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-36663

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 24 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to recruit more (a) on-call and (b) full-time firefighters.

Question reference: S6W-36660

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 24 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has considered reforms to the fitness test for new firefighters.

Question reference: S6W-36658

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 24 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has had any discussions with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service regarding the condition of fire stations, and, if so, what the outcome of any such discussions was.

The Minister for Victims and Community Safety regularly meets with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) Chief Officer and Board Chair where a wide range of issues are discussed, including the capital budget allocation and the SFRS estate. The Scottish Government is aware of the condition of fire stations and has increased the capital funding for SFRS from £32.5m in 2023-24 to £43m in 2024-25 and to £47m in 2025-26. The allocation of resources is a matter for the SFRS Board.

Question reference: S6W-36659

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 24 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many meetings the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs has had with the (a) Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, (b) Fire Brigades Union and (c) Fire and Rescue Services Association since 29 March 2023, and what was discussed.

Question reference: S6O-04601

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to improve public transport connectivity in south west Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-37010

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 6 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, what its response is to the findings in the HM Inspectorate of Prisons Scotland paper, Report on HMP Barlinnie Full Inspection 18-22 November 2024, which indicate that 65% of prisoners were in shared cells that did not meet the standard cell space of four metres square per prisoner, largely due to the overcrowding of 300 prisoners more than capacity.

Question reference: S6W-37009

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 6 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it plans with the Scottish Prison Service regarding the recommendations made in the HM Inspectorate of Prisons Scotland paper, Report on HMP Barlinnie Full Inspection 18-22 November 2024.

Question reference: S6W-37008

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 6 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, what its response is to the findings in the HM Inspectorate of Prisons Scotland paper, Report on HMP Barlinnie Full Inspection 18-22 November 2024, which recorded that there were “significant challenges to supporting the timeous engagement of prisoners in development or treatment programmes in Barlinnie” and attributed these to the availability of resources.

Question reference: S6W-37011

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 6 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to improve the overcrowding situation in HMP Barlinnie and any impact this is having on prison standards, before the opening of HMP Glasgow scheduled for 2028, in light of the HM Inspectorate of Prisons Scotland paper, Report on HMP Barlinnie Full Inspection 18-22 November 2024.

Question reference: S6W-36420

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 22 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-35953 by Natalie Don-Innes on 27 March 2025, whether it will publish the minutes of these meetings, and those of any subsequent meetings that the National Bairns’ Hoose Governance Group has held since July 2024.