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-03047

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 September 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 23 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what processes exist within the Scottish Government for monitoring of reports published by Audit Scotland and for taking action in response to their findings.

Question reference: S7W-03046

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 September 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 23 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S7W-02737 by Simita Kumar on 7 September 2026, whether it will provide a detailed breakdown of how the £400,000 provided to the Gaza HOPES Field Readiness Hub has been spent.

Question reference: S7W-03044

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 September 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 23 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many staff employed by the Scottish Government are engaged in activity related to the Scottish Youth Parliament.

Question reference: S7W-03042

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 September 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 23 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government which ministers have met with representatives of the Scottish Youth Parliament over the last 12 months.

Question reference: S7W-02737

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Simita Kumar on 7 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the £400,000 that it committed to Dundee-based charity Kids Operating Room to establish the Gaza HOPES Field Readiness Hub, (a) what proportion of that funding has been provided, and (b) what update it can provide on progress in establishing the hub.

As announced by the First Minister in Parliament on 3 September 2025, the Scottish Government pledged £400,000 to establish the Gaza HOPES Field Readiness Hub.

This money was provided to Kids Operating Room in two payments. £337,680 was provided on 05 December 2025. The remaining £62,320 was paid on 25 February 2026.

The Field Readiness Hub has been built and is fully operational at Kids Operating Room's Global Centre of Operations. It is being used to design, test and refine modular healthcare infrastructure before deployment. The Hub replicates clinical environments, including a consultation room, imaging/isolation space, recovery area, maternity theatre and paediatric theatre.

The Hub's original purpose was to support preparation for a modular hospital in Gaza, however the current situation in Gaza has meant deployment has not been achieved at this point. Kids Operating Room are exploring multiple deployment options and potential sites, while maintaining readiness so it can respond when conditions allow.

Since the Hub was established, Kids Operating Room has secured funding and partner support for related projects in the West Bank, demonstrating the wider value of the initial investment. For example, in August 2026 a new dedicated paediatric operating theatre has officially opened at Al-Ahli Hospital in Hebron - the first of an initial three permanent children's surgical theatres that KidsOR will be delivering across the West Bank.

Question reference: S7W-02971

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 September 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 21 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason thrombolysis door-to-needle times are significantly longer out-of-hours, and, further to the First Minister’s commitment to deliver 24/7 thrombectomy cover across Scotland, whether it will provide information on when the delivery plan for this commitment will be published, when the service will be fully operational and what resources will be required to deliver it.

Question reference: S7W-02970

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 September 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 21 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what specific support and interventions it is providing to NHS boards that continue to perform poorly against the objectives of the Scottish Stroke Improvement Plan, including NHS Forth Valley, NHS Borders and NHS Lanarkshire, and what action it is taking to address the significant regional variation in delivery of the inpatient stroke care bundle across Scotland.

Question reference: S7W-02969

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 September 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 21 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the latest Scottish Stroke Care Audit data does not provide comprehensive reporting on stroke rehabilitation, and what measures it is taking to assure patients that appropriate levels of therapy and specialist staffing are being delivered consistently across every NHS board.

Question reference: S7W-02898

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 September 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 18 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the draft report from workstream one of the Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Data Short Life Working Group, Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation data captured within Joint Investigative Interviews, dated 22 June 2026, which states that, in 2024-25, there were at least 5,087 sexual crimes involving a victim under the age of 18 recorded by Police Scotland compared with 155 children on the Child Protection Register with a child sexual abuse concern and 20 with a child sexual exploitation concern, what its assessment is of the difference between these figures.

Question reference: S7W-02591

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 3 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any financial impact on the voluntary sector of excluding charity shops and Community Amateur Sports Club community retail shops from the Water and Sewerage Charges Exemption Scheme, and whether it has any plans to review the scheme’s eligibility criteria.

The water and sewerage charges exemption scheme is funded by the general non-household customer base through an uplift in their water and sewerage charges. To ensure that the scheme does not result in unfair competition with the small businesses who are part of funding the scheme, charities operating a retail outlet, such as a café or charity shop, are not eligible.

The Principles which apply to charges, including the terms of the exemption scheme, have been set for the 2021-27 period and there is no ability to deviate from the criteria within this period. Following a public consultation in January 2026, the terms of the exemption scheme for 2027-33 will be confirmed when Ministers publish the Principles of Charging this Autumn.