Questions · Fergus Ewing

12 Dec 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-42249 by Graeme Dey on 12 December 2025, whether it will provide the information requested regarding the total costs to date, as at 12 December 2025.

Answer · Graeme Dey: Scottish Information Commissioner Decision 279/2025 is now the subject of live litigation proceedings. The Scottish Government is therefore not in a position to provide further information at this time regarding any advice it may have received, or any costs a…

11 Dec 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether NHS Highland is behind in its provision to schools of vaccinations for the winter influenza and, if so, what the reason is for the delay, and by what date the provision will be on schedule.

Answer · Jenni Minto: Uptake for child flu vaccinations by Health Board level is not published by Public Health Scotland.We recommend contacting NHS Highland’s Immunisation Team directly, as they may be able to provide you with additional management information data.

10 Dec 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what cumulative impact assessment it has carried out of the regulatory and fiscal changes affecting microtourism businesses over the last five years.

Answer · Richard Lochhead: The Scottish Government undertakes a range of impact assessments when developing or introducing new policy, taking account of other ongoing policy development that may interact with the options being considered. Where relevant, this includes Business and Regu…

10 Dec 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of any potential reduction in Scotland’s overall visitor accommodation capacity if a percentage of self-catering businesses exit the market following the non-domestic rates revaluation, in addition to other regulatory interventions.

Answer · Ivan McKee: Draft rateable values for the 2026 revaluation were published on 30 November 2025 but may be subject to change. The final valuation roll will come into effect on 1 April 2026 and the Scottish Government will publish its report on changes in rateable values on…

9 Dec 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the £100,000 that it has committed for tackling disruptive urban gull populations, how much in total has been distributed to date, and which organisations (a) have received and (b) will receive funding, broken down by how much has been allocated to each, including how mu…

Answer · Jim Fairlie: NatureScot has written to all 32 Local Authorities updating them on funding of £100,000 being made available to facilitate an area based management for gulls.NatureScot has prioritised the funding, in the first instance, to areas where they have been in…

9 Dec 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the decision taken in the UK Budget to provide a permanent business rate discount for retail and hospitality in England from April 2026, what discussions it has had with its Retail Industry Leadership Group regarding the possible implications of this for retail investment in…

Answer · Kate Forbes: The final Retail Industry Leadership Group meeting of this year took place on the morning of 26 November, prior to the announcement of the UK budget, so no discussions took place at that time. However, we anticipate this will be a topic of discussion at the n…

9 Dec 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the decision taken in the UK Budget to provide a permanent business rate discount for retail and hospitality in England from April 2026, what steps it is taking to ensure that the New Deal for Business Group Implementation Plan recommendation to maintain the "most competitiv…

Answer · Ivan McKee: Decisions on non-domestic rates policy for 2026-27 including reliefs are considered in the context of the Budget in line with other government priorities and will be set out on 13 January 2026.

9 Dec 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the decision taken in the UK Budget to provide a permanent business rate discount for retail and hospitality in England from April 2026, what discussions it has had with its Tax Advisory Group regarding the possible implications of this for retail investment in Scotland.

Answer · Ivan McKee: The Tax Advisory Group (TAG)’s most recent meeting took place on 21 October 2025, prior to the UK Government’s budget on 26 November 2025. The group’s final meeting of this Parliament is expected to take place in early 2026.The minutes for T…

9 Dec 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the decision taken in the UK Budget to provide a permanent business rate discount for retail and hospitality in England from April 2026, what discussions it has had with its Non-Domestic Rates consultative subgroup regarding the possible implications of this for retail inves…

Answer · Ivan McKee: Following the decision in the UK Budget to implement lower business rates in England from April 2026 for retail, hospitality and leisure, the Scottish Government has received representations from retail representative organisations including through the Non-D…

9 Dec 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the decision taken in the UK Budget to provide a permanent business rate discount for retail and hospitality in England from April 2026, what analysis or assessment it has undertaken of the potential risk to commercial investment in retail and hospitality moving to England, …

Answer · Ivan McKee: Ministers regularly discuss matters of importance, including budget priorities and the views of stakeholders, in the run-up to the Scottish Budget. Decisions on non-domestic rates policy for 2026-27 will be set out on in the budget on 13 January 2026. The Non…

8 Dec 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the current level of uptake of the winter influenza vaccine is in each NHS board area, and how this year compares with the same period in 2024.

Answer · Jenni Minto: Weekly comparative data for 2024 and 2025 broken down by Health Board can be found at: https://www.opendata.nhs.scot/dataset/flu-covid-vaccinations/resource/ae1cd4fd-5658-47b5-8e0a-2274627682d5

1 Dec 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-41921 by Jim Fairlie on 1 December 2025, whether it will provide the information that was requested regarding whether the pilot gull management for the city of Inverness has now been finalised, including whether it will be in place and ready to be i…

Answer · Jim Fairlie: The Inverness Gull Management Plan Pilot is currently being developed by NatureScot in partnership with Highland Council. The first version of the plan is expected to be in place ahead of the 2026 breeding season. It is being designed as an adaptive framework…

1 Dec 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the total costs of any work that it has undertaken in relation to the matters detailed in the Scottish Information Commissioner Decision 279/2025 (Written evidence to James Hamilton’s investigation into the First Minister under the Ministerial…

Answer · Graeme Dey: The Scottish Government received Commissioner’s Decision 279/2025 on 27 November and has 42 days from the date of the Decision to consider its position. As this process is still ongoing we are unable to provide the information you have requested at this…

1 Dec 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether it would be appropriate for it to appeal the Scottish Information Commissioner Decision 279/2025 (Written evidence to James Hamilton’s investigation into the First Minister under the Ministerial Code) in order to postpone the disclosure of the inform…

Answer · Graeme Dey: Following the Commissioner’s Decision 279/2025, section 56 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 gives the Scottish Government a right of appeal to the Court of Session on a point of law only within 42 days of the Decision. The Scottish Gove…

1 Dec 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what funding (a) it has and (b) any Scottish public agencies have provided to the Offshore Solutions Group, which is developing the Moray FLOW-Park, in each year since the company was founded in 2020.

Answer · Gillian Martin: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-42253 on 16 December 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-committ…

1 Dec 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what communication its ministers have had with Crown Estate Scotland regarding the provision of financial support for the Offshore Solutions Group in relation to its proposal to develop the Moray FLOW-Park; whether Crown Estate Scotland advised its ministers of any intention to provide f…

Answer · Gillian Martin: There has been no communication between Scottish Ministers and Crown Estate Scotland regarding the provision of financial support for the Offshore Solutions Group (OSG) in relation to OSG's development of a proposal for a floating offshore wind (FLOW) park in…

1 Dec 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what communication its ministers have had with Scottish Enterprise regarding the provision of financial support for the Offshore Solutions Group in relation to its proposal to develop the Moray FLOW-Park; whether Scottish Enterprise advised its ministers of any intention to provide finan…

Answer · Gillian Martin: The decision to offer grant funding for Phase 2 of Offshore Solutions Group’s Temporary Storage – Floating Offshore Wind (TS-FLOW) project in 2024, to undertake site investigations and design work, was taken by Scottish Enterprise following analys…

27 Nov 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government who prepares the influenza vaccination uptake statistics for NHS Highland, and whether it will publish all correspondence with the authors thereof.

Answer · Jenni Minto: Public Health Scotland is responsible for preparing influenza vaccination uptake statistics for NHS Highland, as well as all of the other territorial Health Boards.

27 Nov 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the level of uptake of the influenza vaccination has been in the NHS Highland area in (a) the current year to date, and (b) each of the last five years.

Answer · Jenni Minto: As of 30 November 2025, uptake of the adult flu vaccine in NHS Highland is 45.2% (69,285 vaccinations administered).For winter 2024-25, NHS Highland adult flu vaccination uptake was 53.4% and in winter 2023-24 it was 52.8%. The figures for 2023-24, 2024-25 an…

27 Nov 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will ask NHS Highland to commit to provide to the public all data regarding the levels of uptake of influenza vaccination and to do so immediately upon that data becoming available.

Answer · Jenni Minto: Public Health Scotland is responsible for preparing influenza vaccination uptake statistics.Adult influenza vaccine uptake data is publicly available via PHS Vaccination Surveillance and is updated every Thursday. This includes uptake data for each of the 14 …

27 Nov 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the most recent statistics on the level of uptake of the influenza vaccination, when NHS Highland received them; whether there has been a delay in making them public, and, if so, for what reason.

Answer · Jenni Minto: Publicly available influenza vaccine uptake data is published every Thursday, by Public Health Scotland (PHS), via PHS Vaccination Surveillance. Publication of influenza uptake data by eligible cohort group began on Thursday 23 October. Publication of uptake …