Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-37890

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 3 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what financial support will be available to farmers adopting (a) methane suppressing feed additives and (b) improved manure management practices.

The Scottish Government is exploring the potential role of methane suppressing feed products (MSFPs) in reducing agricultural emissions, including how appropriate uptake could be recognised in future. Any future support would be and aligned with wider agricultural reform and climate policy objectives. There is currently no financial support available to farmers adopting MSFPs.

In relation to improved manure management practices, over £13 million of capital budget has been allocated in recent years to fund low emission spreading equipment, slurry store covers, slurry stores and irrigation lagoons in order to improve water quality and manure management. Directing support specifically at the slurry options was intended to help the sector comply with the new regulatory requirements introduced by the ‘The Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2021’. As these regulations will come into effect from 1 January 2026, it is no longer appropriate to offer further support for slurry storage options or to prioritise other manure management support.

Question reference: S6W-38115

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 June 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 16 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to move towards surgery for ovarian cancer patients being undertaken after three cycles of chemotherapy, for those being treated with neoadjuvant regime, in light of its previously reported commitment to achieve this by April-June 2024.

Question reference: S6O-04720

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the improvements to the A75.

Question reference: S6O-04627

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the net zero secretary has had with the rural affairs secretary regarding the potential environmental and biodiversity impact of the proposed Galloway National Park.

Question reference: S6O-04580

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what funding will be available to help infrastructure projects in south west Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-36182

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 8 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-30074 by Mairi Gougeon on 27 September 2024, and in light of recent media coverage, including a video showing discarded fish on the seabed, how the suite of measures in place to manage fisheries and safeguard fish stocks are tackling illegal discarding.

The fishing industry is heavily regulated, with many rules in place designed to limit unwanted catch. The Scottish Government is tackling illegal discarding primarily through the enforcement of the Landing Obligation, which mandates that all catches of quota species must be landed. This is supported by monitoring and enforcement, including sea patrols, as well as technical and spatial management measures such as selective fishing gear and area closures, with the combined aim to reduce instances of unwanted catches.

Question reference: S6W-35638

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 7 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to review or update the current farmed fish industry-developed code of good practice by replacing or supplementing it with official guidance that provides prescriptive detail on meeting welfare obligations, and, if so, what consultation process will be carried out with stakeholders.

The Code of Good Practice for Scottish Finfish Aquaculture is independent of Scottish Government which is not responsible for any review or updates made to the Code.

The Scottish Government, in its response to the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee (13 March 2025), has committed to exploring options for how to best to set welfare standards for production going forward and will update the Committee in September 2025 on progress and next steps.

Question reference: S6W-35637

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 7 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what measures are in place or planned to ensure that enforcement bodies and the fish farming industry fully understand and comply with legal welfare requirements for farmed fish across their entire lifecycle.

The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) are responsible for considering welfare complaints and investigating potential breaches in welfare legislation.

APHA veterinarians have the professional knowledge and training to assess against the welfare needs set out in Section 24 (3) of The Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006.

The Code of Good Practice for Scottish Finfish Aquaculture is a sector developed code which supports producers in understanding and delivering their obligations around welfare and other matters. Compliance with the code may form part of the range evidence used by APHA in considering whether obligations have been breached.

Question reference: S6W-35636

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 7 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the farmed fish sector has a non-binding industry code of good practice regarding the legal obligations for keepers and industry stakeholders under the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006 and the Welfare of Animals at the Time of Killing (Scotland) Regulations 2012, and whether it will introduce official guidance to help ensure clarity.

Although not formally adopted under the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006 nor the Welfare of Animals at the Time of Killing (Scotland) Regulations 2012, the finfish sector’s Code of Good Practice supports producers to deliver on their welfare obligations.

The Scottish Government, in its response to the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee (13 March 2025), has committed to exploring options for how to best to set welfare standards for production going forward and will update the Committee in September 2025 on progress and next steps.

We are currently developing guidance for the welfare of farmed fish at the time of slaughter taking into account the recommendations made in the UK Animal Welfare Committee report of 2014 and its updated opinion of 2023. We will engage with the industry and other stakeholders, including animal welfare organisations, for their views at the appropriate stage.

Question reference: S6W-35720

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 2 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much was spent on the maintenance of all rural payment systems in each of the last four years.

The Scottish Government’s Agriculture and Rural Economy (ARE) Directorate relies on several IT systems, integrations and infrastructure to conduct its business with appropriate cyber security and supporting applications to protect and operate these systems and infrastructure effectively.

In addition to rural payment systems, we maintain and rely on a number of other IT systems such as the Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS), Estate Management Database (EMA), Drawing Office, Plant Health, Livestock Inspection System (LIS). These systems collectively assure eligibility for payments, support of inspections, responding to legislative requirements and supporting corporate systems.

ARE IT/Digital services and the data within them support a range of other government departments, functions and agencies including NatureScot, Forestry, Estates Management, Plant Health and Livestock Inspections meaning our IT/Digital services support a wider range of stakeholders.

The IT costs are those costs (not including the Scottish Government’s employees) required to operate and maintain the reliability and resilience of rural payments and are made up of many aspects such as recurring maintenance charges for software and hardware, licence charges, major upgrades in infrastructure that are needed from time to time, and charges under the Maintenance and Modernisation service contracts which includes the cost of service providers. It is also essential that we continue to make proportionate investment in our cyber capabilities to protect these systems and customers’ data. There is an on-going programme of modernising or decommissioning of older IT systems to reduce costs and obtain the efficiencies possible from more modern technology. The costs do not include those associated with the design and development of completely new services.

Many of these IT systems also rely on the Scottish Government’s Shared IT infrastructure and services that are maintained as a common service to deliver economies of scale. These costs are not included in the following table.

Due to sharing of common services and the integration of IT systems, it is not possible to separately identify the cost elements that relate specifically to rural payments systems from the overall cost for all systems.

2021-2022 (£)

2022-2023 (£)

2023-2024 (£)

2024-2025 (£)

(expected outturn)

16,094,584

17,197,987

16,891,821

14,717,318

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Chamber and committees