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-04471

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 23 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 20 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that travel and subsistence allowances for judicial office holders in the Scottish Tribunals have not been revised for several years and are insufficient to cover expenses incurred, and that substantial pre-hearing preparation and decision writing is regularly undertaken without additional remuneration, whether it will review the adequacy of these arrangements and consider introducing supplementary payments, in line with those available to judicial office holders in other UK jurisdictions.

Question reference: S7W-04470

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 23 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 20 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of disparities in remuneration between judicial office holders in the Scottish Tribunals and their counterparts in equivalent tribunals elsewhere in the UK, including reported differences in daily fee rates of between £80 and £213 and holiday pay rates of 12.07% compared with approximately 15% elsewhere, particularly where judicial office holders serving in devolved and reserved tribunals work alongside one another in Scotland, and whether it will consider reviewing these arrangements to achieve parity.

Question reference: S7W-04468

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 23 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 20 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the contractual arrangements for judicial office holders in the Scottish Tribunals, including the requirement to make themselves available for a minimum number of sitting days without any guarantee of work, and whether it will consider introducing guaranteed minimum sitting days and salaried appointments, particularly for chamber presidents and in-house legal members, in line with arrangements elsewhere in the UK.

Question reference: S7W-04467

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 23 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 20 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of the current terms and conditions of judicial office holders in the Scottish Tribunals on morale, recruitment and retention, including how these compare with equivalent appointments in reserved tribunals and the courts, and whether it will commit to a comprehensive review of these arrangements and engage directly with GMB Scotland regarding potential improvements.

Question reference: S7W-04469

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 23 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 20 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of concerns raised by GMB Scotland that judicial office holders in the Scottish Tribunals do not have access to the same pension arrangements as their counterparts in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, including retrospective entitlements dating to 2000 for legal members and 2012 for non-legal members, what action it is taking to address this disparity, and what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding achieving parity in judicial pension provision.

Question reference: S7W-04153

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 10 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to providing local authorities with increased powers to restrict the opening of vape shops and other specified types of commercial premises in or adjacent to historic buildings, following recent fires in such buildings in Glasgow, including the incident at Union Street in March 2026.

Question reference: S7W-03278

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Kirsten Oswald on 28 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the reported warning from the Lord President of the Court of Session that, without additional funding, the implementation of the Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Act 2025 will be delayed.

The Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Act 2025 (“the 2025 Act”) represents the most significant reform of legal services regulation in Scotland for a generation. It will strengthen consumer protections, improve transparency and accountability, support innovation in the delivery of legal services and modernise the complaints framework.

The Scottish Government recognises that implementation is a substantial programme of work and is therefore taking a phased approach, working closely with the Lord President and key stakeholders to ensure the reforms are implemented in a way that is effective, proportionate and supports access to justice.

The 2025 Act gives the Lord President important new statutory functions. The Scottish Government recognises that appropriate resourcing will be required to support delivery of those responsibilities

Funding for 2026-27 has been agreed in principle with the Lord President’s Office to support implementation of the 2025 Act, with the current estimated requirement being approximately £116,000. Officials are finalising the funding requirement ahead of a budget transfer through the Spring Budget Revision process.

The Scottish Government continues to work with the Lord President's Office, the Judicial Office and the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service to understand the longer-term resource implications of the Act. Future implementation costs, including recurring costs associated with the Lord President's new functions, will be considered through future budget-setting and Spending Review processes.

Question reference: S7W-03290

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 25 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has had any recent discussions with the Scottish Human Rights Commission regarding reviewing Orders for Lifelong restrictions.

Scottish Government officials met with representatives of the Scottish Human Rights Commission last year, ahead of the publication of its report on the OLR sentence, to discuss the report's key findings.

For Scotland’s most senior judges in the High Court to impose an OLR, it must be satisfied, on the balance of probabilities, that the nature of the offence or the circumstances in which it was committed, whether considered in isolation or as part of a pattern of behaviour, demonstrate that the offender is likely, if at liberty, to seriously endanger the lives, or the physical or psychological wellbeing, of members of the public.

The Scottish Government does not currently have any plans to review the OLR sentence and consider them to be a long-standing valuable sentencing option for courts to use for the highest risk offenders.

Question reference: S7W-03292

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 25 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the original purpose of Orders of Life Long restriction have been adhered to.

The Order for Lifelong Restriction (OLR) was first introduced to ensure appropriate lifelong management of the risk posed by the highest risk offenders.

An OLR continues to be a valuable sentencing option in Scotland to enable the Court to appropriately sentence these offenders. It is a form of life sentence available only to Scotland’s most senior judges in the High Court, where it is determined that the individual may present a risk of serious harm, as part of a pattern of behaviour.

Use of the OLR has generally been in line with the expectations when the sentence was legislated for in the Scottish Parliament, i.e. as an exceptional sentencing disposal. Since OLRs were introduced in 2006-07, they have been used sparingly by Scottish courts. Upon introduction, it was estimated that approximately 10 to 15 offenders a year would receive an OLR, indicating the very high threshold required for this sentence to be imposed. Since then they have on average been imposed at the rate of approximately 16 a year.

Question reference: S7W-03291

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 18 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has reviewed the support programmes available in Scottish Prisons for Orders of Lifelong restriction sentences.

The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) is an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government and has responsibility for delivery of rehabilitative interventions in custody.

SPS continually assesses and develops the interventions available to individuals in custody. Where appropriate, those subject to an Order for Lifelong Restriction (OLR) are considered for programmes and support as identified through their Risk Management Plan which is approved by the Risk Management Authority.