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-02129

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 July 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 26 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) total setup and (b) ongoing costs of the Scottish Government bond programme are in relation to (i) banks, including Banco Santander, Barclays Bank Plc, Citigroup Global Markets Limited, Deutsche Bank AG, HSBC Bank Plc, Merrill Lynch International, NatWest Markets Plc, RBC Europe Limited and Standard Chartered Bank, (ii) lawyers, including Clifford Chance, (iii) advisers, including EY, (iv) ratings agencies, including Moody's and S&P, and (v) investor relations, in (A) past, (B) present and (C) future budget years.

Question reference: S7W-02136

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 July 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 26 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many times it has met with representatives of credit rating agencies regarding the issuance of bonds under the Scottish Government bond programme, and what factors those agencies identified as material to Scotland's creditworthiness.

Question reference: S7W-02134

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 July 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 26 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of the annual costs of maintaining a Scottish Government bond programme, including investor engagement, reporting and compliance.

Question reference: S7W-02100

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 July 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 25 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the commitment in the 2026 Scottish National Party manifesto to enact a statutory price cap on essential food items, what assessment it has carried out regarding the potential impact that the policy might have on retailers’ support for good causes and community groups and programmes.

Question reference: S7W-02099

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 July 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 25 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the commitment in the 2026 Scottish National Party manifesto to enact a statutory price cap on essential food items, what consideration it has given to expanding its Scottish Welfare Fund programme rather than introducing a statutory price cap.

Question reference: S7W-01602

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 22 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the commitment in the Scottish National Party manifesto to enact a statutory price cap on essential food items, when the policy was first intimated to grocery retailers and/or their representatives.

Question reference: S7W-01676

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 13 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 22 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the 2026 Scottish National Party manifesto commitment to enact a statutory price cap on essential food items, what its response is to comments from the Scottish Retail Consortium, as reported in The Sunday Times on 12 July 2026, that, 12 weeks on from the policy announcement, the organisation remains "completely in the dark on even the most rudimentary details" of the proposals.

Question reference: S7W-01675

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 13 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 22 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the 2026 Scottish National Party manifesto commitment to enact a statutory price cap on essential food items, what its response is to comments by the Food & Drink Federation Scotland, as reported in The Sunday Times on 12 July 2026, that such a policy could lead retailers to source a greater proportion of imported food products in place of domestically produced goods.

Question reference: S7W-01604

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 22 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the commitment in the Scottish National Party manifesto to enact a statutory price cap on essential food items, what its response is to the comments from members of its own Retail Industry Leadership Group in The Sunday Times on 5 July 2026 that the policy risks "higher prices for other items in shops" and "reduced footfall for some retailers".

Question reference: S7W-01603

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 22 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the commitment in the Scottish National Party manifesto to enact a statutory price cap on essential food items, what representations it has received on the policy from (a) industry bodies and (b) trade associations.

The Scottish Government remains committed to committed to publishing draft legislative provisions and progressing work on the price cap on essential food items. We have engaged constructively with a range of industry bodies and trade associations, which have shared their views on the proposal. Their expertise and experience are helping to inform our consideration of the policy and will continue to do so as development of the proposal progresses.