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-42142

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 5 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the duration was of the advertisement on the Public Contracts Scotland website for expressions of interest in tendering for the construction of the two new freight flex vessels to serve the Aberdeen-Kirkwall/Lerwick route.

Question reference: S6W-42247

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jackson Carlaw (on behalf of the SPCB) on 4 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it will bring the MSP staff cost provision into parity with that of staff costs for Scotland's MPs.

The SPCB is responsible for funding the members’ expenses scheme and for determining which indices are used to uprate the overall provisions, including staff cost provision. This arrangement is set out in the Scheme as agreed by Parliament. The Scheme rules allow the SPCB to uprate the provision annually using that appropriate index. They do not provide the SPCB the scope to change the staff cost provision in any other manner.

The Staff Cost Provision is provided to Members to facilitate their employment of staff to support them in carrying out their parliamentary duties.

It is then for Members, as individual employers (noting that the SPCB is not the employer of Members’ staff), to determine their staffing structure and staff salaries within the requirements of the Scheme, including any cost of living pay award, as long as it is affordable within the capped annual provision.

The SPCB did increase the Staff Cost Provision in 2021 by the equivalent cost of one full-time member of staff with effect from the start of Session 6 - Allowances - Expenses Scheme Resolution. This followed an evidence-based review of the provision.

Payments regarding Scottish MPs’ staff are covered by the ‘Scheme of MPs’ Staffing and Business Costs’, responsibility for which rests with the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA), which has responsibility for setting arrangement across a wide range of MPs’ financial matters.

It should also be noted that there are key differences between the two schemes including what is and is not covered regarding provisions for staff, meaning that a like for like comparison is not possible. For example, the Scottish Parliament scheme meets NI and pension payments separately while these are paid by MPs from within the IPSA staff cost provision.

Question reference: S6W-42107

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 4 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many care homes in each local authority area are currently subject to moratorium and large scale investigation, and how many care beds are affected by this.

The information requested is not held centrally and is a matter for local authorities.

Statistics published by the Scottish Government on Adult Support and Protection activity undertaken by local authorities in 2024-25 showed that 49 large scale investigations (LSIs) were reported to have been undertaken by local authorities in 2024-25. Of those, 22 were reported as taking place in care homes. The number of care beds affected was not reported. The statistical publication this is drawn from is available on the Scottish Government website at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/adult-support-and-protection-asp-national-minimum-dataset-2024-25/.

Question reference: S6O-05281

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 December 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, in light of reports that the NHS board is dealing with a much higher rate of flu patients compared with previous years.

Question reference: S6W-41935

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 2 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will mandate public ownership of all new rolling stock for Scotland's railways, to transition away from the current reliance on private rolling stock companies.

Question reference: S6W-42096

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 1 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District Scotland (AMIDS) South project has been designed with passive provision measures for future integration of light rail, including by ensuring that underground utilities are designed accordingly.

The Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District Scotland (AMIDS) South project is being led by Renfrewshire Council. The Scottish Government is funding the Gallowhill link of the project, which will use a former railway underpass to provide crossing under Renfrew Road from Gallowhill for the new school. The inclusion of passive provision measures for future integration of light rail is a matter for the Council and any terms agreed when securing any UK Government funding.

Question reference: S6O-05245

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 November 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Centre for Cities' recent report, which recommended having a directly elected Metro Mayor for the Greater Glasgow region.

Question reference: S6W-41840

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 25 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-41283 by Mairi McAllan on 12 November 2025, and in light of the acute nature of the housing emergency in Glasgow, what its position is on whether the Scottish Government has an active leadership role to play in facilitating a Common Housing Register in Scotland's largest city, and if it should adopt a more proactive role to broker and to incentivise registered social landlords to cooperate to create one.

Further to my answers S6W-41283 on 12 November 2025 and S6W-41415 on 17 November 2025 I would reiterate that the Scottish Government supports the establishment of a Common Housing Register in Glasgow, either city wide or on a district basis, where the Council and housing associations involved are in agreement that this is the best way forward to manage their allocation policies. My officials will look at this matter further to get a greater understanding of the views of RSLs on common housing registers. However, any future change to the current approach should be driven by the views of RSLs and Glasgow City Council, reflecting their role in managing local circumstances.

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-41409

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 21 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it is aiming to improve the transparency and accountability of mental health spending, in light of the report by Audit Scotland Adult Mental Health, published in September 2023, which identified a lack of transparency and comprehensive data on mental health spending in Scotland, making it challenging to assess progress against national objectives, and what its response is to the report findings that (a) there is an absence of a clear system to track expenditure across all sectors, including the third sector, (b) monitoring is largely limited to psychological therapy waiting times and (c) this fragmented data landscape and complex delivery system hinder effective evaluation of how mental health budgets are being used and their overall impact.

Through our delivery plan, which supports implementation of our Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy, we have looked to ensure that the actions set out reflect and respond appropriately to those Audit Scotland recommendations.

We are currently developing a Monitoring Framework and Evaluation Framework, and both are scheduled for publication in early 2026. Both frameworks will identify key gaps in current data sources and set out evaluation questions which will support understanding of progress against the outcomes of the Strategy. The work is being led by the Scottish Government and Public Health Scotland (PHS) and was developed in collaboration with a range of stakeholders, including the Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy Leadership Board. Both frameworks will be used to plan monitoring and evaluation activities over the lifespan of the Strategy.

We have made significant improvements to the collection of routine data on the demand for and access to mental health services. PHS have developed an interactive dashboard for the Mental Health Quality Indicators, which will continue to be developed into a “one-stop-shop” for data on mental health services.

NHS Scotland expenditure on mental health is published annually in arrears in the Scottish Health Service Costs book by Public Health Scotland. The Cost Book is publicly accessible and offers a consistent framework for financial data across all NHS Boards. The most recent data published in February 2025 covers 2023-2024.

The Cost Book data shows NHS Scotland expenditure by services where the primary purpose of the service is the care and/or treatment of individuals with mental health conditions. This details expenditure on adult psychiatry, older adult psychiatry, CAMHS and recently added information on clinical psychology as previously recommended by Audit Scotland. This data is used to track progress towards Boards allocating 10% of their budgets to mental health, including 1% on CAMHS.

The Scottish Government continuously monitors NHS Boards’ financial positions through routine finance reporting. This resource provides a standardised approach to collecting detailed financial information, including outturn, spend by specialty, and achievement of efficiency targets. We expect spending on Mental Health between the Scottish Government and NHS Boards, to be around £1.5 billion in 2025-26.

Scottish Government recognises the key role of the third sector in the provision of mental health support, including in enabling early intervention and prevention. We remain committed to delivering against our commitment to increase the stability and sustainability of the third sector by developing a Fairer Funding approach, including offering multi-year funding where possible. For example, the 2025-27 Fairer Funding pilot includes £15 million per annum to grassroots projects through the Communities Mental Health & Wellbeing Fund administered by Third Sector Interfaces.

Our Service Renewal Framework, published in June 2025 sets out wider proposals to develop updated performance metrics and clearly defined outcome measures for all parts of our system, including mental health.

Question reference: S6O-05223

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 November 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it will consult MSP staff trade unions before deciding on uprating the Staff Cost Provision in the 2026-27 financial year.