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: S6O-04601

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to improve public transport connectivity in south west Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-04589

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the finance secretary has had with ministerial colleagues regarding a different model for allocating funding to Integration Joint Boards, in light of a recent Accounts Commission report highlighting the unsustainable gaps in their finances.

Question reference: S6O-04559

Asked by: Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 23 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it is working with partners to tackle gang-related crime.

Disrupting organised crime groups, diverting individuals away from organised crime and reducing the harm caused by organised crime to individuals, communities and organisations remains a priority for the Scottish Government and its partners.

Partnership working is a crucial part of the approach to organised crime, as set out in Scotland’s Serious Organised Crime Strategy. The Serious Organised Crime Taskforce, which I chair, brings together law enforcement partners, and representatives from the public, private and third sectors.

The Scottish Crime Campus at Gartcosh enhances collaboration between key partner organisations in detecting and disrupting serious organised crime and terrorism. This includes the Police Scotland-chaired Multi-Agency Tasking and Delivery Board which comprises representatives from a number of bodies with investigative remits to share intelligence, identify emerging and current threats and collaborate on operational approach.

Question reference: S6W-36783

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 23 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider reviewing its planning policy on wind turbines to encompass any health impacts of living, working or learning near to wind turbines, and the potential impact that the distance between buildings and turbines could have on health, including shadow flicker and low frequency noise.

Our Fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4) was published and adopted following extensive consultation and engagement and approval by the Scottish Parliament. Having an established and consistent policy framework enables confidence in the planning system and we have no current plans to amend NPF4.

NPF4 Policy 11 (energy) requires that wind energy project design and mitigation will demonstrate how impacts on communities and individual dwellings, including residential amenity, visual impact, noise and shadow flicker, are addressed.

Question reference: S6W-35741

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 23 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions its ministers have had in relation to requests to deliver Hugh’s Law, which would offer financial assistance to parents when children undergo prolonged hospital treatment.

We fully recognise that this is a challenging time for families. The Young Patients Family Fund helps families of young inpatients under 18 in Scotland cover some of the costs of hospital visits, regardless of diagnosis. Families can get support to cover costs of travel, food and/or accommodation.

Importantly, no-one needs a formal diagnosis to apply for Child Disability Payment which has paid out over £1 billion to families with disabled children to date. Parents applying on behalf of a terminally ill child can use our fast-tracked route to apply so they and their family can access the maximum level of financial support they are entitled to – quickly and with dignity.

Question reference: S6W-36500

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 23 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether beer sold in the on-trade is defined as household waste by local authorities.

Classification of packaging waste as household or non household waste under extended producer responsibility for packaging is set out by the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024. Classification is based on several criteria and producers are encouraged to consult the regulations or contact SEPA for specific queries. Glass drinks containers that are not in scope of DRS, will be captured under packaging EPR data reporting and fee obligations. Drinks containers which will be obligated under DRS when in force, such as aluminum, will be exempt from pEPR fee obligations. The use of reusable/refillable packaging such as beer kegs or reusable bottles is also encouraged under pEPR, as producers are only required to report and pay disposal cost fees for household packaging the first time it is placed on the market, and can then offset these fees when they recycle this packaging at the end of its life, thereby avoiding the vast majority of pEPR fees.

Question reference: S6W-36309

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 23 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to its inshore Marine Protected Areas and Priority Marine Features consultation, how long from the beginning of the consultation it anticipates it will take for any necessary protections to be implemented and enforced.

Developing evidence-based and effective fisheries management measures, and robustly undertaking statutory requirements, for more than 160 sites and areas within the inshore region is a complicated and challenging process. It is on a scale not previously undertaken therefore it is not possible to give a definitive timeline for how long it will take following the consultation as this will be impacted by a number of factors including: the length of the consultation, number of responses and the output of the statutory assessments. We are continuing to work at pace to ensure progress is made as quickly as possible.

Question reference: S6W-36503

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 23 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the extended producer responsibility scheme, how it plans to measure the efficiency and effectiveness of local authorities' recycling services, and what penalties will be imposed if councils do not meet the required standards for recycling performance.

Question reference: S6W-36436

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 23 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what savings it estimates have been achieved in the 2024-25 financial year through the early termination or non-renewal of public sector office leases.

Question reference: S6W-35960

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 23 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the claim by the Institute for Fiscal Studies in its website article, Two-child limit mitigation in Scotland would help larger poor families but policy design could harm work incentives, which was published on 14 March 2025, that its proposed two-child limit mitigation policy could harm work incentives by creating a "cliff-edge" effect.

We have consistently called for the UK Government to remove the two-child cap at source. Fixing a broken Universal Credit system would be the best way to alleviate the impacts of the pernicious two-child cap, however it is clear that despite repeated calls on them to do so, the Scottish Government can no longer wait for action. That is why we are taking decisive action as early as possible, using the limited social security powers that we have, to scrap the cap in Scotland. Our actions will result in an estimated 20,000 fewer children living in relative poverty in 2026-27.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission’s report on “Mitigating the two-child limit and the Scottish Budget” states, “it is likely that the proposed mitigation payments would not generate large behavioural responses over and above the ways that families may already have adapted to the Scottish Child Payment.”

Our own published analysis of how Scottish Child Payment interacts with the labour market concludes that it is not currently negatively affecting work incentives at scale in the economy.

However, we will continue to analyse the impact of Scottish Child Payment on work incentives, and of the two-child cap mitigation when it is introduced.