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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 1175 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S7W-04341

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 19 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 16 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider making funding provided through the Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES) available on a multi-year basis, and, if so, what action it is taking in this regard.

Question reference: S7W-04275

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 10 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what its expenditure to date has been on any third-parties providing advice and support on its plans to issue bonds.

Question reference: S7W-04274

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 10 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what contingency plans it has should a bond issue fail to raise the expected level of capital for planned investment projects.

Question reference: S7W-04164

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 6 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government by what percentage it expects payments to private bus operators in the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) area to change as result of any (a) fare increases and (b) increased passenger demand arising from the proposed bus fare cap.

Question reference: S7W-04152

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 5 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it gave to funding bus franchising in the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) region before the introduction of the £2 bus fare cap.

Question reference: S7W-04125

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 5 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the reform of (a) local government, (b) education and (c) NHS boards, what private sector consultancy firms and other external consultants it has commissioned to provide advice, analysis or other support, how much has been spent on this commissioned work to date and what the total anticipated cost of such work is, and whether any further private sector consultancy support is planned in relation to the reform programme.

Question reference: S7W-03548

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Alyn Smith on 7 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how much public funding has been committed to each of the four programmes of its National Innovation Strategy since June 2023, and how much of that funding has been spent to date.

The Scottish Government is committed to establishing Scotland as a leading start-up nation that fosters innovation, creates jobs, and accelerates economic growth.

The Scotland Government’s National Innovation Strategy noted the importance of investing in innovation and since its publication in 2023, we have delivered on a broad range of investments in innovation. This investment is spread across a number of agencies and areas of policy, many of which contribute to the four programmes.

University Research & Innovation

The Scottish Government has invested around £1.3b for core university research and innovation grant funding from Academic Year (AY) 2023-24 to AY 2026-27 to maintain high-quality research and innovation at our universities, in addition to enabling and supporting the First Minister's priorities, such as those outlined in the National Innovation Strategy.

In AY 2026-27, we are investing £355 million for core research and innovation grant, an uplift of 8.1% from the previous year. This includes £30 million invested in the Knowledge Exchange and Innovation Fund (KEIF) to support university-business interactions, with an uplift of 20%. We are also providing funding of around £14m in academic year 2026-27 to support a portfolio of knowledge exchange and innovation investments to maintain a strong platform for innovation collaboration and for attracting further investment.

Clusters

In 2025-26, the Scottish Government committed and spent £2.1m through the NIS Innovation Clusters programme, to lay the foundations for the systematic cluster development approach and to accelerate the development of seven of Scotland’s key innovation clusters in Critical Technologies, Space, Robotics, the Built Environment, FinTech, Offshore Wind, and Life Sciences.

Alongside investment into establishing and growing strong leadership in these key innovation clusters, this included spend on robust evaluation tools and methods to ensure cluster success is captured; supporting our quantum and photonics to internationalise; helping companies to understand the value and potential of adopting new robotic solutions; funding new opportunities in semiconductor technology for net zero.

Building on this success, the Scottish Government is investing a further £3m in 2026-27 through the NIS Innovation Clusters programme to scale activity to grow these key clusters and their economic impact - Critical Technologies, Space, Robotics, the Built Environment, FinTech, Offshore Wind and Life Sciences. This funding combines core support for Cluster Management Organisations (CMOs) to strengthen their capability and drive delivery of their growth roadmaps, alongside a stimulus fund to support innovative collaborative projects that increase growth, productivity and international competitiveness.

Ecosystem Funding

The Scottish Government has invested £9.5 million since June 2023 through the Ecosystem Fund and associated Community, Pathways and Entrepreneurial Education funds. This investment has supported projects across Scotland that strengthen the start-up ecosystem, widen access to entrepreneurship and develop entrepreneurial education. This includes £1.75 million committed to 44 projects in 2026-27.

Enterprise Agencies

Highlands and Islands Enterprise do not directly deliver the four national programmes, but does support innovation and entrepreneurship through their client engagement model and programmed activity. Annual reports provide a summary of results secured through innovation support including primary measures, and targets out-turns within which a number are attributed to innovation and productivity, including innovation investment. HIE’s Annual Reports and Accounts can be viewed at Annual Report and Accounts | HIE

South of Scotland Enterprise supports innovation through a range of enterprise support. Impact and expenditure is captured in Annual Reports, tracked against the strategic priority of ‘Advancing innovation and improving productivity’. More detail on this is in annual reports published here: Annual Accounts

Scottish Enterprise supports innovation through a range of enterprise support including its hugely successful Scaling Innovation mission. More details on this can be found via: Accessing our information - spending and accounts | Scottish Enterprise

Question reference: S7W-03546

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Alyn Smith on 6 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it remains committed to delivering its National Innovation Strategy.

Question reference: S7W-03547

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Alyn Smith on 6 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made in delivering the National Productivity Programme that it committed to in the National Innovation Strategy 2023 to 2033, including the innovation marketplace and the customer platform, and how many businesses have benefited from each element of the programme to date.

Question reference: S7W-03543

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Alyn Smith on 6 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the effectiveness of its National Productivity Programme, in light of the proportion of businesses classified as innovation active falling from 32.4% in 2020-22 to 29.4% in 2022-24.