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-41583

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 5 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to COSLA’s recently published manifesto, which calls for an additional £750 million of funding for social care.

Local government is a crucial partner in helping to deliver better outcomes for the people of Scotland. That is why we have provided councils with a record £15.1 billion this year, a real terms increase of 5.5%, and have delivered a wide range of powers for local councils.

Our joint Local Governance Review with COSLA will conclude by the end of the Parliament, setting out how power and resources can be better shared between national and local government and with communities.

In addition, this year the Scottish Government has allocated nearly £2.2 billion for social care and integration, representing an increase of over £1.2 billion since
2021-22. This goes almost £350 million beyond the Scottish Government’s original commitment to increase social care funding by 25% (£840 million) over the lifetime of the Parliament.

The Scottish Government has been investing heavily in the social care workforce through its fair work commitments. We will continue to work with local government partners to ensure the people of Scotland can access the services they need when and where they need them.

Question reference: S6W-41376

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 3 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to protect public sector workers, in light of figures released by Unison suggesting that there were more than 75,000 assaults on these workers in the last year.

Violence and abuse against public sector workers are completely unacceptable. Everyone deserves to feel safe at work, especially when serving the public.

A range of criminal laws protect public sector staff. The Emergency Workers (Scotland) Act 2005 allows for up to 12 months’ imprisonment for assaulting emergency workers. More serious offences can be prosecuted under common law, with penalties up to life imprisonment. Courts have strong powers to address threats and abuse.

Employers play a key role in promoting staff safety. Public sector workers provide vital services, and we fully support law enforcement in using their powers to prosecute offenders. We encourage all incidents to be reported to employers and the police.

Violence in schools is also unacceptable. National guidance on managing behaviour, co-produced with teaching unions and headteachers and published in June 2025, supports staff in using their professional judgement. Additional guidance on risk assessments helps schools respond to violent or aggressive behaviour.

The Scottish Government and COSLA have jointly urged Directors of Education to review and update local behaviour policies this academic year.

We’ve invested £1.64 billion in Police Scotland this year—£90 million more than in 2024–25—and increased local government funding by over £1.1 billion. Since 2023, over £6 million has supported the Violence Prevention Framework, including work by the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit and Medics Against Violence. Up to £26 million will also be available from March 2026 for the next phase of the Cashback for Communities Programme, supporting projects that help young people avoid crime.

Question reference: S6W-41378

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 3 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the reported concerns raised by the Scottish Police Federation that public safety might be at risk should there not be a significant increase in Police Scotland’s financial settlement in 2026-27.

The Scottish Government’s Vision for Justice clearly sets out the priorities we have for the whole of the justice system, ensuring it serves everyone fairly and effectively, with a focus on creating safer communities.

Police Scotland remain focused on keeping our communities safe, with the Scottish Government investing a record £1.64 billion in policing in 2025-26 – an increase of £90 million when compared to the 2024-25 published budget. Scotland has more police officers per head than England or Wales, and recorded crime is down almost 40% since 2006-07.

We are working closely with the Scottish Police Authority and Police Scotland to understand their 2026-27 budget requirements

Question reference: S6O-05063

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6O-05042

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 October 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the decision by Strathclyde Partnership for Transport to progress with proposals for bus franchising.

Question reference: S6W-40738

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 1 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will increase funding for the No Knives, Better Lives campaign, in light of the campaign having a reported 12% real-terms reduction in its funding since 2022-23.

Against a background of increased funding pressures, we have committed over £6 million to support delivery of a range of prevention and early intervention activities through the Violence Prevention Framework, since its publication in 2023. This investment supports a range of partners, who are working jointly to deliver on the priorities set out in the Framework. YouthLink Scotland’s No Knives, Better Lives programme itself has been financially supported with grant funding of over £5.7m since 2009, including almost £300k in 2025-26. This has allowed YouthLink Scotland to deliver social media messages about knife crime prevention as well as No Knives, Better Lives training sessions to 6,000 front line practitioners and 650 peer educators. This has enabled the programme to reach 165,000 young people across all 32 local authorities in Scotland.

Question reference: S6T-02699

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 29 September 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the report from the Scottish Funding Council stating that universities and colleges are in unsustainable financial situations, with some at risk of insolvency in the current financial year.

Question reference: S6W-40498

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 23 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of it having a proposed capacity of 1,344 places, what the expected size of cells in the new HMP Glasgow will be. .

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

HMP Glasgow’s design is built on lessons learned from previous builds and other jurisdictions. The design utilises a formation of smaller household units. This structure support safety and provides flexibility to contract or expand in line with operational and regime requirements.

The 5 residential houseblocks will have 20 cells within each of the 3 spurs. Each spur will have 18 single cells of 9.44 m² and 2 double cells of 13.60 m².

Question reference: S6O-04952

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 September 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will make a direct award to the Ferguson Marine shipyard for the replacement of MV Lord of the Isles.

Question reference: S6O-04906

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 September 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recently published report by National Records of Scotland, Healthy Life Expectancy 2021-2023.