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: S6F-02908

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 11 March 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 March 2024

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-02907

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 March 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 March 2024

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-02909

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6W-25894

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 11 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that consumers have confidence in consumer protection awards for food items produced and packaged in Scotland.

Consumer protection awards are not a matter for the Scottish Government. Consumer assurance in relation to food produced and packaged in Scotland comes from the comprehensive system of food law we have in Scotland that all food businesses must comply with, which covers food and feed safety, food standards and labelling, and any claims related to health or provenance. Compliance with food law is verified through food business inspections and routine sampling and monitoring of food products placed on the market.

Question reference: S6W-25819

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 11 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many age-appropriate inpatient mental health beds for children and young people each NHS board currently has.

There are currently 54 Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) inpatient beds across Scotland for children and adolescents.

Forty eight of these beds are commissioned on a regional basis. These are split across:

North of Scotland Region - Dudhope Young People’s Inpatient Unit - 12 beds;
South and East Region - Melville Young People’s Mental Health Unit - 12 beds;
West Region Skye House Adolescent Inpatient Unit - 24 beds.

These units admit children and young people from Health Boards in that region, with the flexibility to admit from other regions if the unit closest to a child or young person is full.

Additionally, the National Child Psychiatry Inpatient Unit in the Glasgow Royal Hospital for Children has 6 beds for children under 12 years and admits children from across Scotland, based on clinical need. This includes one to two national beds for children with profound learning disabilities and mental health disorders.

The National Adolescent Secure Inpatient Unit, Foxgrove, is due to open later in 2024 and initially will provide 4 beds for young people who require care in an inpatient setting with medium levels of security.

Question reference: S6W-25825

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 11 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the recent statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Net Zero and Energy that the Scottish Government is "investing £24 million in Sumitomo Energy", whether it will confirm what debt or equity investment stake the Scottish Government has acquired in Sumitomo Corporation.

The Scottish Government, Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) and Scottish Enterprise (SE) have approved up to £24.5m in grant funding to the Sumitomo Electric UK Ltd high voltage cable manufacturing project. This comprises £19.37m in Scottish Government funding, £4.6m from HIE and £0.53m from SE.

The project will create around 330 jobs and bring £350 million inward investment to Scotland. This major investment in the Highlands will support the delivery of the First Minister’s flagship commitment of up to £500 million over five years to anchor our offshore wind supply chain and create good, green jobs.

The grant support was essential to progressing this significant investment into our renewable energy future. As a global player in the offshore cable market, Sumitomo’s decision to invest in Scotland required support to ensure that the case for the creation a new facility in Scotland could be considered competitively alongside alternative locations across the globe. Sumitomo’s Scottish Highlands investment is their first in Europe, and an indicator of the attractiveness of Scotland as a place to do business in what is a globally competitive market.

Question reference: S6W-25838

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 11 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reported gaps in the delivery of traditional building skills training and concerns regarding the importance of these skills in maintaining the built environment, whether it will commit to a review of traditional building skills training delivery programming across Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-25842

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 11 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-24886 by Michael Matheson on 5 February 2024, whether it will provide details of how exactly frontline staff are supervised and supported to improve their knowledge, in respect of mental health.

Question reference: S6W-25814

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 11 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-24966 by Jenny Gilruth on 21 February 2024, whether it has undertaken any work to establish whether any local authorities used the £145 million allocated for the protection of teacher numbers for any other purposes.

Question reference: S6W-25967

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 04 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 11 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what work it or its agencies have done on modelling for a tax based on carbon emissions on landholdings in Scotland, and whether it will make the outcomes of any such work publicly available.

At the 2024-25 Scottish Budget, the Scottish Government announced that it will work with our partners in COSLA and local government, and other stakeholders, during 2024-25 to examine how further policy measures – regulatory and fiscal – can support existing policies and interventions to improve a wide range of land management outcomes, including the restoration of peatlands and the creation of more woodlands. This will also include consideration of a proposal for a Carbon Emissions Land Tax, as has been suggested by the John Muir Trust.

The Scottish Government will provide an update on its progress against this commitment before the end of the 2024-25 financial year.