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-03847

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 September 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 28 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with public bodies regarding the accessibility of public health messaging material, particularly for people with learning disabilities.

Question reference: S7W-03801

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 September 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 28 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether the planned reform of Scotland’s environmental bodies will affect the ability of local communities to engage with decision making, lodge complaints and seek enforcement action regarding any potential environmental impacts associated with issues such as hyperscale AI data centres, including impacts on water resources, energy use, land use and biodiversity.

Question reference: S7W-03808

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 September 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 28 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason pumped storage hydro stations are reportedly subject to higher non-domestic rates compared to other forms of renewable energy such as onshore wind.

Question reference: S7W-03846

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 September 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 28 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has published an easy read version of the Programme for Government 2026-31.

Question reference: S7W-03799

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 September 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 28 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has assessed any potential impact of the construction of hyperscale artificial intelligence data centres on housing construction and housing delivery, including whether demand for skilled labour, construction materials, land, energy infrastructure and any related resources could affect the timescales or costs of residential housebuilding projects across Scotland.

Question reference: S7W-03800

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 September 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 28 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government who would be responsible for the decommissioning and restoration of any sites used for hyperscale AI data centres once they cease operation, and whether it will ensure that operators would be required to provide financial guarantees or bonds to cover any costs associated with future decommissioning and restoration of sites.

Question reference: S7W-03678

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 September 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 26 October 2026

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

Question reference: S7W-03711

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 September 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 26 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take to ensure that the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman is prepared to deal with an increasing number of challenges to individual social care budgets, in light of higher numbers of people escalating complaints from local authorities.

Question reference: S7W-03710

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 September 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 26 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what action it can take to increase the support available to people who are awaiting the outcome of investigations into social care budget decisions made by their local authority, particularly where a complaint has been escalated to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman and may face an extended waiting period before a determination is reached.

Question reference: S7W-03036

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 23 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of whether Social Security Scotland benefit levels enable low-income families and parent carers to achieve a minimum digital standard of living, in light of research by Family Fund indicating that only 7% of responding families raising disabled children met the criteria for digital inclusion and that 89% reported at least one financial vulnerability related to digital access.

Low-income families and parent-carers can benefit from a range of support provided by Social Security Scotland. This support, some of which is only available in Scotland, includes Child Disability Payment, the Scottish Child Payment, Best Start Grants and Best Start Foods, as well as Carer Support.

The Scottish Government conducts evaluations of social security policy, with each form of assistance assessed against policy aims, or, in the case of the disability benefits, the impact of policy changes. Published evaluations on the low-income and disability benefits can be found at https://www.gov.scot/collections/social-security-policy-research-and-evaluation-publications/, with an evaluation of Carer Support Payment due to publish this autumn.

Despite support put in place by the Scottish Government, including cumulatively around £1.5bn mitigating UK Government policies such as the bedroom tax and benefit cap, our impact in tackling the cost of living is constrained by social security mostly remaining reserved to the UK Government.