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: S6W-42672

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 December 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 15 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-37444 by Ivan McKee on 10 September 2025, how many meetings its ministers and officials have held with organisations listed on the UN database of businesses involved in activities related to the Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in the period since motion S6M-18686 was passed by the Parliament on 3 September 2025.

Question reference: S6W-42288

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 17 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the proposal for mandatory owners' associations for tenements, which it has asked the Scottish Law Commission to consider drafting legislation on, could be extended to include associations for outdoor areas, such as back lanes, which are generally owned by all adjacent private owners and can pose ongoing maintenance challenges.

Question reference: S6W-42244

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 01 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 17 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what emergency support is available from it or the UK Government to any local authorities that are forced to use financial reserves due to the impact of any decisions that are outwith their control, such as asylum policy changes.

Local authorities must use the financial resources available to them as efficiently as possible to ensure the best possible value. How this is done is a matter for each council.

The Scottish government has provided local government in Scotland with record funding of over £15.1 billion, an increase of over £1 billion or 5.5 per cent in real terms compared to 2024-25. Decisions on the use of reserves for specific services are rightly the responsibility of councils to take where it is prudent and sustainable to do so.

The Scottish Government will continue to work in partnership with local government to address the challenges facing councils and ensure we are operating sustainable people centred public services that communities expect and deserve.

Question reference: S6W-42242

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 01 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 17 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what mechanism exists, or is being considered, to enable financial costs for local authority services to be shared across Scotland when they result from policy decisions not made locally, such as changes to asylum policy.

Funding for local government is distributed to councils on the basis of a needs-based formula agreed with COSLA on behalf of all 32 local authorities. Any changes to that funding, including new funding or changes to distribution, are subject to formal financial governance processes through the joint Scottish Government and COSLA Officers’ Settlement and Distribution Group (SDG). SDG recommendations are then subject to political sign-off from Scottish Ministers and COSLA Leaders.

This mechanism allows for the costs of targeted interventions to be shared across Local Authorities if Leaders accept recommendations from SDG to do so.

Similarly, in the past the Scottish Government has sought to prioritise funding for specific Local Authorities to reflect unique situations or circumstances or to recognise their contribution to the roll-out of national policies such as Ukraine resettlement funding. However, it is important to note that targeting of funding in this way can be at odds with the principles set out in the Verity House Agreement.

The vast majority of funding to Local Government is provided by means of a block grant. It is then the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities. Should councils wish to work together to share costs on a regional or national basis, they are at liberty to do so outside the auspices of SDG.

Question reference: S6W-42415

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 15 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to Crohn's & Colitis UK's new strategy, Transforming Understanding of Crohn’s & Colitis, which states that around one in seven people with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) receive their diagnosis following an emergency admission, and how it plans to work with the charity to improve early diagnosis.

The Scottish Government welcomes Crohn’s & Colitis UK’s new strategy Transforming Understanding of Crohn’s & Colitis, and their strategic ambitions for 2026-2036. We recognise that timely diagnosis is essential to improving outcomes and reducing emergency admissions.

We expect all Boards to follow best practice and adhere to current guidelines and standards for people with suspected IBD. A national IBD pathway for NHS Scotland was published in January 2025: inflammatory-bowel-disease-ibd-pathway.pdf. This pathway is intended to be used by primary and secondary care health care professionals who are concerned that a patient may have undiagnosed IBD.

We will continue to engage with third sector organisations including Crohn’s & Colitis UK as we remain committed to ensuring that all people living in Scotland with IBD are able to access the best possible care and support, and benefit from healthcare services that are safe, effective and put people at the centre of their care.

Question reference: S6W-42243

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 01 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 15 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with (a) Glasgow City Council and (b) the UK Government, regarding any impact of asylum policy decisions on the city's homelessness services.

Scottish Ministers and officials meet with Glasgow City Council counterparts on a regular basis to discuss the pressures on housing and homelessness services in the city. I have met councillors from Glasgow City Council on three occasions to discuss progress in response to the housing emergency, including, most recently, with Cllr Kelly, Cllr Casey and the Leader of the Council on 9 December. Glasgow City Council officers also provided the Housing to 2040 Board with an update at the 12 November meeting and the Minister for Equalities and I attended a roundtable hosted by the Scottish Refugee Council on 20 November to discuss refugee homelessness.

The Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice attended a Scottish Refugee Council roundtable on 7 April this year to discuss refugee homelessness in Glasgow alongside Glasgow City Council leaders and officials. The UK Government Minister of State for Border Security and Asylum was invited but did not attend and has not responded to our calls for engagement on these issues.

Scottish Ministers have been clear that there will not be a rolling back on the rights of any homeless household in Scotland. Instead we continue to call on the UK Government to provide adequate funding to local authorities to ensure they are able to provide support to meet the housing needs of newly recognised refugees. We have also made more resource and support available, including via our Housing Emergency Action Plan in September.

Question reference: S6O-05306

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 December 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what criteria will be used to evaluate its pilot programme for walk-in GP clinics, including whether stakeholders representing GPs and other health professionals will have been involved in defining these criteria.

Question reference: S6O-05226

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 November 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what consideration it has given to staff employed within the Parliament as contractors and whether they should have the same employment terms and conditions as corporate and MSP staff.

Question reference: S6W-41561

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 November 2025
Current Status: Holding Answer by Ivan McKee on 17 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-40836 by Jackson Carlaw, on behalf of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB), on 28 October 2025, what its position is on whether there is a need for a Scottish Procurement Policy note to ensure that the SPCB and other public bodies implement a package of boycotts, divestment and sanctions, in light of motion S6M-18686 as amended on 3 September 2025, and when any such note will be issued.

Question reference: S6W-41281

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 7 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-39821 by Mairi McAllan on 1 September 2025, should the Scottish Law Commission conclude that compulsory owners’ associations can be established in law, what its position is on whether the current obligation on owners to insure under section 18 of the Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004 should be updated to instead place the duty on owners’ associations to provide insurance under a single common policy.