Chamber and committees

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.

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Question reference: S7W-00067

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 May 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 3 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the pledge in the Scottish National Party's 2026 manifesto to enact a statutory price cap on essential food items, on what basis it plans to set price caps and whether it plans to take into account real-time supply chain costs and retailers’ operating costs.

Question reference: S7W-00062

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 May 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 3 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the pledge in the Scottish National Party's 2026 manifesto to enact a statutory price cap on essential food items, what discussions it has had with the Strategic Business Forum regarding this proposal.

Question reference: S7W-00068

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 May 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 3 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the pledge in the Scottish National Party's 2026 manifesto to enact a statutory price cap on essential food items, whether it plans to take into account the cumulative impact of any forthcoming devolved and reserved policies that will reportedly have an impact on grocery retailers, as referenced in the New Deal for Business Implementation Plan.

Question reference: S7W-00094

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 May 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 3 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the pledge in the Scottish National Party's 2026 manifesto to enact a statutory price cap on essential food items, what assessment it has made of any impact of such a policy on retail stores in more rural areas where there are fewer options for shoppers and where the cost of operating is reportedly higher.

Question reference: S6O-05650

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 March 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to expand the availability of venture capital funding to aid business growth.

Question reference: S6O-05553

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 February 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting the tourism industry.

Question reference: S6W-43700

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 26 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many woodland creation schemes of (a) up to two, (b) two to five, (c) six to 10, (d) 11 to 20, (e) 21 to 50, (f) 51 to 100, (g) 101 to 200 and (h) over 200 hectares have been approved in each year from 2017 to 2025, also broken down by total area of woodland in each category.

Question reference: S6W-43701

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 26 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide information on the (a) number of woodland creation schemes over 500 hectares that have been funded in each year since 2010 and (b) size of each of these schemes.

Question reference: S6W-43519

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 10 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to protect rare forms of arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus) in Loch Rannoch.

The importance of Loch Rannoch as a site for Arctic charr sympatric divergence is well documented. Loch Rannoch is included within the boundary of the River Tay Special Area of Conservation (SAC), and as such it receives the highest level of environmental protection possible. In addition to the statutory protection afforded to the site through its SAC status, the freshwater habitat is also protected through River Basin Management Planning. It also receives wider protection against the threat of invasive species through the regulation of fish movements (through the Salmon & Freshwater Fisheries (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 2003) and the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 (as amended)).

Investigations have been undertaken to determine the fish species present in Lochs Rannoch, Monaghan and Finnart. SEPA have received the results of environmental DNA samples and have begun exploring the feasibility of potential management responses with NatureScot regarding the presence of non-native fish in Lochs Monaghan and Finnart. SEPA staff have also been on-site to examine the hydrological connectivity between the lochs, to inform these discussions.

Question reference: S6W-43360

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 10 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Scottish National Party 2021 manifesto commitment, what the cost would be in 2026-27 of bringing the higher property rate into line with that in England, broken down by industry sector.

Decisions on Budget are made in the context of the prevailing economic conditions and government priorities. We have had to consider how best to target support within limited finances but also acknowledge that it is no longer possible to directly compare tax rates between Scotland, England and Wales due to differences in the tone dates used to derive Rateable Values. The move to three yearly revaluations and a one-year tone date was also a recommendation of the Barclay Review and was warmly welcomed by the business community and all parties in the Scottish Parliament.

The implication of that recommendation is that the tone date in England and Wales of 1 April 2022 will less accurately reflect up-to-date market and business conditions than the 1 April 2023 tone date adopted in Scotland. Different tone dates and by extension different impacts on Rateable Value growth, merit different decisions on tax rates and do not necessarily translate to higher liabilities.

By way of example, shops are expected to see an increase in total rateable value of 6% in Scotland and 10% in England. Hotels’ total rateable value is expected to rise by 28% in Scotland but 79% in England, while for pubs this is 15% in Scotland but 30% in England. For restaurants the overall increase is expected to be 8% in Scotland while the total rateable value increase of restaurants and cafes in England is expected to be 15%. The policies set out in the Scottish Budget reflect the impact of the revaluation in Scotland, not the revaluation in England.

Table 1 presents the estimated net cost of setting the Higher Property Rate at:

?43.0p for properties in the retail, hospitality, and leisure sectors with rateable values of £500,000 and lower,

?48.0p for other properties with rateable values of £500,000 and lower,

?50.8p for all properties with rateable values over £500,000,

compared to the Higher Property rate of 54.8p as proposed in the Budget.

These are estimates of the net revenue impact, after all reliefs including the Revaluation Transitional Relief are applied.

This is broken down by property class, as the Scottish Government does not hold property-level data on industry sectors. Property class is a classification used by Scottish Assessors to describe the type of property, and does not necessarily accurately reflect the use of a property.

Table 1: Cost of setting the Higher Property Rate to the same rates as England, by property class

Property class	Cost of setting the Higher Property Rate in line with England (£)
Shops	53,700,000
Public houses	4,100,000
Offices	23,600,000
Hotels	14,200,000
Industrial subjects	38,800,000
Leisure and entertainment	7,600,000
Garages and petrol stations	2,600,000
Cultural	500,000
Sporting subjects	400,000
Education and training	19,500,000
Public service subjects	8,400,000
Communications	1,000,000
Quarries, mines, etc.	500,000
Petrochemical	4,200,000
Religious	200,000
Health and medical	6,500,000
Other	4,100,000
Care facilities	700,000
Advertising	200,000
Statutory undertaking	35,500,000
All	226,500,000