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: S7O-00153

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 August 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what further action it will take to increase house building, particularly in rural areas.

Question reference: S7W-02264

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 26 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the number of applications for support through the Strategic Research Programme 2022-27 that it has (a) received and (b) accepted.

A total of 128 project proposals were received and considered for the Strategic Research Programme 2022-27 and 123 projects were accepted. See the following table:

Strategic Research Programme - Projects	Accepted	Rejected
Biomathematics and Statistics (BioSS)	3
Theme A - Plant and animal health	23	4
Theme B - Sustainable food system and supply	58
Theme C - Human impacts on the environment	11
Theme D - Natural resources	22	1
Theme E - Rural futures	6
Total	123	5

The Biomathematics and Statistics Institute (BioSS) provides data analysis, statistics, mathematical modelling and bioinformatics support to the Strategic Research Programme.

Question reference: S7W-02308

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 20 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a timeline for the release of funding through the Crofting Agriculture Grant Scheme.

Question reference: S7W-02263

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 20 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an annual breakdown of the allocation of funding to each theme of the Strategic Research Programme 2022-27.

The following table sets out the Environment and Forestry Directorate, Strategic Research Funding provided by Scottish Government to our Main Research Providers, The James Hutton Institute, Moredun Research Institute, Scotlands Rural College and The Rowett Institute by theme for the period 2022-27:

Theme	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25	2025-26	2026-27	Totals
A - Plant and animal health	5,332,988	5,142,796	4,813,671	4,838,938	4,442,673	24,571,066
B - Sustainable food system and supply	12,119,586	10,698,686	9,756,685	9,388,815	8,552,983	50,516,755
C - Human impacts on the environment	3,050,000	3,419,700	3,751,000	4,049,998	3,860,000	18,130,698
D - Natural resources	7,086,217	6,809,663	7,091,299	6,910,741	6,507,156	34,405,076
E - Rural futures	1,432,510	1,475,251	1,531,512	1,633,509	1,549,884	7,622,666
F – Vision and Impact and Biomathematics and Statistics (BioSS)	1,949,449	1,714,819	1,743,471	1,797,710	1,763,987	8,969,436
Totals	30,970,750	29,260,915	28,687,638	28,619,711	26,676,683	144,215,697

The Biomathematics and Statistics Institute (BioSS) provides data analysis, statistics, mathematical modelling and bioinformatics support to the Strategic Research Programme.

Question reference: S7W-02266

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 20 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how much was spent annually on the Strategic Research Programme 2016-22.

Question reference: S7W-02265

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 20 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it expects to deliver annually to the Strategic Research Programme in 2027-32

The proposed allocation under the 2027-2032 Strategic Research Programme is set out in the following table:

Strategic Research Funding 2027-32 (£)

PROPOSED (subject to annual budgeting decisions)	2027-28	2028-29	2029-30	2030-31	2031-32
TOTAL	44,404,000	45,414,600	46,424,286	47,330,000	48,151,000

Further information regarding the Scottish Governments Strategic Research Programmes can be found here: Environment, natural resources and agriculture: strategic research programme

Question reference: S7W-02522

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 August 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 16 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has identified any priority schemes on the A75 and A77 that could be progressed before completion of the Corridor Action Plans.

Question reference: S7W-02521

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 August 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 16 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assurance it can provide that the Corridor Action Plans for the A75 and A77 will result in capital investment projects being progressed, rather than further review and assessment work.

Question reference: S7W-02517

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 August 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 16 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what funding has been allocated for the commissioning and delivery of Corridor Action Plans for the A75 and A77, and from which budget line this expenditure will be met.

Question reference: S7W-02516

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 August 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 16 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects consultants to be appointed to develop Corridor Action Plans for the A75 and A77, and what timescale has been set for the completion of this work.

2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22
45,242,688	43,830,713	45,250,050	42,304,158	42,850,078	42,771,809