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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 955 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S7W-04323

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 16 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 13 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve the accessibility of information and support regarding the Accessible Vehicles and Equipment Scheme.

Question reference: S7W-04324

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 16 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 13 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether an Equality Impact Assessment was carried out ahead of changes to the Accessible Vehicles and Equipment (AVE) Scheme in Scotland that came into force in September 2026 and, if so, whether (a) it will publish the assessment and (b) the assessment considered any potential financial impact of the changes on AVE users.

Question reference: S7W-04325

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 16 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 13 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what additional support has been made available for disabled people following changes to the Accessible Vehicles and Equipment Scheme, in light of concerns highlighted by Inclusion Scotland that the scheme is "becoming less affordable, less accessible, and less suited to people’s needs", and whether additional flexibility or support will be made available for those living in remote and rural areas.

Question reference: S7W-04326

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 16 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 13 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the changes to the Accessible Vehicles and Equipment Scheme in Scotland that came into force in September 2026, what steps it will take to ensure that people who require additional space for essential medical equipment can continue to access suitable vehicles.

Question reference: S7W-04307

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 16 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 13 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the experience of Ireland regarding the economic benefits attributed to hyperscale data centres, including any impact on employment, electricity demand, housing, water resources and public infrastructure.

Question reference: S7W-04305

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 16 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 13 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has carried out of the additional childcare costs faced by parents of twins and other multiple births, including any potential benefits of extending entitlement to 1,140 hours of funded early learning and childcare from the age of two regardless of household income or benefit status.

Question reference: S7W-04306

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 16 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 13 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with local authorities regarding the potential expansion of community orchards and planting of community orchards and fruit trees within new and existing housing developments.

Question reference: S7W-03925

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 02 October 2026
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 15 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the socioeconomic backgrounds of students entering allied health professional training, and what action it is taking to increase uptake of allied health professional courses among people from deprived communities and lower-income households.

The Scottish Government does not routinely undertake a specific assessment of the socioeconomic backgrounds of students entering allied health professional (AHP) training programmes. However, data on participation in higher education by socioeconomic background, including measures based on the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD), are collected and published through widening access reporting by the Scottish Funding Council.

The Scottish Government is committed to widening access to higher education and supporting applications from individuals from deprived communities and lower-income households, including those applying for allied health professional courses. Universities are expected to deliver on widening access objectives through measures such as contextual admissions, outreach activity and articulation pathways.

In addition, the Scottish Wider Access Programme (SWAP) provides progression routes for learners who may not have followed traditional educational pathways into a range of allied health professions, including physiotherapy, occupational therapy, radiography, podiatry and paramedic science.

The Scottish Government also continues to work with the higher education sector, NHS Education for Scotland and the Chief Allied Health Professions Officer to implement recommendations arising from the Allied Health Professions Education and Workforce Policy Review, which includes actions to support recruitment, education pathways and workforce diversity.

Question reference: S7W-04223

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 12 October 2026
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 14 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what work has been done to develop robust and consistently applied mechanisms to reduce the risk of modern slavery in publicly funded projects across Scotland.

The Scottish Government is committed to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. The principles make clear that businesses have a responsibility to ensure their activities do not have adverse impacts on human rights.

The Scottish Government’s Guidance on Due Diligence: Human Rightssets out recommendations for how Scottish Government, executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies should undertake appropriate due diligence on companies, including their human rights record, before entering into an “investment relationship” with them.

The Scottish Government has introduced a range of measures in the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015 (PC(S) R 2015), the Utilities Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2016, the Concession Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2016, and the Procurement (Scotland) Regulations 2016 (P(S) R 2016) aimed at ensuring contractors' compliance with environmental, social, and employment laws when performing public contracts. Under these regulations:

mandatory exclusion applies to companies convicted of any offence under Part 1 of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015 or any related provisions listed in its Schedule
discretionary exclusion may be applied to companies that have breached obligations in the fields of social, environmental or employment law
tenders that do not comply with applicable obligations in the fields of social, environmental and employment law can be rejected
contracts must not be awarded where a tender price is abnormally low due to breaches of social, environmental or employment law
contract clauses should be included to allow for termination in the case of breaches of social, environmental or employment law.

We also provide and maintain national Sustainable Procurement Tools and guidance that have been designed to help public bodies comply with policy and legislation, including how to take an ethical approach in their procurement activity. They provide information on how to tackle risks and opportunities at key stages of the procurement process.

We published policy guidance for public bodies in February 2020 on Reducing the risk of human trafficking and exploitation in the performance of public contracts, and in February 2026 on Human rights and grave professional misconduct.

Although individual public bodies are responsible for their own procurement decisions, we continue to encourage buyers across the public sector in Scotland to consider ethics consistently alongside other socio-economic and environmental factors through use of the tools and guidance.

Question reference: S7W-03678

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 13 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will introduce a Misogyny Bill by the end of 2026.

As confirmed in the Programme for Government 2026-31, published in September 2026, the Scottish Government's Year 1 legislative Parliamentary year, includes a commitment to introduce a Bill to recognise misogyny as a distinct form of prejudice and abuse.

The Year 1 legislative programme sets out the measures the Scottish Government has committed to introduce in the 2026-27 Parliamentary year, before the summer recess at the end of June 2027.