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-00909

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 June 2026
Current Status: Answered by Hannah Mary Goodlad on 24 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with local authorities and COSLA regarding replicating its Future Planners Programme.

We have had no discussions with local authorities and COSLA about replicating the Future Planners Programme.

Heads of Planning Scotland has been supportive with the current Programme, providing work shadowing opportunities and other learning and development sessions for Student Planners. We will continue to work in partnership with planning authorities and other stakeholders to deliver innovative solutions to increase resilience of the planning profession.

Question reference: S7W-00910

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 June 2026
Current Status: Answered by Hannah Mary Goodlad on 24 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to increase the number of places on its Future Planners Programme.

Question reference: S7W-00969

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 June 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 22 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the 3 June 2026 Court of Session ruling, which found that Scottish Ministers' failure to comply with the compliance timescale set out in a December 2025 Freedom of Information Decision amounted to a contempt of court, what procedures have been put in place to (a) mitigate the risk of similar action in future and (b) protect the public purse.

The Scottish Government respects the Court’s judgement of 3 June and will consider its implications in detail.

It should be noted that the material required to be released under the Commissioner’s Decision Notice was published on 24 February. The release consisted of over 700 documents, totalling over 4500 pages and can be accessed on the Scottish Government website.

There were a number of challenges which were specific to the context of this case. Ministers have previously set out to Parliament the requirement to balance our obligations under Freedom of Information legislation with the need to prevent identification of alleged victims in cases of sexual assault.

Ministers do not believe that the challenges experienced in this particular case are indicative of wider issues in the Scottish Government’s ability to meet its FOISA obligations within required timescales. As the Scottish Information Commissioner has recognised, the Scottish Government is a high performing authority in relation to the discharge of its FOI obligations generally. We will consider whether there are specific lessons that can be learned from this case, and from the detail of the Court’s judgement.

Question reference: S7W-00978

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 June 2026
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 18 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many households have access to a full fibre connection, broken down by local authority.

The telecommunications regulator, Ofcom, regularly publishes information in relation to full fibre and gigabit-capable broadband coverage in Scotland as part of their Connected Nations updates. The most recent update was published on 13 May 2026 showing coverage figures for January 2026. An interactive report is published alongside, including local authority area breakdown of full fibre coverage, which can be found at: Connected Nations update: Spring 2026

Question reference: S7W-00979

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 June 2026
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 18 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to require full fibre operators to publish future rollout plans to enable households and businesses to plan their future activities.

While the Scottish Government continues to monitor commercial delivery plans to inform eligibility for publicly subsidised intervention, it does not have the power to mandate publication of these commercial plans. We will however continue to publish build plans for publicly subsidised interventions through our address checker which can be found at: Faster broadband in Scotland https://broadbandchecker.service.gov.scot/.

Question reference: S7O-00118

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 June 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the provision of post-school skills pathways.

Question reference: S7W-00886

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 June 2026
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 17 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to NHS Lothian maternity services to enable the resumption of homebirth services.

Homebirth services in NHS Lothian have never been paused. There may be occasions where a homebirth cannot be attended due to high activity or staffing issues, however this happens very rarely due to the model of on-call midwifery in NHS Lothian.

NHS Lothian currently manages homebirths via the community midwife service, however a new, dedicated home birth team has recently been established and staff recruitment is underway.

Question reference: S7W-00701

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 June 2026
Current Status: Answered by Stephen Flynn on 16 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many additional passenger journeys there have been on bus services in the Highland and Islands since the introduction of the £2 fare cap, and what the overall cost of this has been.

Since the launch of the £2 bus fare cap pilot in the Highlands and Islands in January 2026, the Scottish Government has received claims relating to 280,907 passenger journeys, with total reimbursement claims of £2,045,740.90 made by participating bus operators. The number of journeys and the value of claims may not align due to the claim validation process.

It is not yet possible to determine the number of additional passenger journeys generated by the scheme, however, the Scottish Government will work with participating operators over the summer to assess the impact of the pilot against comparable baseline data.

All figures are correct as of 2 June 2026.

Question reference: S7W-00721

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 June 2026
Current Status: Answered by Stephen Gethins on 16 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what specific financial mechanism it has modelled as a replacement to the UK-wide Contracts for Difference scheme, and what estimate it has made of the cost to the public purse of underwriting such a mechanism to secure capital investment for future ScotWind projects.

Question reference: S7W-00696

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 June 2026
Current Status: Answered by Stephen Flynn on 16 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government further to 2026 Scottish National Party manifesto commitment to bring Transport Scotland “back into the Scottish Government, along with the other national transport bodies”, by what date it will publish its plans to do so, and what “other national bodies” are being considered.