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-42750

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 19 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 8 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will undertake an analysis of the operation of the thrice-weekly rail link between the Port of Liverpool and the Mossend EuroTerminal in North Lanarkshire since it was established in 2018, regarding what effect it has had on displacing container shipping volumes from the Port of Greenock on the River Clyde, which reportedly has the capacity to handle a throughput of 100,000 TEU per year.

Question reference: S6W-42492

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 8 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-42170 by Fiona Hyslop on 5 December 2025, what information it holds on whether any public bodies receive reports from Peel Ports and The King's Harbour Master regarding the monitoring of container traffic on the River Clyde.

Question reference: S6W-42844

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 January 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 21 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the overbridge that carried Gourlay Street over the railway at Cowlairs in Glasgow was removed without replacement in 2016 as part of the Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme (EGIP) electrification works, and whether it will instruct Network Rail Scotland to commission a replacement footbridge to reconnect Gourlay Street.

Question reference: S6W-42555

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 12 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 7 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the state purchasing land and property at Grangemouth Refinery, to facilitate and control new industrial development.

Question reference: S6W-42554

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 12 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 7 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of potential liabilities for site remediation at Grangemouth Refinery.

Question reference: S6W-42584

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 12 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 6 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made with delivery partners on implementing action 3.4 of the New Scots Refugee Integration Strategy Delivery Plan 2024-2026 on promoting better understanding of qualification recognition pathways.

Scottish Government recognise the unique challenges New Scots face, including the recognition of overseas qualifications. This is a known barrier to employment.

Through the New Scots strategy, a strategy involving wider partners including those involved in employability support, a number of partners including third sector and local authorities are working with New Scots to support the recognition of their qualifications.

Question reference: S6W-42582

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 12 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 5 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to make the recognition of qualifications and re-accreditation processes more accessible and affordable for displaced Ukrainians living in Scotland.

People displaced from Ukraine who live in Scotland are covered by the Scottish Government’s New Scots Refugee Integration Strategy. Recognition of qualifications is a known barrier to employment for New Scots.

As mentioned in the response to PQ S6W-42431 on 17 December 2025, it is ultimately for the professions’ independent regulators to determine the process for recognition of relevant qualifications and experience for professionally qualified New Scots, including displaced people from Ukraine.

Action 3.4 of the New Scots Delivery Plan covers working with Scottish professional bodies to understand and promote recognition pathways for industries and identified sectors.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

Question reference: S6W-42553

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 12 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 5 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will ask the Scottish Prison Service to commission the Glasgow Building Preservation Trust, or a similar body, to carry out a feasibility study for the adaptive reuse of the buildings at HMP Barlinnie, which were recently designated as Category A listed, when the site is no longer operational as a prison.

The listing by Historic Environment Scotland (HES) recognises the historical importance of HMP Barlinnie, not only to our prisons and criminal justice system, but to Scotland as a whole.

Following this listing, HES and other relevant bodies will advise on its implications for the future of HMP Barlinnie, its permissible uses and alterations, and the Scottish Prison Service and the Scottish Government will take time to carefully consider this.

Question reference: S6W-42452

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 08 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 5 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, following the cyber attack on Comhairle nan Eilean Siar in 2023, what lessons learnt, if any, have been taken forward and implemented across the public sector.

The Scottish Government works closely with public sector organisations to ensure that relevant lessons are identified and shared after incidents and/or exercises, in the form of Cyber Resilience Early Warning (CREW) notices to the sector.

The Public Sector Cyber Resilience Network brings together all cyber and information professionals from across the sector regularly to share good practice and consider common challenges. After the cyber attack on Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, Chief Executive Malcolm Burr presented to the network on 28 February 2024 and provided an overview of the attack, an update on recovery progress, and highlighted the key lessons identified.

The Scottish Government uses lessons from all incidents to inform the action plans which support the Strategic Framework for a Cyber Resilient Scotland and shape the support provided to the sector.

The Scottish Government encourages all public sector organisations to proactively manage their cyber risks, ensure that appropriate cyber security arrangements are in place and that robust, regularly tested incident response plans are developed and maintained.

Since the Comhairle nan Eilean Siar the attack, the Scottish Government has:

provided cyber awareness training to 295 public sector board members and senior managers to improve cyber governance

updated and promoted cyber incident response plan templates and scenario playbooks to the sector
updated the Public Sector Cyber Resilience Framework, including key actions informed by the immediate lessons from the attack
provided facilitated cyber exercising opportunities for 250 public sector cyber professionals to improve their cyber incident response arrangements.
provided £1.085m since 2023 to upskill cyber security staff working in the public sector
provided daily threat and intelligence to the public sector to empower the sector to detect threats early and ensure mitigation measures are in place quickly.

Question reference: S6W-42524

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 23 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) correspondence and (b) communication it has had with the UK Government regarding how the proposals in the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill might impact employment legislation and in turn impact on Scotland's economy.

As I set out in my letter to the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee on 16 December, official engagement is ongoing between the Scottish and UK Governments to resolve outstanding legislative competence issues within the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill.

This includes considering provisions in the Bill around employment protections for people who opt not to be involved in assisted dying, which may relate to the reserved matter of employment and industrial relations (section H1 of schedule 5 of the Scotland Act 1998).

No correspondence or communication has taken place with regard to the impact this may have on Scotland’s economy.

A link to the 16 December letter is available here: https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/committees/current-and-previous-committees/session-6-health-social-care-and-sport-committee/correspondence/2025/ad-bill-cab-sec-hsc-section-30.