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-02839

Asked by: Kate Nevens, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 15 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what actions it has taken to implement the recommendations in the Competition and Market Authority's 2024 market study into housebuilding and maintenance.

Scottish Ministers welcomed the Competition and Market Authority's 2024 house building market study and considered its recommendations.

Actions to accelerate housebuilding and address planning barriers are included in the Planning and the Housing Emergency: Delivery Plan and in the Housing Emergency Action Plan. Activity is progressing through the work to establish More Homes Scotland, which will play a role in addressing market failure.

Question reference: S7W-02566

Asked by: Kate Nevens, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Kirsten Oswald on 15 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Police Scotland regarding the safety of sex workers who are deterred from reporting abuse because they are required to disclose their identity.

The Scottish Government’s strategic approach to prostitution is a collective approach, rooted in working with stakeholders across the wider public and third sector, to challenge and deter men’s demand for prostitution and support those with experience of it. We know that we alone cannot prevent and tackle abuse; it takes a sustained effort across partnerships.

As part of that strategic approach we have regular discussions with Police Scotland about how best to disrupt demand, and support women with experience of selling/exchanging sex, who we recognise as victims of exploitation.

Anyone engaged in selling or exchanging sexual services should be able to access support and mainstream services without fear of stigma, judgement and discrimination.

Later this year we will launch a rights guide for women involving in the online sex industry, which we have funded the Mhor Collective to develop, as leading experts in the impact of digital space on people’s human rights.

Question reference: S7W-03165

Asked by: Kate Nevens, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 September 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 25 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the approval of the EndoSure and Endotest rapid diagnostic tests for use within NHS England and NHS Wales earlier in 2026, whether it supports the roll-out of these tests within NHS Scotland for the diagnosis of endometriosis.

Question reference: S7W-03164

Asked by: Kate Nevens, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 September 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 25 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to provide support to Palestinian students who have been offered places at universities in Scotland, ahead of the implementation of the Scottish Gaza Scholarship Programme.

Question reference: S7W-03198

Asked by: Kate Nevens, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 September 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 25 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to introduce gender-neutral designation options for both parents when registering births and stillbirths.

Question reference: S7W-02840

Asked by: Kate Nevens, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 10 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to amend the Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011 to require property factors to receive formal qualifications in order to bring them in line with letting agents.

There are currently no plans to require property factors to hold formal qualifications. However, the Scottish Government has committed to reviewing the property factor framework during this Parliamentary term and will consider, in light of evidence and stakeholder views, whether changes to the current regulatory arrangements are needed to ensure the framework continues to meet the needs of homeowners and supports the effective delivery of factoring services.

Question reference: S7W-02563

Asked by: Kate Nevens, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Hannah Mary Goodlad on 8 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on providing communities with the right to appeal against planning applications following reviews by the Scottish Government’s Planning and Environmental Appeals Division (DPEA), and whether existing statutes should be amended to provide communities with the right to appeal.

The planning system allows for a statutory right of appeal to be made by the person or organisation who made the application. There is no third party right of appeal to challenge the merits of a planning decision or action. There is recourse to raise a challenge against a planning decision on a point of law through the courts.

Amendments proposing third party rights of appeal were considered, and rejected, by the Scottish Parliament during its consideration of the Planning (Scotland) Bill, passed by the Parliament in 2019. The Scottish Government has no plans to review rights of appeal at the current time.

Question reference: S7O-00174

Asked by: Kate Nevens, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 September 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its apology on the matter, what its position is on the recommendation of the Scottish Human Rights Commission to provide compensation to victims and families affected by forced assimilation, displacement and other historic wrongs perpetrated by the state in connection with the “Tinker experiment”, which sought to assimilate Scotland's Gypsy/Traveller communities.

Question reference: S7W-02564

Asked by: Kate Nevens, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 27 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to incorporate mid-market rent and build-to-rent properties into Scotland’s rent control zones, what action it will take to prevent landlords of mid-market rent and build-to-rent properties from pricing tenants out of their homes, and how it plans to ensure that communities which currently meet the affordability threshold, of rent not exceeding 40% of take-home pay, continue to do so.

During the previous Parliament the Scottish Government brought forward regulations which exempt mid-market rent and build-to-rent properties from any rent control restrictions introduced using powers in the Housing (Scotland) Act 2025. Laying these regulations demonstrates our commitment to ensure Scotland benefits from continued investment in the supply of new rented homes.

The exemption applies to properties offered at mid-market levels, reflecting our aim to grow the provision of mid-market rent as part of the supply of affordable housing. Properties are only eligible for exemption while rents are maintained below mid-market levels, meaning tenants will benefit from knowing their rent cannot rise above the median market rent in that area.

The exemption also applies to build to rent properties and to be exempt properties must remain continuously in the rental market. This approach is designed to promote future investment in new purpose-built homes for rent and to secure the retention of those existing purpose built rental homes in the private rented sector.

Tenants in Build to Rent and Mid-Market Rent properties in a rent control area will still be able to challenge rent increases by using the existing rent adjudication process – which gives rent officers powers to set rents at market rates.

Question reference: S7W-01272

Asked by: Kate Nevens, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 June 2026
Current Status: Answered by Alison Thewliss on 21 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking in response to the findings of the report by Alzheimer Scotland, Better Care, Full Stop, including calls for (a) quicker diagnosis, (b) improvements to (i) post-diagnosis support, (ii) community-based support, such as specialist therapeutic and complex care day services, (iii) home care services, in particular, better training for care staff, (iv) palliative care and (v) residential care, (c) access to appropriate training in dementia care, peer support groups, professional counselling and psychological support for carers and supporters, (d) a care pathway comparable to other conditions such as cancer, (e) better co-ordination between health and other services involved in care of people with Alzheimer's, (f) more respite care, (g) annual health checks and (h) access to self-directed support budgets.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving outcomes for people living with dementia, their families and carers through Dementia in Scotland: Everyone's Story, Scotland’s Dementia Strategy.

The initial two-year Delivery Plan(2024-2026) prioritised prevention, early intervention, community-support, diagnosis, post-diagnosis support and treatment.

Key actions taken include:

Allocated £2.35m since 2024-25, via the Resilient Communities Programme ,to support and sustain community-led activities
Continued our additional investment of £3.5m a year to enhance access to our world leading commitment to 12 months dementia post diagnostic support
Commissioned an independent evaluation of Scotland’s Post Diagnostic Support (PDS) policy and delivery to inform future improvement
Developed a national Dementia Index and road map of the dementia workforce to allow us to better target future interventions
Funded Public Services Delivery Scotland (PSD Scotland), formerly NHS Education for Scotland (NES),to undertake a national scoping exercise on the dementia workforce, learning needs and existing education and training provision. Resulting In an evidence base to inform future dementia workforce planning and delivery

The strategy also highlights ways to educate the workforce and unpaid carers and make better use of the wide variety of tools available such as the Promoting Excellence framework for all health and social services staff working with people with dementia, their families and carers to support the strategy and implementation of Standards of Care for Dementia in Scotland.

The Scottish Government also recognises the invaluable roles of care partners and unpaid carer’s, including those supporting people with dementia. The right to breaks provisions in the Care Reform (Scotland) Act 2025 will make changes to the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 to deliver a right to personalised short breaks support for carers who can’t currently access sufficient breaks from caring.

We will continue to consider the findings of the Better Care, Full Stop report as we take forward delivery of the Dementia Strategy and work with partners, including Alzheimer Scotland, to improve diagnosis, care, support and outcomes for people living with dementia, their families and carers.