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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 2595 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S7W-01851

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 July 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 17 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the incident of subsidence in Coalsnaughton Road, Tillicoultry, what the anticipated cost would be of any additional payments or financial assistance that it is considering providing to support the accommodation of evacuated households.

Question reference: S7W-01850

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 July 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 17 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the incident of subsidence in Coalsnaughton Road, Tillicoultry, how much public money has been spent and paid out to various authorities and organisations throughout the construction period and the subsequent recovery period.

Question reference: S7W-01849

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 July 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 17 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the £1 million funding given to Clackmannanshire Council to support residents of Coalsnaughton Road, Tillicoultry, affected by ground movement in the area, whether this funding was supplied through other agencies to act as grant money and/or security during the construction phases.

Question reference: S7W-01848

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 July 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 17 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the incident of subsidence in Coalsnaughton Road, Tillicoultry, what role it will play regarding compensation for houses that may have to be demolished, repaired and secured.

Question reference: S7W-01446

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 17 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what the average time taken to process an individual in police custody has been, from arrival at custody to completion of processing, in each of the last five financial years.

Table 1 shows the average combined police custody waiting and processing times from 2021-22 to 2025-26.

Waiting time is the time spent from the point the person arrested and the arresting officers arrive at a custody centre, to the point police custody officers and staff began to process and in effect book the person into custody. Police Scotland always try to ensure that this time is as minimal as possible, however waiting times can be impacted by a range of operational matters, which include more than one person needing to be processed or booked in at similar times, custody staff responding to a medical emergency etc.

Processing time is the time taken to book the person into custody. This involves the arrested person being searched and asked questions to allow for an assessment of vulnerability, including medical conditions, which is critical to ensure a safe environment for people in police custody.

Table 1: Average Combined Waiting and Processing time in minutes, 2021-22 to 2025-26

Financial Year	Average Waiting Time (minutes)	Average Processing Time (minutes)	Average Total Time taken to process from arrival at police custody to lodge in cell (minutes)
2021-22	20	17	37
2022-23	20	17	37
2023-24	19	17	36
2024-25	18	16	34
2025-26	19	16	35

Source: Police Scotland Management Information

Question reference: S7W-01322

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 June 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 17 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of individuals held on remand subsequently received a custodial sentence in each of the last five financial years.

The information requested is not held centrally.

The data held by Scottish Government (SG) on individuals held on remand is taken from the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) Prisoner Records System. SG do publish information on the number of departures from the remand population and the number of transitions from the remand population into the sentenced population in each financial year here: Supporting documents - Scottish Prison Population Statistics 2024-25 - gov.scot. However, this indicates prisoner movement rather than the outcome of the case/s individuals are involved in. Prisoner records do not contain information on the outcomes of court cases.

Question reference: S7W-01269

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 June 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 17 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will bring forward legislation or guidance to address the issue identified by the National Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Strategic Group that all but one of the crime codes in the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009 defines children as aged 15 and under, rather than under 18, as defined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024.

The crime codes exist to convert breaches of criminal law into useable operational data, and ultimately the Official Statistics on recorded crime in Scotland. For those codes that specifically relate to crimes committed against children under the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009, the age of 15 and under is used as the Act effectively provides the age of consent in Scotland at 16 years old. The one exception to this is the Section 42 offence of sexual abuse of trust, which relates to those aged under 18. As such, the approach taken with the crime codes reflects the criminal law as agreed by the Scottish Parliament, with sexual offences committed against 16 or 17 year olds (excluding Section 42) continuing to be recorded using the relevant crime code for all adults.

Question reference: S7W-01453

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 15 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what due diligence and financial probity checks it requires public bodies to carry out on prospective recipients of grant or contracts, and whether these requirements differ for procurement (a) below and (b) above the £50,000 threshold at which the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015 apply.

Public procurement and grants are subject to different requirements.

In relation to public procurement, the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015 (2015 Regulations) do not apply from a threshold of £50,000, but from the relevant threshold set out in regulation 5 of the 2015 Regulations. In the case of a public supply contract, and most public service contracts, the relevant threshold is £135,018 for central government authorities, or £207,720 for sub-central authorities. For public works contracts, the relevant threshold is £5,193,000.

Regulation 58 of the 2015 Regulations sets out the grounds on which bidders may, or must, be excluded from procurement exercises. These include convictions for certain criminal offences, non-payment of taxes, and bankruptcy. Regulation 59 sets out the selection criteria which authorities may impose for the purposes of ensuring that a bidder has the necessary: suitability to pursue a professional activity; economic and financial standing; and technical and professional ability. The precise criteria imposed will depend on the nature of the contract in question.

Regulation 60 sets out that bidders should, in the first instance, complete the Single Procurement Document, consisting of a self-declaration that they are not in one of the situations which constitute grounds for exclusion, and that they meet the relevant selection criteria. Authorities may require bidders to provide supporting documentation at any time when it is necessary to ensure the proper conduct of the procurement procedure. Full due diligence is only required when a preferred bidder has been identified. For this purpose, authorities may require bidders to produce certificates, statements and other means of proof as evidence for the absence of grounds for exclusion and for the fulfilment of the selection criteria. This can include, but it is not limited to: certificates; bank statements; previous work carried out over the past five years; samples, descriptions or photographs of products to be supplied; financial statements; and the qualifications of relevant staff.

The Procurement (Scotland) Regulations 2016 make similar provision in relation to contracts subject to the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 (the Act). The Act applies to public supply and public service contracts worth at least £50,000 and to public works contracts worth at least £2 million.

In relation to grants, due diligence forms an integral part of the Scottish Government’s established grant management process, where preventative checks are required to be performed before awarding a general grant. Assessments cover financial viability and governance arrangements of prospective recipients, and the process is supported by internal guidance and checklists. There is no financial threshold for undertaking due diligence for a grant.

Question reference: S7W-01683

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 July 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 11 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it can provide a breakdown by local authority for male victims and female suspected perpetrator domestic abuse incidents in each of the last five financial years.

Question reference: S7W-01268

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 June 2026
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 14 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made with the three workstreams of its Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Data Short Life Working Group, which was established in January 2026, including by what date the output from workstream one, which is an analysis of available data on child sexual abuse and exploitation, will be published.

The Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Data Short Life Working Group has met four times so far since being formed in January 2026. At each meeting, updates were given on progress made on each of the three workstreams. You can find these updates in the minutes on here: National Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Strategic Group - gov.scot.

The group is planning to publish an interim report on its findings by the end of 2026, with a full report being published in summer 2027.