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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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S6W-31684

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 November 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 9 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that CalMac began a deployment options consultation to which impacted communities had only 48 hours to respond.

Question reference: S6W-31680

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 November 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 9 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that, on several occasions, CalMac’s booking system stated that a ferry service was fully booked when it was not.

Question reference: S6W-31681

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 November 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 9 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether CalMac has informed Transport Scotland about the reported number of occasions that its booking system has stated that a service was fully booked when it was not, and, if so, whether it will provide details of this.

Question reference: S6W-31682

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 November 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 9 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many reported instances there have been of CalMac’s booking system showing that a ferry service was fully booked when it was not, in each month since the new ticketing system was introduced.

Question reference: S6W-31683

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 November 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 9 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that the Isle of Colonsay will be without a Monday ferry service for up to nine weeks in the winter period.

Question reference: S6W-31679

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 November 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 9 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government on what date MV Glen Sannox is expected to begin its first timetabled service with passengers.

Question reference: S6W-31545

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 November 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 6 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the Scotland Office regarding whether it has plans to bring forward an order under section 104 of the Scotland Act 1998 on UK consequential legislation with respect to plans to enable pre-existing marriages to become civil partnerships.

Question reference: S6W-31544

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 November 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 6 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-27329 by Fiona Hyslop on 17 May 2024, whether it will provide an update on progress with the introduction of Road Equivalent Tariff (RET) on Dunoon-Gourock services provided by (a) CalMac Ferries and (b) Western Ferries, in light of the conclusion of the public consultation on the Islands Connectivity Plan on 6 May 2024, the publication of the Cowal and Rosneath Community Needs Assessment report on 11 September 2024, and its associated consultation exercise on 9 October 2024.

Question reference: S6W-31468

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 21 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-04853 by Mairi Gougeon on 14 December 2021, how many of the Fixed Penalty Notices issued since 25 January 2019 remain unpaid, and, of those, how many have been (a) referred to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and (b) proceeded in the courts, and, of any that resulted in convictions, what the (i) nature of the offence, (ii) value of the original Fixed Penalty Notice and (iii) court disposal was.

Since 25 January 2019 until 13 October 2021, the period covered by S6W-03688 on 29 October 2021 and S6W-04853 on 14 December 2021, there have been 19 fixed penalty notices (FPNs) unpaid prior to referral to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, compared to 93 paid. This makes a payment rate over the period of 83%.

The breakdown is as follows:

(a) 8 of the 19 cases were referred to the COPFS for consideration of prosecution; 2 of the 8 cases resulted in the original FPNs being paid after agreement with the Procurator Fiscal, ultimately resulting in 17 unpaid FPNs in total and;

(b) 4 of the 8 cases resulted in convictions and fines with the breakdown as follows:

	Offence	FPN Offered (£)	Court Disposal (£)
1	Breach of hobby fishermen regulations	2000	500
2	Non submission of statutory returns	2000	3000
3	Marine Protected Area incursion	4000	2000
4	Fishing gear offence	3000	2075

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

Question reference: S6W-31442

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 November 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 21 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will outline any progress that it has made on establishing regional land use frameworks across Scotland.

The Scottish Government has supported four pilot regions in the development of bespoke Regional Land Use Frameworks (RLUFs). This work was taken forward through a co-development approach with a range of stakeholders. It tested a natural capital-led approach to identifying land use opportunities and priorities, whilst maintaining place-based principles to understand the potential for delivering mutual benefits to all land users.

This work covers the South of Scotland (Scottish borders and Dumfries and Galloway) The Cairngorms and Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Parks and the NorthWest 2045 region of the Highlands. More information on the individual RLUFs can be found at the links below:

South of Scotland region: Delivery & Strategies | South of Scotland Regional Economic Partnership
North West Highland region: Land+ Project | NORTHWEST2045
Cairngorms National Park region: Cairngorms National Park Partnership Plan 2022-27
Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park region: Read The Plan - Here. Now. All of us. - Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park

We are now working with the RLUPS to consolidate this learning in order to refine our understanding of the role that RLUFs could play in supporting/delivering land use change and informing wider Scottish Government policy.