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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

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Question reference: S6W-43379

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 11 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to increase the collection of used cooking oil from households.

Question reference: S6W-43382

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 11 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the ban on single-use vapes has been a success.

Question reference: S6W-43381

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 11 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many fires there were in (a) bin lorries and (b) waste facilities in (i) 2022, (ii) 2023 and (iii) 2024.

Question reference: S6W-43383

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 11 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to divert lithium-ion batteries from the residual waste stream.

Question reference: S6W-43171

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 28 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S6W-31743 and S6W-31744 by Alasdair Allan on 6 and 5 December 2024, whether it will provide an update on the (a) location of the remaining populations of grey squirrels and (b) population of Scottish (i) grey and (ii) red squirrels.

Further to the answers which Alasdair Allan MSP provided to questions S6W-31744 and S6W-31743 on 5 and 6 December 2024, I can confirm that there has been no change to the estimated ranges given below.

The most recent review of the population of British mammals, published in 2018, estimated the Scottish population of grey squirrels to be between 249000 and 808000 individuals; and the Scottish population of red squirrels at between 181,000 and 444,000 individuals.

Regarding the locations of the remaining populations of grey squirrels they are broadly distributed within three main zones as follows:

The South of Scotland
The Central Belt, Ayrshire and north-eastwards to Angus
Aberdeen City

The South of Scotland population stretches across much of Dumfries & Galloway and the Scottish Borders, although not continuously, as there appears to be a gap in the species’ distribution from approximately Moffat to Langholm. In the east, grey squirrels occur in a strip near the coast from the English Border up to Edinburgh and up the Tweed Valley north-westwards into South Lanarkshire, thereby linking the southern population with the “Central Belt” population.

The “Central Belt” population extends from South Ayrshire northwards to Glasgow, Lanarkshire and the Firth of Clyde, extending up to the south of Loch Lomond (including several of the islands) and the Cowal Peninsula and eastwards to include Falkirk, Edinburgh and the Lothians. Northwards grey squirrels extend up to Stirling and Perth, across Fife and Clackmannanshire and over much of lowland Perthshire and Angus up to just north of Montrose.

The isolated Aberdeen population is restricted almost entirely to the City of Aberdeen and is the subject of an ongoing eradication programme as part of the Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels project.

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-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

Question reference: S6O-05415

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 January 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it has taken to address household food insecurity.

Question reference: S6W-42822

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 January 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 20 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-42464 by Ivan McKee on 23 December 2025, whether its decisions on non-domestic rates policy for 2026-27 will take account of the request from the Scottish Retail Consortium, Aberdeen Inspired BID, and other business improvement districts, that Scotland should follow England and introduce a permanent business rate discount for all retail, hospitality and leisure premises.

Question reference: S6W-42427

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 31 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the introduction of legislation in England and Wales to ban single-use wet wipes containing plastic, whether it will provide an update on its plans to introduce equivalent legislation in Scotland.

The Scottish Government has prioritised action on marine litter through the Marine Litter Strategy for Scotland. We published our refreshed Strategy in September 2022, which sets out a co-ordinated approach to address the amount of litter entering the marine environment, and supports the removal of debris that is already there. The Strategy contains multiple actions on the most problematic types of marine litter including sewage-related debris and wet wipes. We continue to work across the four nations to put an end to pollution caused by wet wipes containing plastic, with Scottish legislation forthcoming.

Question reference: S6W-42197

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 10 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when the next meeting of the Onshore Wind Strategic Leadership Group will be held, and what will be discussed.

Question reference: S6W-41747

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 18 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-36723 by Fiona Hyslop on 6 May 2025, whether it will provide an update on Scottish Enterprise’s engagement with companies in the electric vehicle and battery processing industries.

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