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: S6W-39228

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 5 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what measures are being taken to improve the mental health of police officers.

Question reference: S6W-39229

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 5 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs has had with Police Scotland regarding the mental health of police officers in the past year.

Question reference: S6W-39176

Asked by: Roz McCall, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 5 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it will take to improve workforce qualifications and training for those who work in secure care, in light of reports that staff are often employed without the necessary specialist skills to support highly vulnerable children.

Question reference: S6W-39239

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 5 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on how much has been spent on agency staff in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools, in each year since 1999, also broken down by local authority.

Question reference: S6W-38854

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 20 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 8 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-38270 by Fiona Hyslop on 17 June 2025, (a) how much and (b) what proportion of the total grant funding was provided to (i) public, (ii) private and (iii) third sector organisations.

As detailed in the response to question S6W-38270, Scottish Government has awarded over £65m funding to support investment in the ChargePlace Scotland network since 2011.

Of this, over £56 million (81.7%) has been provided through funding schemes for the public sector, principally local authorities.

In addition, over £7.3 million (10.7%) has been awarded through schemes operated by the Energy Saving Trust and specifically supporting public EV charging, these schemes specifically targeted private and third sectors but also included some limited support for the public sector. The information held on these schemes by the Energy Saving Trust does not enable the value of funding specific to each sector to be identified.

A further £5.2 million (7.6%) was awarded to Scottish Power Distribution PLC through Scottish Government’s Strategic Partnership with Scotland's electricity Distribution Network Operators. The EV charge points installed under this scheme were subsequently transferred to the ownership of North and South Lanarkshire Councils.

Question reference: S6W-38849

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 8 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding (a) in total and (b) per capita has been allocated for public transport in each of the last two years, also broken down by (i) local authority area and (ii) parliamentary region.

The Government has been increasing its total allocation on public transport year-on-year. In 2025-26, the Scottish Government is investing more than £2.6 billion to support public transport, making our transport system available, affordable and accessible for all. In 2024-25, this figure was £2.5 billion and in 2023-24, it was almost £2.5 billion.

These figures include concessionary travel and the operation of rail and ferries networks, which make our transport system available, affordable and accessible.

The Scottish Government reports on budget allocation at a project and budgetary level and does not hold information on funding by constituency or parliamentary region.

Question reference: S6W-38898

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 20 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 8 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the current total economic cost associated with autistic adults is, and what percentage of this figure is a result of underemployment or unemployment.

We do not hold the specific information requested. However, a 2018 report suggested that, in financial year 2013-14, the total economic cost associated with autistic adults in Scotland was £2.1 billion. Of this, £884 million, or 41.6%, was attributed to productivity loss, a metric which could be interpreted as representing underemployment and/or unemployment.

Scotland’s Census 2022 provides data on the number of people aged 16-64 who were unemployed in 2022, and reported having ‘one or more learning disability, learning difficulty or developmental disorder’. This includes autistic adults, but is not specific to them.

In 2016, we committed to halving the Disability Employment Gap. Our 2018 publication, A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People: Employment Action Plan, outlined the initial steps towards achieving this goal by 2038. Several of these actions have since been incorporated into our refreshed Fair Work Action Plan: Becoming a Fair Work Nation by 2025, published in December 2022. This refreshed plan aims to improve employment opportunities for individuals facing a structural barriers to the labour market, with input from disabled people and their representative organisations.

Question reference: S6W-39019

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 8 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that the eligibility criteria for tier 3 of the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme support a range of actions, such as managing species-rich pastures, and do not only support tree planting.

Since it was launched in 2015, the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme (AECS) has supported land managers to undertake a wide range of actions to benefit the environment. Support is provided for the management of species-rich grassland and small-scale tree planting, alongside options spanning nature restoration, climate change mitigation and adaptation, improving water quality and mitigating flood risk. The scheme offers both capital and resource funding to enable the uptake of options which complement existing farming systems and support both productive agriculture and nature and climate outcomes. Full scheme guidance is available on the Rural Payments website.

As stated in the Agricultural Reform Route Map, AECS is expected to continue until at least 2026 to deliver elements of Elective support ahead of Tier 3 launching in 2027.

Tier 3 Elective will support action that protects habitats or species or improves business sustainability. It will focus on funding a range of targeted actions for climate change and nature restoration. This could be specific to a particular species or habitat, support conversion to alternative forms of agriculture such as organic production, encourage innovation and provide supply chain support.

Question reference: S6W-39106

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 8 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the launch of the GOV.UK app, whether it has plans to develop a Scottish Government mobile app.

Question reference: S6W-39053

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 27 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 8 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what medical assessment is required by decision makers when authorising the renewal of Blue Badges; what type of healthcare professionals are involved in the renewal process; how they are involved, and whether they are involved in all applications.

Local authorities often refer to Blue Badge applications as 'renewals', but legally, all badges expire after three years and must be reassessed equally.

When authorising Blue Badge applications, local authorities are responsible for determining eligibility based on the information and evidence provided. Medical assessments are not automatically required. Where eligibility cannot be confirmed from the application alone, the applicant may be referred to an Independent Mobility Assessor (IMA). IMAs are regulated healthcare professionals, such as occupational therapists or physiotherapists, qualified to assess mobility impairments.