- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 March 2026
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Current Status:
Answer expected on 25 March 2026
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what progress has been made towards reviewing allowances for paternity and parental partner leave for all staff.
Answer
Answer expected on 25 March 2026
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 March 2026
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Current Status:
Due to be taken in the Chamber on 19 March 2026
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of NHS Tayside having stopped accepting referrals for children without co-existing mental health disorders in March 2025, what further action it has taken to support children in accessing timely autism spectrum disorder assessments.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 19 March 2026
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 March 2026
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Current Status:
Answer expected on 24 March 2026
To ask the Scottish Government what funding will be available to local authorities that are still undertaking the roll out of 20mph zones to move forward, in light of the targeted £4 million funding not continuing beyond the fiscal year 2024-25.
Answer
Answer expected on 24 March 2026
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 March 2026
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Current Status:
Answer expected on 24 March 2026
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the progress that Transport Scotland has made towards changing the speed limit from 30mph to 20mph on appropriate roads for which it is the transport authority.
Answer
Answer expected on 24 March 2026
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2026
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Current Status:
Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 10 March 2026
To ask the Scottish Government when it last published a report on safe staffing levels in early learning and childcare provision.
Answer
The legislative requirements in relation to safe staffing levels in Early Learning and Childcare settings falls under The Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act which was enacted on 1 April 2024. The Act is applicable to all health and care staff in Scotland.
The first ministerial report on the Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019, was published on 27 November 2025. The report marks an important milestone in our collective efforts to ensure safe and effective staffing decisions across Scotland’s health and care services following commencement of the legislation. While the report is system-wide, it has implications for early learning and childcare. The report explains how Scottish Ministers have considered the information submitted by health boards, local authorities, and care providers about how they are meeting their statutory staffing duties.
The Act requires local authorities to demonstrate that ELC staffing is appropriate, safe, and aligned with the Act’s principles. The Act also reinforces that ELC services are part of the care landscape subject to statutory staffing duties, not just regulatory expectations. The Act also ensures that annual reporting and Ministerial scrutiny increase accountability for safe staffing in ELC.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2026
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Current Status:
Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 10 March 2026
To ask the Scottish Government whether the safe staffing guidance for early learning and childcare settings has been reviewed, including in relation to safe staffing levels when supporting children with additional support needs.
Answer
The legislative requirements for Early Learning and Childcare settings falls under The Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act which was enacted on 1 April 2024. The Act is applicable to all health and care staff in Scotland. Statutory guidance was published on 1 April 2024 alongside the Act to support services to understand their responsibilities and ensure staffing arrangements meet the individual needs of people using care services.
The Health and Social Care Standards also detail expectations in relation to meeting the needs of people experiencing care, which includes children in ELC settings. In particular, section 3 includes details about staffing arrangements to meet individual needs.
The Care Inspectorate guidance on adult to child ratios in early learning and childcare settings sets out the minimum expectations for staffing levels in children's services. However, all children should have a personal plan where the service would capture, among other things, children's support needs, interests and stage of development, and this should be used to inform decisions about staffing levels. The ongoing maintenance of this guidance is the responsibility of the Care Inspectorate.
Under the Additional Support for Learning (ASL) Act 2004, education authorities are responsible for identifying and meeting the additional support needs of children in ELC settings. In line with the National Standard, we expect local authorities and funded providers to work together to support children with additional support needs to access appropriate support to ensure that children's disabilities or additional support needs do not provide a barrier to them accessing a full range of experiences, and meets their individual needs. It is for education authorities to determine the most appropriate provision for children and young people with ASN, taking account of their legislative responsibilities and the individual circumstances and wishes of children, young people and their families. Education authorities are supported with these decisions through the statutory supporting learners' code of practice guidance, which is accessible online at Additional support for learning: statutory guidance 2017
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2026
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 9 March 2026
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on (a) what new action it has taken to reduce waiting times for gender-affirming care at Glasgow's Sandyford Gender Identity Clinic, and (b) what funding it has allocated in the Budget 2026-27 to support this work.
Answer
The Scottish Government continues to work closely with Health Boards, including NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, to improve the delivery and accessibility of gender identity services in Scotland.
Since December 2022, the Scottish Government has invested over £8.5 million to support this work. Of this, over £2.2 million has been allocated directly to NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to support the reduction of waiting times for these services. This includes an anticipated £430,800 of new funding for the 2026-27 financial year, subject to final budgetary processes.
In February 2026, I met with the Chief Executive of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to discuss what more can be done to bring down waiting times for these services. This discussion included the exploration of new models of care, the role of sub-national planning, the sharing of best practice between Health Boards; and providing recurrent funding to stabilise staff recruitment and retention.
Additionally, work is also progressing to implement a new Target Operating Model for young people’s gender identity services. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde is currently considering how this model will be applied locally.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 06 March 2026
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Current Status:
Answer expected on 20 March 2026
To ask the Scottish Government, regarding any potential environmental impact, what its position is on the decommissioning and storage of nuclear submarines at dockyards in Scotland, including Rosyth.
Answer
Answer expected on 20 March 2026
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 20 February 2026
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 5 March 2026
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the active travel budget being underspent over the last two years of budget decisions, for what reason it was reduced in the Autumn revision of the Budget.
Answer
The active travel budget was adjusted in the Autumn Budget Revision. The original 2025-26 active travel budget was £164.8 million, comprising £12.4 million resource and £152.4 million capital. In addition, a further £23.9 million for Cycling, Walking & Safer Routes was allocated within the ‘central government grants’ budget line, bringing the total original allocation for 2025-26 to £188.7 million.
The comparator figures for 2025-26 are lower following agreed transfers at the Autumn Budget Revision. Funding was moved from the Active Travel budget to Local Authorities and to the Road Safety Directorate of Transport Scotland so that these delivery partners could take forward active travel projects directly. A further £0.5 million was transferred into the Active Travel budget to support Bikeability.
Following these adjustments, the revised total of £135.9 million, consisting of £13.1 million resource and £122.8 million capital, reflects these transfers and ensures that the budget is aligned with where delivery responsibility sits for the remainder of the year.
This revision is a technical adjustment to support delivery and does not represent any reduction in the Scottish Government’s commitment to active travel investment.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 20 February 2026
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 4 March 2026
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the £60 million Bus Infrastructure Fund is included under the Active and Sustainable Travel budget, rather than having its own line in the 2026-27 Budget.
Answer
The ‘Support for Active Travel’ budget line was re-named ‘Support for Active and Sustainable Travel’ when the Bus Infrastructure Fund was launched at the start of financial year 2025-26 and brings together programmes and investment designed to facilitate and encourage greener alternatives to car use. In 2026-27 that budget continues to deliver the Active Travel programmes and the Bus Infrastructure Fund, which has been increased to £60 million for the next financial year.
This change was made to better reflect the Scottish Government’s policy intention and approach, so that we could show and encourage everyone with an interest in active and sustainable travel that like them, we see how our funding and interventions can and should work better together. We are investing to support high quality active travel and bus infrastructure, sustainable travel integration and behaviour change investment to promote walking, wheeling and cycling for everyday shorter journeys.
