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-43692

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 24 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to address any shortages of qualified language teachers.

Local authorities are responsible for recruitment and retention of teachers in each council area.

The Scottish Government is taking a range of additional steps such as £186.5 million provided to local authorities in 2025-26 to protect and restore teachers numbers, including in hard to fill subjects like modern languages. These steps also include the launch in January 2026 of a new teacher recruitment campaign to encourage more students to take up a career in teaching in remote and rural areas and our £15,000 teaching bursary scheme to encourage career changers to become teachers.

Question reference: S6W-43685

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 24 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many incidents, complaints or safeguarding referrals involving biologically male prisoners held in women’s prisons have been recorded since 2018.

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

SPS take all complaints seriously and ensures that they are dealt with in an effective manner, including the option to confidentially raise a concern directly with the Governor in Charge.

Due to changes in recording procedures - including Records System (PR2) capabilities, incident reporting changes and the application of two Transgender Policies during the relevant period, SPS cannot accurately provide the data requested.

Question reference: S6W-43686

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 24 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many prosecutions have been brought under the Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-restricted Goods and Services) (Scotland) Act 2021 in each year since its enactment.

The following table provides data on proceedings under the Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-restricted Goods and Services) (Scotland) Act 2021.

The most recent information on proceedings and convictions is available for the financial year 2023-24.

Number of people prosecuted in Scottish courts under the Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-restricted Goods and Services) (Scotland) Act 2021, where main charge, 2021-22 to 2023-24.

	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24
Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-restricted Goods and Services) (Scotland) Act 2021	28	173	429

Source: Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings database.

Please note: data for 2021-22 and 2022-23 are affected by the pandemic, subsequent court closures, reduced court capacity due to physical distancing measures and delays to cases where key participants were forced to self-isolate after testing positive for COVID-19, and the subsequent court recovery from the pandemic and may not be considered indicative of long term trends.

Question reference: S6T-02910

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 February 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the reported disclosure that £96.2 million has been spent by NHS Scotland on damages, legal expenses and associated costs linked to maternity and obstetric care.

Question reference: S6O-05539

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 February 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has undertaken of any link between social media use and violent disruption in classrooms in Scotland.

Question reference: S6T-02885

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 February 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the final report and recommendations of the Sentencing and Penal Policy Commission, in light of the reported high levels of public concern regarding the findings.

Question reference: S6W-43255

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 6 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Scottish Enterprise regarding training provision linked to the furlough scheme that it created to support the retention of jobs at Alexander Dennis, and whether any training support has been accessed in the absence of the company applying for any funding through the scheme.

Question reference: S6W-43299

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 23 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 6 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its decision to draw down a further £286 million from ScotWind revenues, whether it anticipates requiring additional drawdowns from the ScotWind fund to balance future spending reviews.

Question reference: S6W-43252

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 5 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the furlough scheme that was announced to support the retention of jobs at the company, whether Alexander Dennis has provided the required evidence of sufficient contracted orders to sustain long-term manufacturing operations in Scotland, and, if so, on what date any such evidence was (a) received and (b) assessed.

Question reference: S6W-43251

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 5 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with Alexander Dennis since September 2025 to establish the reasons for the company reportedly not having applied for any funding through the furlough scheme that was created to support it, and whether any conditions of the scheme have prevented or delayed access to the funding.