Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-37567

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 21 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether regulations have been made under section (a) 46 and (b) 47 of the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Scotland) Act 2013.

Question reference: S6T-02531

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Scottish Ministers will call in appeal PPA-002-2021 on the Flamingo Land Lomond Banks resort development.

Question reference: S6O-04691

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding its work to support faith and belief communities, what plans it has to join the Buddhist community in Scotland in celebrating the 90th birthday of His Holiness the Dalai Lama on 6 July.

Question reference: S6W-36832

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 11 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 6 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to provide access for young people living on islands to mainland sports facilities and training.

sportscotland, our national agency for sport, continues to engage strategically with local authorities and island communities to identify opportunities to deliver improved local facility provision for sport and physical activity.

The Scottish Government recognises the commitment required from young athletes to develop and pursue their sporting ambitions, appreciating that this can place additional demands on athletes and families, such as time and money. Sportscotland’s Athlete Travel Award Scheme (ATAS), run in partnership with Shetland, Orkney, Western Isles and Highland local authorities, is a key programme that helps to support athletes with those specific challenges. Successful applicants to the ATAS scheme benefit from up to £1,500 to support travel and accommodation costs, gaining better access to competitive and developmental opportunities.

The Scottish Government has also made significant investment to ensure that ferry fares are affordable, including the introduction of Road Equivalent Tariff (RET), a 50% discount on school bus fares, and, from 23 June 2025, an extension to the existing 4 free journeys per year scheme to include 16 to 21 year olds.

Question reference: S6W-35718

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 22 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what level of patronage would be required on existing services calling at Milngavie Station for ScotRail to consider returning to quarter-hourly services throughout the day.

Question reference: S6W-35642

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 25 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it selects locations for water quality monitoring and reporting.

Water bodies may be monitored for different purposes, such as public health or assessing the status of the water environment, which helps determine the location for quality monitoring and reporting.

The process for the designation of new bathing waters is set out on SEPA’s website: Bathing Waters | Designation | Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA).

SEPA delivers a prioritised programme of cost-effective environmental monitoring across Scotland. Its monitoring network is defined using a risk-based approach that is designed to meet the requirements of the Water Environment and Water Services (Scotland) Act 2003. More information is available here: Monitoring | Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA).

Question reference: S6W-35641

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 20 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider designating new water quality monitoring locations north of Largs in the Clyde estuary.

A comprehensive range of monitoring activities are undertaken across Scotland for a variety of purposes. This includes for public health, at designated bathing waters, and assessing the state of the water environment. No new monitoring activities are planned in the Clyde estuary north of Largs.

SEPA prepares and carries out a programme of monitoring to assess the status of the water environment. SEPA’s monitoring plans are risk-based. The Firth of Clyde inner and Largs Channel, both achieve good status, meeting their environmental objectives. More information is available here: Monitoring | Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA).

Question reference: S6W-35719

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 March 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 31 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what measures other than existing patronage numbers are used when considering varying the frequency of rail services on particular routes.

Question reference: S6W-35364

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 17 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the debate on motion S6M-15875 (Scottish Elections (Representation and Reform) Bill) on 17 December 2024, what progress it has made with carrying out a pilot exercise in using the democratic engagement grant for the purpose of automatic registration at education institutions.

The Government is currently working on commencement of the Act. The ability to provide democratic engagement funding is intended to support involvement in elections and improve democratic participation. The Government made clear during the passage of the Bill that it would be necessary as a first step to secure funding.

We are monitoring the automatic registration pilots in Wales so we can factor the results into our planning. All innovations will be:

proposed in consultation with the electoral community,
piloted on a temporary basis and
fully evaluated before being put to Parliament for a decision on whether to make the reforms apply generally and to be made permanent.

I will keep Parliament updated on our plans.

Question reference: S6W-35226

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 11 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to increase availability of English as a second or other language (ESOL) classes in the Greater Glasgow area, in light of reports that lack of availability is causing challenges for people who require at least a B1 level of English to access employability, social security and other support.

The Scottish Government recognises the vital role English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) plays in supporting people whose first language is not English, equipping them with the communication skills necessary to contribute and integrate economically, culturally and socially in Scotland.

The Scottish Government is committed to ESOL and welcomed the independent review of community learning and development (CLD) which followed with a report, Learning: For All. For Life report. The report provided 20 recommendations, including on ESOL, varying in complexity and scope.

The Scottish Government and CoSLA accepted recommendation 1.1 to set up a joint CLD Strategic Leadership Group (SLG). The SLG will play a central role in developing our detailed response to the remaining recommendations.

This academic year, Scottish Government provided £500k for ESOL in Glasgow. This is in response to the review report calling for immediate action to address the exceptional pressures and need for ESOL, which disproportionately impacts Glasgow.

I have also written to the Scottish Funding Council with supplementary guidance to ensure ESOL remains a priority for colleges in the forthcoming academic year 2025-26.

Colleges are responsible for decisions on course provision and are best placed to respond flexibly to local ESOL need alongside partners including local authorities and the third sector. Local authorities themselves play an important role in delivering their CLD Plans, which supports the provision of community based ESOL.

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