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-42819

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Independent
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 January 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 20 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of the (a) revenue and (b) capital cost of extending universal free school meal entitlement to all primary school children.

Question reference: S6W-42820

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Independent
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 January 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 20 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what the uptake was of free school meals in 2025 for (a) primary and (b) secondary pupils in each local authority area.

Question reference: S6W-42818

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Independent
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 January 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 20 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many additional children it estimates would be eligible for universal free school meal entitlement if this was extended to all primary school children.

Question reference: S6W-42799

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Independent
Date lodged: Monday, 05 January 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 19 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its consultation, which was launched on 28 August 2025 and concluded on 17 October 2025, with the Criminal Justice Committee taking initial evidence from the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs on 24 September 2025, what the reasons are for the reported delay in the laying of the proposed Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 (Characteristic of Sex) Amendment Regulations 2026, and when an update on the current status and next steps in the process will be provided to the Parliament.

Question reference: S6W-42521

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Independent
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 December 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 8 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government which organisations that had previously received support from the Equality and Human Rights Fund in each of the last five years have since had their funding discontinued, broken down by the reason for the discontinuation.

Question reference: S6W-42522

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Independent
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 December 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 8 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a list of the organisations that submitted applications to the Equality and Human Rights Fund in each of the last five years but were declined, broken down by (a) any information it can provide regarding the reason for refusal and (b) the assessment criteria or framework used in determining the decision.

Question reference: S6W-42520

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Independent
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 December 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 8 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government which organisations have received support from the Equality and Human Rights Fund in each of the last five years, broken down by (a) the amount awarded, (b) the duration of the funding and (c) whether the award was (i) a new allocation or (ii) the continuation of an existing funding arrangement.

Question reference: S6W-42523

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Independent
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 December 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 8 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what policy, criteria and decision-making processes have governed the automatic rollover of Equality and Human Rights Fund awards in the last five years, and whether an automatic rollover will be implemented again for the next funding year.

Question reference: S6O-05321

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Independent
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 December 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding its Equally Safe Delivery Plan, what discussions the Minister for Equalities has had with ministerial colleagues regarding the provision of sustained social and economic investment in prevention, housing, safety and long-term recovery for women and children currently in, or who are survivors of, the commercial sexual exploitation of prostitution.

Question reference: S6W-41810

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Independent
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 25 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what future commercial opportunities Scottish Water plans, and whether these include selling water for use in England.

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water I have asked them to respond. Their reply is as follows:

Scottish Water Horizons drives sustainable growth by leveraging expertise and market position to maximise commercial, reputational, and carbon benefits. They support Scottish Water's strategic ambitions, contributing to Scotland’s prosperity by creating value from Scottish Water assets. Some examples include:

Renewable energy (Solar, Hydroelectric, Wind) including large-scale battery energy storage schemes, which utilises Scottish Water’s land base.
Heat recovery from sewers to help Scottish Water and other public sector organisations (e.g. NHS, Academia) to decarbonise their estate.
Facilitating and delivering off site infrastructure (pipes & sewers) for Housing Developers.
Commercial waste management, supporting business customers to dispose of their waste ethically via Scottish Water’s wastewater assets.

Scottish Water is not currently planning or exploring selling water for use in England as the bulk export of water is extremely expensive in terms of carbon and energy use. Additionally, climate change means that the availability of water in Scotland is changing, with periods of drought becoming more frequent and more prolonged as experienced in summer 2025. It is therefore important that water resources are managed carefully and more efficiently. As Scottish Water’s Long term strategy has noted, given the impacts of climate change, population growth and migration, the East of Scotland will face serious water deficits by 2050.