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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-34988

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 4 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) meetings and (b) other discussions NatureScot and Scottish Land and Estates have held to discuss (i) the legal opinions regarding the wording of the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024 and (ii) what land should be included in a 16AA licence to shoot grouse.

Question reference: S6W-34987

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 4 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason NatureScot reportedly did not invite each of the groups involved in the development of the Grouse Code of Practice to (a) meetings and (a) engage in consultation with it to discuss grouse licence conditions.

In developing the Grouse Code of Practice NatureScot established the Grouse Code Working Group to develop the conditions of the licence for grouse moors and the accompanying Code of Practice. This was then introduced in July 2024.

As I set out in response to S6W-34518 on 25 February 2025, NatureScot subsequently added a condition to licences so that certain relevant offences committed anywhere on a landholding can be taken into consideration as to whether to revoke or suspend a licence. No additional engagement was undertaken and it was not considered necessary to carry out further consultation as this addition did not deviate from the policy intention when the licensing conditions and Grouse Code of Practice were initially developed.

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: S6F-03851

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 February 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 February 2025

To ask the First Minister how the Scottish Government will protect the lives of racing greyhounds.

Question reference: S6W-33994

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 3 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-08334 by Tom Arthur on 17 May 2022, for what reason amendments to permitted development rights for private ways, known as hill tracks, were not included in phase 3 of the permitted development rights review, and what plans it has for ensuring that there is consultation on amending permitted development rights for hill tracks.

The phasing of the permitted development rights (PDR) work programme has been kept under review to ensure that it reflects – and helps to promote – the Scottish Government's strategic priorities. As a priority, Phase 3 of the review focussed on PDR for domestic and non-domestic renewable energy equipment. The amended scope of Phase 3 reflected the cost and climate crises, and the need to ensure the planning system plays its part in helping to support households and businesses to adapt their properties.

We still expect to revisit the PDR related to private ways / hilltracks at a future point. This is a complex issue of interest to a wide range of stakeholders with differing perspectives, and requires very careful and detailed consideration.

Question reference: S6O-04256

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the culture secretary has had with ministerial colleagues regarding the potential impact on the provision of library services in Mid-Scotland and Fife of the proposed local government settlement for 2025-26.

Question reference: S6W-32259

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 21 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding has been allocated in its draft Budget 2025-26 for (a) the Active Travel Infrastructure Fund, (b) Places for Everyone projects, (c) the National Cycle Network, (d) People and Place projects, (e) regional transport partnerships and (f) Bikeability Scotland.

The Scottish Budget for 2025-26 has been set at £63.4 billion. The recent draft budget allocated and indicated a value of £4 billion for the Transport portfolio, which includes £188.7 million for Active and Sustainable Travel. This investment is intended to:

Make it easier for people to walk, wheel and cycle

Improve connections to our public transport network

Support resilient and efficient bus services

We cannot authorise allocations to specific programmes until the budget has passed. All values at this time are indicative, and we therefore cannot confirm the amount that may or may not be allocated to the specific projects mentioned until the new financial year.

Question reference: S6W-32793

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 20 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with (a) NatureScot and (b) other relevant stakeholders about varying licence conditions for bird ringing, in relation to schedule 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, to require prior landowner notification.

The Scottish Government has discussed the proposed new condition to schedule 1 licences with NatureScot on a number of occasions. The new condition will require prior notification to landowners, where reasonably practical, of all visits to nests, or other sites, potentially involving disturbance of schedule 1 birds.

NatureScot, as the licensing body, have discussed the additional licensing condition with a range of stakeholders including the Scottish Raptor Study Group, RSPB, British Ornithology Trust and the Scottish Gamekeeper’s Association.

In addition to this, I have met with some of the above stakeholders to discuss their concerns about the issue.

Question reference: S6W-32795

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 17 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made on applying a cap to fishing activity in inshore waters, of up to three nautical miles, that will limit activity to current levels and set a ceiling from which activities that disrupt the seabed can be reduced.

In 2024 the Scottish Government launched the Inshore Fisheries Management Improvement Programme to develop a more agile, responsive and regional management framework. Our vision is that this framework will enable us to tailor a wider range of fisheries management tools to the changing needs of our marine environment and fishers, based on the best available scientific data.

This is a transformational project for inshore fisheries in Scotland, supporting delivery of locally appropriate management solutions. As such, the Scottish Government is not currently progressing proposals for a national cap on fishing activity in our inshore waters.

Question reference: S6W-32860

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 16 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what licence conditions requiring prior landowner notification are applied in relation to each species under schedule 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

At present the only existing licence condition applied by NatureScot for Schedule 1 species is for disturbance of any such species where the work is to be undertaken on a National Nature Reserve (NNR). This condition requires prior land owner notification before the work is carried out. No work authorised by this licence may be undertaken on a NNR without the prior permission of the NatureScot NNR Manager.

NatureScot intend to introduce a new condition to schedule 1 disturbance licences that will require prior land owner notification on all land for the forthcoming monitoring season.

Question reference: S6W-32798

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 16 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what financial support it provides to prevent the closure of public libraries.

The Scottish Government works closely with the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC), which provides leadership and advice to Scottish Ministers, local authorities, and the wider libraries sector.

In 2024-2025 we have provided the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC) with £665K from the Culture Budget, as recognition of the importance of our public libraries, and to support the excellent services they provide. In the 2025-26 budget the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC) have been allocated £935K from the culture budget.

Public library policy is devolved to local authorities, they have a statutory duty to ensure there is adequate provision of library services for their residents.

The Scottish Government provided block grant funding of over £14 billion to Local Authorities in 2024-25, a real terms increase of 2.5 per cent. The 2025-26 Scottish Budget, published on 4 December 2024 provides local government in Scotland with record funding of over £15 billion, an increase of over £1 billion or a real terms increase of 4.7% compared to 2024-25.

Any decision around public libraries and other local services must be considered extremely carefully. We strongly encourage local authorities to work in partnership with communities to explore ways of delivering services, based on need.