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-42370

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 16 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to increase awareness of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), in light of a recent survey by Crohn's & Colitis UK, which found that around half of respondents from Scotland are not very familiar with IBD, and over three in five do not know that IBD can be life-threatening.

We are committed to ensuring that all people living in Scotland with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) including Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis 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.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of raising awareness of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Information and guidance on IBD including Crohn’s disease and Ulcerative Colitis is already widely available to the public via the NHS Inform website: Scottish health information you can trust | NHS inform

The Scottish Government welcomed the recent Crohn's and Colitis Awareness Week 2025, “How it feels,” and values the work of charities like Crohn’s and Colitis UK helping raising awareness of the condition.

Question reference: S6W-42371

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 16 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-41729 by Angela Constance on 18 November 2025, how many prisoners mistakenly released from Scotland's prisons have not been returned to prison, in each of the last five years, including 2025-26 to date.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

A range of checks are carried out before the release of a prisoner is authorised including but not limited to, an identity check of the person, confirmation of liberation date and a check for any known outstanding warrants.

A liberation in error occurs when an individual is released from a Scottish Prison Service establishment without lawful authority. This situation typically arises due to an administrative or procedural mistake, such as incorrect interpretation of documentation, miscalculation of sentence dates or incorrect data sharing from other partners.

When such an error is identified, the Scottish Prison Service works in partnership with Police Scotland and the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service to ensure the individual is returned to custody as soon as possible. Once notified, it is the responsibility of Police Scotland to execute any live warrants.

The following table provides the numbers of total liberations, liberations in error and those still not returned to custody since 2021-2022, up to and including 5 December 2025.

Year	Total Annual Liberations	Recorded Liberations in Error*	Liberations in Error as a percentage	Liberations in Error not returned to custody**	Reason for Non Return
2021-22	13934	5	0.04%	0
2022-23	14769	8	0.05%	0
2023-24	15732	7	0.04%	1	Appeal Granted
2024-25	16387	9	0.05%	4	1 x Release by Home Office 2x Bail Granted 1 x Original Warrant Superseded
2025-26**	10751	5	0.05%	0
TOTAL	71573	34	0.05%	5

As you can see from the above table, over the period 2021 to 5 December 2025 there are a total of five individuals who have been liberated in error from prisons who have not returned to prison custody. The reasons for these non-returns are outlined below:

Date	Establishment	No Return Reason
2 May 2023	Perth	Appeal Granted
2 July 2024	Polmont	Released by Home Office
5 July 2024	Barlinnie	No Record of Return. The original warrant has been superseded by the issue of a new apprehension warrant
3 October 2024	Barlinnie	Bail
7 March 2025	Barlinnie	Bail

*All liberations in error are subject to review by the Warrants Administration Group (WAG), at which point the data may change depending on the outcome of the review.

**The figures provided are up to 5 December 2025. These figures also include individuals who have not been required to return to prison due to other factors such as Bail, Court Appeals, Deportation

Question reference: S6W-42422

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 05 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 15 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-41814 by Gillian Martin on 25 November 2025, how it is investing in Scotland’s water and sewage network to ensure it is fully able to cope with expected increases of heavy rainfall events in the future.

Question reference: S6W-42421

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 05 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 15 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-41814 by Gillian Martin on 25 November 2025, whether it has carried out a cost analysis of the expansion of the monitoring coverage to all remaining overflow locations in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-42216

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 15 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its news release, Harnessing data and technology to revolutionise public services, on 20 November 2025, when its planned digital public services app will introduce a digital proof of age.

Being able to use the native app to prove your age is on the roadmap for delivery after we are able to offer transactional and location based alerts and notification services.

There is no defined data for this yet as the focus is being about to offer transactional and location based alerts, however once these are delivered proof of age will be the priority.

Currently work is underway with organisations who would like to use this service.

Question reference: S6W-42215

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 12 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its news release, Harnessing data and technology to revolutionise public services, on 20 November 2025, on what date in 2026 it will launch its new app to “help people access personalised public services more easily”.

The Directorate recognises the importance of providing clarity on the app's planned launch date. At present a specific launch date in 2026 has not yet been confirmed.

Final timelines depend on ongoing development, testing and regulatory requirements to ensure the app meets all required standards.

The Directorate will provide a confirmed timeline once the current development and testing phase is completed.

Question reference: S6W-42507

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 December 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 7 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any implications of the draft 2026 revaluation of non-domestic rates for local communities that rely on self-catering accommodation to support population retention and local services.

Question reference: S6W-42509

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 December 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 7 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to support local authorities to manage any potential increases in business distress or closures linked to the draft 2026 revaluation of non-domestic rates for self-catering properties.

Question reference: S6W-42508

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 December 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 7 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to the effect of the draft rateable value increases on the long-term economic resilience of rural areas dependent on tourism.

Question reference: S6W-42282

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 10 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the 15% increase in thefts from shops, as reported in the latest Recorded Crime in Scotland statistics, and what its position is on future funding for the Retail Crime Taskforce.

The Scottish Government’s commitment to tackling retail crime was reaffirmed in our Programme for Government and through the additional £3 million in the 2025-26 budget, to assist Police Scotland’s work on this.

This makes clear our strong support for Police Scotland’s robust approach in addressing this issue, and I can confirm that the Retail Crime Taskforce has been working hard in recent months to assist retailers and to catch those responsible.

We are working closely with SPA and Police Scotland to understand their 2026-27 budget requirements, but clearly there is a process to go through and decisions to be made before we can finalise the budget for 2026-27. This will be published on 13 January 2026.