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-00065

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 May 2026
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 2 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the pledge in the Scottish National Party's 2026 manifesto to enact a statutory price cap on essential food items, what discussions it has had with Scotland Food & Drink regarding this proposal, including any potential impact on support from food businesses for its supplier development programmes.

Question reference: S7W-00069

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 May 2026
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 2 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the pledge in the Scottish National Party's 2026 manifesto to enact a statutory price cap on essential food items, what assessment it has made of the consistency of any additional administrative implications for stores and shopworkers arising from such a policy with the New Deal for Business Implementation Plan's objective of regulatory simplification.

Question reference: S7W-00096

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 May 2026
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 2 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the pledge in the SNP's 2026 manifesto to enact a statutory price cap on essential food items, whether smaller stores, including newsagents and convenience stores, will be included in the scope of the proposal, and, if so, what the rationale is for this.

Question reference: S7W-00095

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 May 2026
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 2 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the pledge in the Scottish National Party's 2026 manifesto to enact a statutory price cap on essential food items, what impact assessment or modelling it undertook prior to the unveiling of this proposal.

Question reference: S7W-00299

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 May 2026
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 1 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what the responsibilities are of the Cabinet Secretary for Public Service Reform.

The responsibilities of all Cabinet Secretaries are published on the Scottish Government website; the detailed responsibilities for the role of Cabinet Secretary for Public Service Reform is available here: Cabinet Secretary for Public Service Reform - gov.scot.

I am responsible for the overarching policy on Public Service Reform (PSR) including implementation of the PSR strategy (published June 2025) which sets out how we will increase the scale and pace of reform through changing our system of public services to be more preventative, joined up and efficient, to deliver excellent public services that are fiscally sustainable. Further, I am responsible for public bodies and public sector productivity and efficiency, procurement and shared services, and civil service operations and efficiency.

Question reference: S7W-00304

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 May 2026
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 1 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many public bodies it plans to abolish or merge through the measures to be proposed in the Public Service Renewal Bill.

As committed to in our Public Service Reform Strategy the Scottish Government is working in partnership with public bodies to review the public service delivery landscape.

We want public bodies and Scottish Government, working individually and collectively, to continue to pursue all reasonable opportunities to maximise value from available resources. Specific proposals for public body rationalisation resulting from this work will be brought forward and where legislative change is necessary this will be taken forward through the Public Service Renewal Bill.

The number of Scottish public bodies under our control has reduced from 199 in 2007 to 134 as at May 2026.

Question reference: S7W-00307

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 May 2026
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 1 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how the proposed Public Service Renewal Bill will differ from the public body reduction already committed to in its Public Service Reform Strategy of June 2025.

A key strand of the 2025 Public Service Reform Strategy is to ensure that the service delivery landscape is proportionate, streamlined and designed to meet Scotland’s needs in the most efficient way by eliminating duplication. As part of this, we continue to engage and work in partnership with public bodies to bring forward specific proposals to streamline the landscape to deliver long term fiscal sustainability. A Public Service Renewal Bill will be necessary as part of this process to make any legislative changes required.

Question reference: S7W-00303

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 May 2026
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 1 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government on what date it will introduce the Public Service Renewal Bill, in light of its commitment to do so in the first year of the current parliamentary session.

Question reference: S7W-00654

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 29 May 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 12 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the Scottish National Party 2026 manifesto commitment to "reduce the hours police officers need to spend in courts and hospitals, including through the expansion of mental health triage cars to reduce the pressure on police when people are reported as being in mental health distress and ensure they are in our communities more", what reforms it proposes to introduce.

Question reference: S7W-00655

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 29 May 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 12 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the Scottish National Party 2026 manifesto pledge to commit £10 million over three years to introduce a Police Scotland Retail Crime Taskforce, what the timeline is for this rollout.