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-01676

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 13 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 22 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the 2026 Scottish National Party manifesto commitment to enact a statutory price cap on essential food items, what its response is to comments from the Scottish Retail Consortium, as reported in The Sunday Times on 12 July 2026, that, 12 weeks on from the policy announcement, the organisation remains "completely in the dark on even the most rudimentary details" of the proposals.

Question reference: S7W-01811

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 22 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the Scottish National Party manifesto commitment to enact a statutory price cap on essential food items, what its response is to reported concerns that the policy could encourage customers to travel further to purchase goods that would otherwise be bought in a convenience store closer to them and therefore increase transport-related emissions.

Question reference: S7W-01675

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 13 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 22 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the 2026 Scottish National Party manifesto commitment to enact a statutory price cap on essential food items, what its response is to comments by the Food & Drink Federation Scotland, as reported in The Sunday Times on 12 July 2026, that such a policy could lead retailers to source a greater proportion of imported food products in place of domestically produced goods.

Question reference: S7W-01808

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 22 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the Scottish National Party manifesto commitment to enact a statutory price cap on essential food items, what analysis it has conducted of the potential impact on customer demand and stocking of products in grocery stores that are located close to the border with England.

The Scottish Government is working toward a consultation on the price cap on essential food items within 100 days of the start of this parliamentary session. This work has been informed by early engagement with key stakeholders and consideration of policy implications.

The consultation will be an opportunity for interested parties to inform the further development of policy and any future legislative proposals. Any proposals brought forward would be subject to detailed consideration of potential economic, competition, consumer and business impacts and be informed by appropriate evidence and impact assessments.

Question reference: S7W-01601

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 22 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the commitment in the Scottish National Party manifesto to enact a statutory price cap on essential food items, what additional resources will be required for local authority trading standards to (a) monitor and (b) enforce the policy.

Question reference: S7W-01602

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 22 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the commitment in the Scottish National Party manifesto to enact a statutory price cap on essential food items, when the policy was first intimated to grocery retailers and/or their representatives.

Question reference: S7W-01299

Asked by: David Linden, MSP for Glasgow Baillieston and Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 June 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 21 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide the total headcount of prison officers in the Scottish Prison Service in each year since 2015.

I have asked Linda Pollock, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

The numbers of prison officers employed by SPS at the end of each financial year from 2015-16 to 2025-26 are set out in the following table:

Year	Number of Prison Officers employed by SPS
2015-16	3361
2016-17	3370
2017-18	3342
2018-19	3294
2019-20	3242
2020-21	3302
2021-22	3381
2022-23	3331
2023-24	3420
2024-25	3784
2025-26	3804

Question reference: S7W-01288

Asked by: Emma Roddick, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 June 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 21 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, ahead of summer 2026, how it is monitoring the effectiveness of the wildfire prevention by-laws of the Cairngorm National Park Authority, and how it will share with other bodies any best practice identified.

In April 2026, new wildfire prevention byelaws came into force in the Cairngorms National Park to help address the increasing risk of wildfires.

The Scottish Government meets regularly with the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) to discuss the implementation of the byelaws and the arrangements in place to monitor their effectiveness.

One of the principal ways in which the CNPA is assessing the effectiveness of the byelaws is through monitoring its communications and public awareness campaign, aimed at increasing awareness of wildfire risk and preventing fires from being lit in the first place.

The campaign includes a range of activities across digital channels, social media, printed materials, press coverage, and roadside and site-based signage. The use of digital channels allows the CNPA to monitor reach and engagement in real time and to target specific audiences and locations where appropriate.

To date, the campaign has reached approximately 1.8 million people, indicating strong public engagement with the messaging.

The CNPA is also undertaking pre- and post-byelaw surveys involving 400 visitors and 100 residents to assess awareness of the campaign and the extent to which it has influenced behaviour.

The CNPA also monitors the effectiveness of the byelaws through data collected by Park Authority rangers and partner ranger services on actual fire activity encountered within the National Park, including the number of live fires found.

As this data has been collected over several years, it can be used to assess trends and any changes following the introduction of the byelaws. The CNPA is reviewing this alongside Procurator Fiscal referral data to identify emerging trends.

As the byelaws were only recently introduced, it is too early to draw firm conclusions from ranger data. However, the CNPA is already sharing learning from its communications and public awareness activities through national networks, including the National Visitor Management Communications Group and the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy Communications Group.

The CNPA is also working closely with Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park Authority, whose review of camping byelaws coincides with the implementation of the Cairngorms wildfire prevention byelaws, providing valuable opportunities to share experience and learning.

Question reference: S7W-01271

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 June 2026
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 21 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether any Barnett consequential funding has arisen from the introduction of the Places of Worship Renewal Fund in England, which replaced the UK-wide Listed Places of Worship Scheme.

The Scottish Government has not identified any Barnett consequential funding specifically linked to the introduction of the Places of Worship Renewal Fund in England.

Under the Barnett formula, changes to the Scottish Government’s funding are calculated at the level of overall UK Government departmental spending, rather than individual programmes or schemes. UK Government ministers have confirmed that the funding for the Places of Worship Renewal Fund is included within the wider Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) settlement, and that Barnett consequentials are applied to the total departmental allocation rather than to specific funding lines.

Decisions on how to allocate funding received through the block grant are a matter for the Scottish Government, in line with devolved responsibilities.

The final decision to end the UK-wide scheme was also only confirmed to the Scottish Government after the 2026-27 Scottish Budget was set, further limiting Scottish Ministers' options. However, Ministers will continue to seek options.

Question reference: S7W-01286

Asked by: Emma Roddick, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 June 2026
Current Status: Answered by Alison Thewliss on 21 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has an agreed definition of relational care, if so, (a) whether it will set this out and (b) how it will promote and support its approach to the provision of such care.

Relational care, or relational continuity aims to ensure the same healthcare professional provides treatment and care for a person over time, allowing development of trust and understanding.

Relational continuity is discussed in more detail in the Chief Medical Officer for Scotland's 2024-25 Annual Report Realistic Medicine: Critical Connections.

The Chief Medical Officer has again promoted the need for greater relational continuity of care in his latest annual report Our Path Ahead.

We are exploring options to increase the focus on relational continuity of care as part of this year's Frailty Directed Enhanced Service in general practice.

Our record investment package of £310 million over 3 years to expand the general practice workforce is supported by guidance which recognises the importance of relational continuity of care and advises practices to consider how best to assure GP capacity in ways that actively provide relational continuity of care for patients where this is in their interests.