The Scottish Parliament

Question reference: S7W-03170

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 September 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 25 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what specific financial and training resources are available to local authorities to support primary school educators in adopting and delivering systematic synthetic phonics (SSP) as a primary method of reading instruction.

Question reference: S7W-03173

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 September 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 25 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to commission a feasibility study on the restoration of Holyrood Abbey as a national memorial chapel to the late Queen Elizabeth II, and whether it will submit the findings of any such study to the Scotland Legacy Group to inform its recommendations for a permanent memorial in Scotland.

Question reference: S7W-03169

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 September 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 25 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the Cabinet Secretary for Education, Culture and Gaelic has had with Education Scotland and local authority directors of education regarding the standardisation and prominence of systematic synthetic phonics (SSP) within the Curriculum for Excellence Early Level Literacy framework.

Question reference: S7W-02708

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 10 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will review the buildings identified in the Buildings at Risk Register for Scotland, which has been paused, to identify potential opportunities to unlock and accelerate affordable housing delivery in empty town and city centre buildings.

There are no plans review the buildings identified in the Buildings at Risk Register for Scotland to identify potential opportunities to unlock and accelerate affordable housing delivery in empty town and city centre buildings.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting local authorities and communities to tackle persistent vacant and derelict land and empty town and city centre buildings.

This is supported through our regeneration investment programmes which are providing up to £52 million in resource and capital programmes for community-led regeneration across Scotland in 2026-27. This may be used to transform vacant and derelict land and empty buildings into homes. Local authorities may also choose to use Affordable Housing Supply Programme grant to convert empty properties into housing.

Additionally as part of ongoing work to support the establishment of More Homes Scotland, we are undertaking an exercise alongside local authorities to understand potential opportunities to unlock and accelerate affordable housing delivery on vacant and derelict land and in empty town and city centre buildings.

Local authorities have responsibility for delivering local housing development and local regeneration. They are best placed to develop the right partnerships to deliver regeneration and to identify suitable sites and funding for regeneration activity.

Question reference: S7W-02649

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 10 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact on the Scottish Land Commission's work and expertise, particularly in relation to community land ownership, of operating with four rather than five Land Commissioners, as provided for in the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016.

I wrote to the Parliament’s Rural Affairs Committee on 3 September 2026 to notify them of my intention to bring forward a Scottish statutory instrument which, subject to Parliament’s consideration, will amend the number of Land Commissioners at the Scottish Land Commission from five to four. We expect the instrument to be laid in early October. The letter can be found on the Parliament’s website https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/committees/current-and-previous-committees/session-7/rural-affairs-committee/correspondence/2026/land-reform-scotland-act-2016-of-3-september

Ministers will continue to comply with the requirements of the 2016 Act, including having regard to the desirability of the Commission, taken as a whole, having expertise or experience across the areas set out in the 2016 Act when making future appointments.

Question reference: S7W-02707

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 10 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will establish a public portal for the nomination of potential opportunities to unlock and accelerate affordable housing delivery on vacant and derelict land and in empty town and city centre buildings.

There are no plans to establish a public portal for the nomination of potential opportunities to unlock and accelerate affordable housing delivery on vacant and derelict land and in empty town and city centre buildings.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting local authorities and communities to tackle persistent vacant and derelict land and empty town and city centre buildings.

This is supported through our regeneration investment programmes which are providing up to £52 million in resource and capital programmes for community-led regeneration across Scotland in 2026/27. This may be used to transform vacant and derelict land and empty buildings into homes. Local authorities may also choose to use Affordable Housing Supply Programme grant to convert empty properties into housing.

Additionally as part of ongoing work to support the establishment of More Homes Scotland, we are undertaking an exercise alongside local authorities to understand potential opportunities to unlock and accelerate affordable housing delivery on vacant and derelict land and in empty town and city centre buildings.

Question reference: S7W-02493

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 10 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Historic Environment Scotland regarding the creation of a targeted, fast-track grant stream exclusively for small business owners seeking to restore original architectural details to listed or conservation area commercial properties.

Decisions relating to the development and administration of HES grant programmes are operational matters for HES, which exercises its functions independently of Scottish Ministers.

There may be existing HES grants which would be suitable for small business owners to apply for. More information on HES grants and funding is available on the organisation's website: https://www.historicenvironment.scot/grants-and-funding/.

Question reference: S7W-02502

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Stephen Flynn on 10 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is, regarding any impact on Scotland, on the statement by the Director General for Rail Services at the UK Department for Transport, Alex Hynes, to the House of Commons Transport Select Committee that “by having bi-mode trains you inadvertently weaken the business case for further electrification”.

Question reference: S7W-02504

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 10 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.

The Scottish Government provides support for the historic environment through our sponsorship of Historic Environment Scotland, our lead public body that investigates, cares for and promotes Scotland’s historic environment. Historic Environment Scotland actively engages with a variety of international stakeholders, enabling the exchange of knowledge and expertise that can help inform historic environment policy and practice in Scotland.

While there is currently no specific plan to evaluate local government procurement practices in relation to heritage and conservation policies, procurement can and should be an enabler of public sector policies. Where relevant to the local governmental body, this can include policies and good practice set by Historic Environmental Scotland.

Question reference: S7W-03051

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 September 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 23 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what legal assessment it has made of its ability to direct SEPA to refuse environmental permits for a small modular reactor (SMR) development, where the relevant reactor design has successfully completed the UK Office for Nuclear Regulation’s Generic Design Assessment (GDA) process and been deemed safe at a UK level.

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Question reference: S7W-03170

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