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 November 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 18 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how the Rural Support Plan will provide clarity on support available to farmers and crofters to transition to sustainable and regenerative agriculture.

Question reference: S6W-41656

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 November 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 18 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it has considered climate adaptation in the development of the Rural Support Plan.

Question reference: S6W-41657

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 November 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 18 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Rural Support Plan will explicitly address the topics included under Section 2(3) of the Agriculture and Rural Communities Act.

Question reference: S6W-41346

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 30 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken in relation to the reported 75,000 farmed salmon escaping at the Mowi-owned Gorsten salmon farm, at Loch Linnhe, during recent Storm Amy.

Through the Aquaculture and Fisheries (Scotland) Act (AFSA) 2007, the Scottish Government requires satisfactory measures to be in place at fish farm sites for the purposes of the containment of fish and the prevention of escape of fish. Where satisfactory measures are found not to be in place, Scottish Ministers may serve an enforcement notice. Fish farm operators are required to report the details of any circumstances which caused or might have caused an escape of fish from a fish farm site. In this case, the site operator has followed reporting protocols and reported the incident to the Fish Health Inspectorate (FHI). The FHI has attended the site and is conducting an escape investigation and enhanced containment inspection. In addition, the details of this incident will be published on Scotland’s Aquaculture website. Any escape of farmed fish is regrettable and we expect all farmers to minimise the risk of escapes.

We will continue to work with the sector to reduce the risk of escapes, supported by existing legislation and the FHI’s associated inspection regime. The Scottish Government supports innovation in the sector, including where it helps to reduce the risk of fish escaping from fish farms.

Question reference: S6W-41287

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 30 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-41119 by Jim Fairlie on 9 October 2025, regarding the delaying of the implementation of the muirburn provisions under the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024 until the start of the next muirburn season in Autumn 2026, for what reason it considers that its decision to permit intentional muirburn over a longer period than that agreed by the Parliament will help address wildfires, in light of Scottish Fire and Rescue Service data reportedly indicating that intentional muirburns that have got out of control have been the fourth biggest cause of primary wildfires in the Highlands and Islands over the last five years.

Wildfire, as we saw this summer, is very damaging to our precious peatland carbon stores and the Scottish Government is incredibly grateful to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, gamekeepers, land managers, volunteers, partners, landowners, the extended local community, the wider land management sector and indeed to everyone who played a part in getting these under control.

Scottish Ministers held a wildfires summit on 14 October to consider how we can together to improve our preparedness for wildfires in the future. The increased wildfire risk in Scotland cannot be ignored and muirburn is a tool we cannot afford to lose.

Delaying the muirburn licensing scheme is a difficult but necessary decision to ensure there are no unintended consequences in regards to muirburns role in wildfire mitigation.

Question reference: S6W-41270

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 30 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-41119 by Jim Fairlie on 9 October 2025, regarding the delaying of the implementation of the muirburn provisions under the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024 until the start of the next muirburn season in autumn 2026, whether it remains committed to (a) the aims of the legislation and (a) an operational licensing scheme by autumn 2026.

The Scottish Government remains committed to the aims of the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024 which includes introducing a licensing scheme and associated training requirements for muirburn so that it can be undertaken in an environmentally sustainable manner.

We are hopeful that the delay to the implementation of the licensing scheme until Autumn 2026 will provide us with the time and opportunity to carefully consider the upcoming changes to muirburn practices and how these changes can be brought forward in a way which does not adversely affect our ability to prevent and respond to wildfires.

Question reference: S6W-41301

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 30 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to instruct NatureScot to produce reports on any impact of the wildfires reportedly caused by out of control muirburn that occurred in 2025, including those on the Tinto Hills SSSI, North Bute Oakwoods SSSI, Muir of Dinnet NNR and Culblean Hill in the Cairngorms National Park on 9 October.

The Scottish Government is keen to learn, along with others, about the impact of wildfires to develop a better understanding of fire risks and fire resilient landscapes.

NatureScot will be reporting and monitoring the impact of the fire, which affected a relatively small area, on the Muir of Dinnet National Nature Reserve. They will also look into assessing the impact on Culbean Hill Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSI) and learning about the impact on the other SSSIs.

Question reference: S6W-41300

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 29 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, following its decision to further delay the implementation of the revised muirburn licensing scheme, what assessment it has made of any potential impact of public exposure to fire-related fine particulate matter (PM2.5).

Question reference: S6W-41361

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 28 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether all data centres are considered national developments under the fourth National Planning Framework, or only those that support the Digital Fibre Network ambition.

Question reference: S6W-41364

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 28 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding any implications for its energy strategy, what impact it anticipates that the growth of AI and data centres will have on the (a) energy grid and (b) electricity demand in Scotland; whether it plans to introduce specific planning guidance for energy-intensive developments, such as AI data centres, and what strategic planning is being undertaken to accommodate any infrastructure demands of AI technologies, including data centres and high-performance computing.

There is an opportunity for Scotland to become a leader in green data centres given our capacity to generate energy from renewable sources.

In 2023, 70% of electricity generated in Scotland was from renewable sources – a marked increase compared to less than one-third (32%) a decade previously. As of June 2025, there is an estimated capacity of 76.5 GW of renewable energy projects, including storage, in the planning pipeline in Scotland. This means there is ample opportunity to use excess renewable generation for data centres, helping to reduce the impact and taxpayer costs of network constraints, with £390 million paid to Scottish wind farm operators in 2024 alone. As the National Energy System Operator (NESO) recognised in its 2025 Future Energy Scenarios, up to a fifth of Great Britain’s future data centre demand could be based in Scotland.

While we have no immediate plans to introduce planning guidance for energy-intensive developments, strategic planning is being undertaken by the Scottish Government to accommodate any infrastructure demands of AI technologies, such as AI data centres. Together with the UK and Welsh Governments, we have jointly commissioned NESO to produce a Strategic Spatial Energy Plan (SSEP) for Great Britain. The SSEP will spatially optimise a specified volume of flexible data centre demand (1-2GW). This will indicate where opportunities for energy system benefits exist, such as co-location of renewables and data centres, supporting the development of government policy on the spatial location of data centre demand. The Regional Energy Strategic Plan for Scotland will further enable the coordinated development of the energy system across multiple vectors.

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