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: S7O-00472

Asked by: Alan Brown, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 November 2026
Current Status: Due to be taken in the Chamber on 11 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding its Stage 2 consultation on proposed changes to energy and environmental building standards, what consideration it will give to supply chain capacity alongside the consultation responses when developing the final standards.

Question reference: S7W-04591

Asked by: Alan Brown, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 October 2026
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Ivan McKee on 29 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to amend the thresholds within the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 following the conclusion of the public consultation.

Between October 2025 and January 2026, the Scottish Government ran a public consultation seeking views on amending the thresholds within the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 (the Act). Following the close of the consultation, the Scottish Government analysed the responses provided to determine next steps.

I will shortly lay a draft instrument which would increase the threshold from which contracts for goods and services are regulated by the Act from £50,000 to £100,000, and increase the threshold from which works contracts are regulated from £2 million to £4 million. The community benefits threshold will be maintained at £4 million.

Question reference: S7W-03886

Asked by: Alan Brown, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 October 2026
Current Status: Answered by Liam McArthur (on behalf of the SPCB) on 23 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what assessment it has made of whether the resources allocated to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman are sufficient, in light of reported increases in case-handling response times.

All officeholders are required to submit an annual budget bid to the SPCB for approval. It is for the SPSO to decide on its total bid. Budget bids, including the SPSO’s, were scrutinised by the SPCB in late 2025 before consideration by the Finance and Public Administration Committee in January 2026. The bids were agreed by Parliament as a whole in the Budget Bill for 2026-27.

The SPCB considered a request for contingency funding from the SPSO on 25 June 2026. The SPCB approved contingency funding of up to £203,304 for six investigative roles for the remainder of the 2026-27 period. The SPSO had requested this resource to cover three financial years, however, the SPCB did not considered it possible, at this stage, to consider the bids for 2027-28 and 2028-29. As a matter of good financial governance, these should be considered as part of the budget process. The SPSO have been advised to re-submit those requests as part of the 2027-28 budget process.

The SPCB will consider all officeholder budget bids for 2027-28 in November.

Question reference: S7O-00404

Asked by: Alan Brown, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 October 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the upward trend in drug-related death statistics for East Ayrshire.

Question reference: S7W-04373

Asked by: Alan Brown, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 October 2026
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answer expected on 17 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what changes are being proposed to the National Records of Scotland statistical publications.

Question reference: S7O-00361

Asked by: Alan Brown, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 September 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding financial support for Acorn Carbon Capture and Storage.

Question reference: S7O-00272

Asked by: Alan Brown, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 September 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the number of Scotland-based students gaining entry to university for the academic session 2026-27.

Question reference: S7O-00233

Asked by: Alan Brown, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 September 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the availability of African and Asian donor eggs for in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment within the NHS.

Question reference: S7O-00191

Asked by: Alan Brown, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 September 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update regarding the latest assessment it has made of the impact of PFI payments on public sector finances.

Question reference: S7W-01817

Asked by: Alan Brown, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 4 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of domestic properties in Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley have access to fibre broadband, how many properties have still to be provided with access to fibre broadband, and what the timescales are for completion of the rollout of fibre broadband in the constituency.

The UK’s telecommunications regulator, Ofcom, regularly publishes information in relation to full fibre and gigabit-capable broadband coverage in Scotland as part of their Connected Nations updates. The most recent update was published on 13 May 2026, showing coverage figures for January 2026.

Latest figures show that, as of January 2026, a total of 35,261 homes across Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley can access a full fibre connection, which equates to 87% of all eligible homes across the constituency.

More detailed information can be found through Ofcom’s interactive dashboard at https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-and-broadband/coverage-and-speeds/connected-nations-update-spring-2026#interactive-report

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the delivery timelines for commercially funded broadband infrastructure projects. However, gigabit-capable full fibre deployment is being delivered in Scotland through Project Gigabit, including within the Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley constituency. Project Gigabit delivery is currently expected to be completed by 2030.