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-02504

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 August 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 15 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will evaluate municipal procurement and heritage conservation policies in other countries, including Dublin's historic cast-iron street furniture framework, Paris's standards for historic street furniture, Washington DC's historic lighting requirements and Vienna's heritage preservation policies, to inform any strategy for sustaining Scotland's architectural iron foundry sector and traditional manufacturing skills.

Question reference: S7W-02485

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 August 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 15 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it has considered commissioning a Scottish Parliament challenge coin for members to present to hosts during official international visits and to members of visiting delegations, in light of the increasing use of such coins by legislatures and public bodies across the Commonwealth, the United States and elsewhere.

Question reference: S7W-02453

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 August 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 9 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will engage with the Glasgow Science Centre, which is owned by the GSC Charitable Trust, a wholly owned subsidiary of Scottish Enterprise, regarding the repair or replacement of the titanium roof covering at the IMAX Theatre, which has remained damaged since the roof's waterproof membrane burnt in high temperatures in 2018, leaving black residue across the surface.

Question reference: S7W-02454

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 August 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 9 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government when it anticipates that Scotland will have a 24/7 thrombectomy service, in light of reports that, in 2025, only one in 50 stroke patients in Scotland received a thrombectomy treatment despite estimates that one in seven patients could benefit from it, and that only 210 thrombectomies were performed, a number which represents 1.9% of stroke patients.

Question reference: S7W-02359

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 07 August 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 4 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many newly qualified educational psychologists have secured permanent employment in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S7W-02362

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 07 August 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 4 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment has been made of future demand for educational psychologists.

Question reference: S7W-02360

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 07 August 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 4 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of educational psychologists employed by local authorities are on temporary or fixed-term contracts.

Question reference: S7W-02361

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 07 August 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 4 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has undertaken workforce planning for educational psychology services.

Question reference: S7W-01416

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 June 2026
Current Status: Answered by Stephen Flynn on 27 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will commission a modern traffic circulation plan for Greater Glasgow that focuses on reducing traffic, particularly in residential neighbourhoods, and maximising access to jobs and key services, while prioritising sustainable modes of transport, and whether such a plan will inform decisions on the permanent repair, removal or replacement of the M8 Woodside Viaducts.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of ensuring that Glasgow’s transport network supports sustainable economic growth, improves access to employment and essential services, and reduces the impacts of traffic on local communities.

Decisions on transport planning in Glasgow are taken forward through a range of national, regional and local strategies, including the National Transport Strategy, the Strategic Transport Projects Review 2, the Regional Transport Strategy developed by Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, and Glasgow City Council’s own – Glasgow Transport Strategy. These collectively support a shift towards more sustainable travel choices, including walking, wheeling, cycling and public transport.

The Scottish Government has no current plans to commission a separate traffic circulation plan specifically for Greater Glasgow. However, Transport Scotland will continue to work with regional partners and local authorities to ensure that transport investment decisions, including the development of Clyde Metro, support our objectives of reducing congestion, improving connectivity and promoting sustainable travel.

With regard to the M8 Woodside Viaducts, Transport Scotland is progressing the appraisal and development of a preferred long-term intervention in consultation with key stakeholders. Through this process, consideration is given to the role of the viaducts within the wider transport network, alongside engineering, operational, environmental, social and economic factors.

Question reference: S7W-01057

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 15 June 2026
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 13 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support the augmentation of the UK Government's AI Hardware Plan.

Scotland is uniquely positioned to support delivery of the AI Hardware Plan, with globally competitive strengths in photonics, semiconductors, novel architectures, low-power and edge AI systems. These are areas specifically identified in the Scottish government’s AI Strategy (2026).

Scotland is home to a £4.4bn critical technologies supercluster, with over 160 companies, 11,500 jobs and >80% export revenue. The Scottish Government is directly supporting the industry ambition to grow to £10bn and 17,500 jobs by 2035.

The Scottish Government provides long-term core funding to Technology Scotland as the Cluster Management Organisation and industry body for these sectors, and to the Fraunhofer Centre for Applied Photonics, arguably the UK’s strongest translational assets in this field. Other assets include Glasgow’s James Watt Nanofabrication Centre, the National Advanced Semiconductor Packaging and Integration Centre, and Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre.

The Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Tourism and Transport has written to the UK Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology to urge the UK government to ensure Scotland’s strengths are recognised and that opportunities are not solely flowing to elsewhere in the UK.