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-04173

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 October 2026
Current Status: Answered by Stephen Flynn on 6 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many buses supported by ScotZEB3 are expected to be manufactured (a) in Scotland, (b) elsewhere in the UK and (c) overseas, broken down by (i) manufacturer, (ii) grant recipient and (iii) grant value.

ScotZEB3 provided funding to bus operators and a consortium to support the deployment of zero-emission buses. Funding was awarded to operators rather than vehicle manufacturers, with recipients responsible for their own procurement processes and commercial arrangements with suppliers. Consequently, the Scottish Government does not hold a comprehensive breakdown of ScotZEB3-supported vehicles by manufacturing location.

Information on the grant value, and vehicle manufacturers proposed by successful grant applicants is published on the Transport Scotland website: Scottish Zero Emission Bus challenge fund | Transport Scotland.

Question reference: S7W-04218

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 12 October 2026
Current Status: Answered by Alison Thewliss on 6 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what mandatory training NHS nurses receive regarding the care, communication needs and reasonable adjustments required by people with learning disabilities, and whether such training is consistent across NHS boards.

There is currently no mandatory training for learning disabilities. However, we recognise how important the right training is to ensuring effective care and support.

Public Services Delivery Scotland (PSDS) has created a set of educational resources called the Essentials of Learning Disability (EOLD) which are available via TURAS to all NHS staff Essentials of Learning Disability | Turas | Learn. These resources were developed with the goal of fulfilling essential learning for anyone working with a person with a learning disability across health and social care.

PSDS also have a Once for Scotland : Learning Disabilities | Turas | Learn site providing access to a wide range of learning resources designed to help NHS staff to support and improve the lives of people with a learning disability.

Question reference: S7W-04211

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 12 October 2026
Current Status: Answered by Alison Thewliss on 6 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of workforce shortages in learning disability services, including the impact that vacancies are having on the provision of care and support.

The Scottish Government provides the overarching strategic and policy framework for workforce planning, while responsibility for determining and delivering appropriate staffing levels rests with the relevant local bodies. NHS Boards, Integration Authorities and local authorities are responsible for planning their workforces in response to local needs and meeting their respective statutory responsibilities.

The Scottish Government recognises ongoing workforce pressures across services and the impact that vacancies can have on the continuity and delivery of care and support. A sustainable, appropriately skilled workforce is essential to meeting the needs of vulnerable groups, including people with learning disabilities. Investment is being made across education and social care to support recruitment and retention, while NHS workforce trends continue to be monitored.

Learning disability services span health, social care and education, and there is no single, distinct learning disability workforce. Workforce data is generally collected by professional group and service area, rather than by the needs of the people supported. This means that available data do not provide a complete picture of workforce shortages across learning disability services or the specific impact of vacancies on the provision of care and support.

We know there has been a decline in NHS Learning Disability nurses over the last decade and the Scottish Government is now developing a strategy which will seek to address this.

The Scottish Government also recognises the need for a clearer understanding of the workforce supporting people with learning disabilities and complex support needs. The Coming Home Action Plan includes two actions relating to workforce planning:

to develop accurate data on the existing workforce supporting people with learning disabilities and complex needs across health and social care
to feed into wider social care workforce planning to develop opportunities for recruitment, retention and career progression

Question reference: S7W-04855

Asked by: Steven Bonnar, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 November 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 19 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what criteria were used to identify Shotts for inclusion in the second phase of its GP walk-in clinics programme, and how factors including deprivation, health inequalities and public transport accessibility were taken into account.

Question reference: S7W-04859

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 November 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 19 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how much electricity generators have been paid in constraint payments, in each year since 2021.

Question reference: S7W-04868

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 November 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 19 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S7W-02880 and S7W-03933 by Angela Constance on 17 September 2026 and 28 October 2026 respectively, whether any business plan has been produced for the integration of prison healthcare IT systems with GP IT systems following completion of the rollout of the Vision system.

Question reference: S7W-04865

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for Fife North East, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 November 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 19 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on the ChargePlace Scotland scheme to date, and how much private investment this funding has leveraged to date.

Question reference: S7W-04866

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for Fife North East, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 November 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 19 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many public charging places have been installed in each local authority area as a result of its ChargePlace Scotland scheme, including the number that are owned by (a) local authorities, (b) the Scottish Government, (c) other public bodies, (d) private sector organisations and (e) third sector organisations, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S7W-04857

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 November 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 19 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of Animal Equality UK’s Freedom of Information findings, for what reason (a) no fish slaughter welfare inspections took place between September 2022 and April 2025, despite APHA being required to monitor welfare at slaughter from February 2022 and (b) no slaughter vessels were inspected between February 2022 and July 2026, and what action it will take, and by when, to ensure regular, unannounced welfare inspections of all shore-based fish slaughter facilities and slaughter vessels.

Question reference: S7W-04856

Asked by: Steven Bonnar, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 November 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 19 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that the needs and views of residents in the Uddingston and Bellshill constituency are taken into account when developing proposals for the GP walk-in clinic in Shotts, given that it may be the nearest such service for residents in parts of the constituency.