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-04561

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 October 2026
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 10 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will record and regularly publish data on corridor care.

The Corridor Care Reference Group, which includes the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, is actively considering how corridor care can be consistently defined, recorded and monitored, with Public Health Scotland fully involved in that work. The Scottish Government will continue to consider appropriate reporting arrangements as that work progresses.

However, our overriding priority is not simply to measure corridor care but to eliminate it. Any data collection and reporting arrangements must therefore be proportionate and avoid placing unnecessary burdens on frontline NHS staff.

Question reference: S7W-04532

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 October 2026
Current Status: Holding Answer by Ivan McKee on 10 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many core civil servants entered the redeployment process, broken down by Directorate-General, in each financial year from 2021-22 to 2025-26.

Question reference: S7W-04526

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh North Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 October 2026
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 10 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will review the eligibility criteria for mobility support for people who become disabled after reaching state pension age, and what its position is on whether the absence of a mobility component within Pension Age Disability Payment could result in people who develop severe mobility impairments in later life being unable to access the same mobility support as younger disabled people, regardless of their assessed needs.

The Scottish Government considered a mobility component before launching Pension Age Disability Payment (PADP), including an equality impact assessment in respect of protected characteristics. Recent analysis estimated the significant cost of such a change at around £1 billion for 2026-27. Because the UK Government has no equivalent measure there is no related block grant funding to the Scottish Budget, meaning such a measure in Scotland would need to be offset from other expenditure.

Making such broad eligibility changes might also risk the passported UK benefits on which older disabled people rely. PADP sits alongside other benefits, premiums and services that only become available later in life - the circumstances of people receiving it are meaningfully different to working age people.

Question reference: S7W-04375

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 October 2026
Current Status: Answered by Stephen Flynn on 10 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of proposals to increase HGV speed limits on cyclist safety.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of ensuring the safety of all road users, including cyclists when considering any changes to speed limits. Work is being undertaken to progress steps to increase speed limits for HGVs on single and dual carriageways. This change aims to reduce the speed differential between HGVs and other vehicles, helping to reduce driver frustration and improve journey time reliability.

Evidence identified through the National Speed Management Review shows where this policy has been introduced in other countries safety has been maintained across the road network. Further information on this can be viewed at; International and Scottish comparisons | Transport Scotland

Question reference: S7W-04635

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 October 2026
Current Status: Answered by Stephen Flynn on 10 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds regarding any withdrawal of weekday timing restrictions for rail discount schemes following the removal of peak fares on ScotRail services.

The Scottish Government holds information confirming that, as part of the discussions which informed the permanent removal of peak fares on ScotRail services from 1 September 2025, existing weekday timing restrictions applying to railcards, concessionary products and other rail discount schemes would remain in place. The policy was focused on reducing fares for passengers whilst retaining existing discount scheme restrictions to support demand and revenue management objectives.

Question reference: S7W-04482

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 26 October 2026
Current Status: Answered by Hannah Mary Goodlad on 10 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any potential implications of hyperscale AI data centres for public health, including any impact on local air quality, noise levels, water resources, energy infrastructure and health inequalities, and whether it plans to undertake health impact assessments as part of its forthcoming national planning and spatial guidance for hyperscale data centres.

Planning applications for data centres are a matter for the relevant local authority in the first instance and all planning applications must be determined in accordance with the statutory development plan, which comprises National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) and the relevant Local Development Plan. NPF4 policy 23 (health and safety) sets out that development proposals which are likely to have a significant adverse effect on health will not be supported and a Health Impact Assessment may be required to accompany the application.

I have previously taken action so that an Environmental Impact Assessment must always be part of the application process for proposals over 50MW power capacity, ensuring potentially significant environmental effects are considered from the outset.

As I have made clear in Parliament, we will publish planning guidance on data centres by Christmas.

Question reference: S7W-04527

Asked by: David Green, MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 October 2026
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 10 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to review the impact of the new funding provided to organisations supporting people affected by gambling-related harms.

Scottish Government has funded Public Health Scotland to support the evaluation of Gambling Levy-funded treatment and prevention interventions in Scotland.

Individual organisations are in the early stages of their work to reduce gambling-related harms and it will take time to build evidence of the impact of this work. Organisations have received evaluation training by Evaluation Support Scotland to support them to effectively evaluate their projects and demonstrate impact.

This work will help to provide data for a fuller evaluation of the Gambling Levy work being undertaken across Scotland. Public Health Scotland will assess the timescales and work required to support a Scotland wide evaluation through further commissioning in 2027- 2029.

Scottish Government continue to work closely with our delivery partners to support their work to reduce gambling-related harms across Scotland.

Question reference: S7W-04477

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 26 October 2026
Current Status: Answered by Alyn Smith on 10 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what the source or basis is for the estimate that artificial intelligence could contribute an additional £23 billion to Scotland's GDP by 2035, as reportedly cited by the then Minister for Innovation, Technology and Tertiary Education in March 2026.

The estimate that, with the right investment and leadership across our economy, there is scope for AI to generate more than an additional £23 billion in annual GDP by 2035 is based on analysis commissioned by Scottish Enterprise and published in the report Quantifying the Impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Scottish Economy.

The report considers the potential economic benefits of AI adoption across the Scottish economy and provides the evidence base for the estimate that AI could contribute around £23 billion in additional economic value to Scotland by 2035. The report can be found at: Quantifying the impact of artificial intelligence on the Scottish economy | Scottish Enterprise

Question reference: S7W-04531

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 October 2026
Current Status: Holding Answer by Ivan McKee on 10 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the financial implications of retaining its no compulsory redundancy policy while implementing its planned reductions in public sector headcount, including the cost of employees awaiting redeployment and potential voluntary severance payments.

Question reference: S7W-04636

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 October 2026
Current Status: Answered by Stephen Flynn on 10 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of the 9.15 am weekday travel restriction attached to the ScotRail Friends and Family Railcard discount on people who live outside the Central belt.