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: S6O-04478

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it will consider removing from its catering outlets any products made by companies identified by the UN Human Rights Office as being involved in activities related to illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Question reference: S6O-04455

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how the criminal justice system applies its public health approach to reducing the harm caused by drug use.

Question reference: S6F-03891

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 10 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 March 2025

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-03860

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 March 2025

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-33226

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 24 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is aware of the reported emerging trend of unaccompanied young people arriving in Glasgow, and whether it is gathering any data on this issue.

The Scottish Government is aware that unaccompanied young people have arrived in Glasgow in significant numbers in recent years.

Asylum processes are reserved to the UK Government, and therefore local authorities are not asked to routinely provide data to the Scottish Government on the number of unaccompanied asylum-seeking people arriving in their area. However in November and December 2023, the Scottish Government asked local authorities to provide information about their services for unaccompanied asylum-seeking young people. Glasgow City Council's returns show that at that time, it was looking after a total of more than 350 unaccompanied asylum-seeking young people.

In addition, the Scottish Government funds Guardianship Scotland, which provides support and advocacy for children and young people at risk of trafficking. The majority of people supported by Guardianship Scotland arrive in Scotland as unaccompanied asylum-seeing children. The figures below show the number of young people living in Glasgow who have been referred to Guardianship Scotland in each of the last three years.

2022 - 86
2023 - 56
2024 - 48

Question reference: S6W-33228

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 22 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what formulation is used when setting the value of the living grant for trainee educational psychologists; whether inflation is taken into account, and whether this has been reviewed since the grant was introduced in 2018.

In partnership, the Scottish Government and COSLA provide £2m investment per year to deliver the training programme for educational psychologists.

The formulation for this investment takes into account the number of students, the tuition fees paid for each student, individual membership to the British Psychological Society and an allocation to help students with living costs associated with studying.

The living costs grant is not income assessed, is not indexed to inflation and does not need to be paid back.

The grant has been reviewed since 2018 and the amount was agreed with the National Scottish Steering Group for Educational Psychologists.

Question reference: S6W-33227

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 21 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has considered introducing a requirement that car parks over a certain capacity should install solar panels to cover the park.

The Scottish Government’s Solar Vision, which will be published in due course, will set out the commitments that we will take to enable greater deployment of solar in Scotland. We will continue to support the sector to minimise barriers to deployment, wherever possible.

In 2023 and 2024, we introduced new and extended permitted development rights to simplify the planning process for the installation of zero- and low-carbon technologies, including solar canopies in car parks. Relevant guidance is contained in Planning Circular 2/2024: Non-Domestic Permitted Development Rights.

The fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4) sets out the Scottish Ministers’ policies and proposals for the development and use of land. NPF4 places climate and nature at the centre of our planning system and is a significant step forward towards achieving a net zero Scotland. It makes clear our support for all forms of renewable, low-carbon and zero emission technologies, including solar panels. When making decisions on planning applications, planning authorities must consider the development plan (which includes NPF4 and the relevant local development plan) as a whole, alongside all other material considerations.

Question reference: S6W-32208

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 19 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what the timeline is for carrying out the Scottish Climate Survey, which aims to assess public awareness and understanding of the heat transition, and by what date this will be published.

Question reference: S6W-32213

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 19 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what finance mechanisms are being considered by the Green Heat Finance Taskforce to deliver the clean heat transition.

The Green Heat Finance Taskforce’s Part 1 report identified a range of finance mechanisms that could be expanded or developed to support individual property owners finance the upfront costs of installing clean heat and energy efficiency measures. These included approaches to encourage greater secured lending, developing equity release products focused on retrofit and exploring the potential to offer property linked finance in Scotland.

Its Part 2 report will cover financing place-based and social housing retrofit programmes as well as financing of heat networks. The report will focus on how to attract private investment at scale to unlock blended finance opportunities, combining public and private contributions, to deliver coordinated activity across multiple properties.

Question reference: S6W-32211

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 19 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the £349.1 million energy efficiency and decarbonisation expenditure announced in its draft Budget 2025-26.