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-43567

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 17 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide further information regarding its recent budget announcement in relation to swimming lessons for children, including (a) the total amount allocated for this, (b) the amount allocated per local authority, and (c) when local authorities will receive their allocations.

The draft Scottish Budget 2026-27 delivers a significant uplift in funding to sport. This allows us to deliver on our key ambition of ensuring every child has the opportunity to learn basic swimming skills, building confidence and safety in and around water.

We will work with Scottish Swimming and sportscotland to design a phased national roll-out of the National School Swimming Framework, ensuring the funding is targeted into addressing inequalities in access to swimming lessons across all local authority areas. That work is due to commence imminently.

Question reference: S6O-05496

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 February 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made on the redress scheme, as recommended in the 2024 Hughes Report, to compensate people in Scotland who were harmed by sodium valproate.

Question reference: S6F-04631

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 January 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 January 2026

To ask the First Minister how the Scottish Government’s new national housing agency will support its work to deliver more affordable homes.

Question reference: S6O-05427

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 January 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how its draft Budget 2026-27 will support community justice services.

Question reference: S6O-05405

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 January 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what more can be done to tackle the problem of abandoned and derelict shops and buildings in town centres.

Question reference: S6O-05148

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 November 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how AI might shape the future curriculum in Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-05093

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 October 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to deal with and improve land use issues, in particular dereliction and abandonment, in the urban setting.

Question reference: S6O-05082

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 October 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider making improvements to the Glasgow to Kilmarnock Sunday evening rail service.

Question reference: S6O-05049

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 9 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of the energy price cap increase on fuel poverty in Scotland.

The Scottish Government's most recent fuel poverty scenario modelling was published Friday October 3rd covering the October to December 2025 period under an Ofgem price cap of £1,755 for the typical dual fuel household paying by direct debit and is available online. This analysis estimated a national fuel poverty rate of 33% (830,000 households) and an extreme fuel poverty rate of 17% (420,000 households).

In an energy rich country like Scotland, nobody should be struggling to pay their energy bills. We need urgent action from the UK Government to fulfil their promise to cut bills by £300.

Question reference: S6W-39804

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 25 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to reported missed deadlines for the implementation of the McCloud Remedy, including the most recent on 31 July 2025, what action it is taking to ensure that the Scottish Public Pensions Agency (SPPA) delivers the necessary pension adjustments for affected retired public servants without any additional delay; what assessment it has made of the SPPA's communications with retirees, and whether it will publish a timetable for the completion of all McCloud-related cases.

The delivery of the McCloud Remedy is the key priority for the SPPA, balancing the significant and complex work associated with delivery alongside routine administration of public service pensions - those for teachers, police, firefighters and health service workers.

The scale of challenge that SPPA has faced in delivering the McCloud Remedy cannot be overstated and is one shared by other public sector pension scheme managers across the UK. Although progress is being made, SPPA took the difficult decision to extend the target date of 31 July 2025 for delivery to retired police officers to the end of 2025.

I have asked Stephen Pathirana, Chief Executive of the Scottish Public Pensions Agency, to respond to specific points. His response is as follows:

The delivery of RSS facilitates the choice of benefits members may take, and they have a period of 12 months to make it. When that election is made, SPPA aim to make any necessary adjustments to pension benefits as soon as reasonably practicable. Any pension arrears payable to members includes interest calculated from the date the arrears arose.

With the large number of individuals in scope of the McCloud remedy, it has been necessary for communications to retired members to be managed through the SPPA website rather than being targeted but communications plans are being refined following engagement with stakeholders.

SPPA has published timelines for the delivery of RSS. These are available on the SPPA website and will be kept up to date.