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-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-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-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: 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: 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.

Question reference: S6W-41677

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Independent
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 18 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has consulted the National Drugs Mission Clinical Advisory Group regarding its position on the potential impact of the reclassification of psilocybin on the treatment of people in Scotland with substance abuse disorders.

Question reference: S6W-41676

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Independent
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 18 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the work undertaken by the NHS Research Scotland Mental Health Network, sponsored by Compass Pathways, in relation to a trial that commenced in Edinburgh in 2024 as part of a Scottish phase of a worldwide clinical study into the safety and effectiveness of an investigational psilocybin treatment for patients with treatment-resistant depression.

Legitimate use of Controlled Drugs is enabled through scheduling under the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001, which regulates their availability according to their medicinal value and perceived risk of misuse. Controlled Drugs are placed in one of five schedules, where Schedule 1 has the greatest restrictions on activities and Schedule 5 the fewest. Psilocybin is classed as a Schedule 1 drug. All research in the UK involving Schedule 1 Controlled Drugs requires a Home Office domestic licence.

In this instance study recruitment closed in August 2025, before NHS Lothian's Home Office licence was granted.

Question reference: S6W-41678

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Independent
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 18 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the potential treatment of certain mental health conditions, what its position is on the current scheduling of psilocybin as a class A drug, which means it is illegal to possess, supply or produce it, and whether the current scheduling presents any problems in relation to the NHS conducting clinical trials in Scotland.

The scheduling of psilocybin in the UK is overseen by the Home Office and the regulation for the licensing, safety and efficacy of medicines is currently reserved to the UK Government and is the responsibility of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. The Scottish Government has no power to alter this.

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) is supporting psilocybin research via the NIHR King’s Clinical Research Facility, the NIHR Oxford Health Clinical Research Facility, and the NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre. This includes developing and evaluating the efficacy and safety of psilocybin therapies.

Question reference: S6W-41674

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Independent
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 18 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any lessons learned, that may be relevant to Scotland, regarding the Australian Government's approval in 2023 for psychiatrists to prescribe MDMA for post-traumatic stress disorder, and psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression.

The regulation for the licensing, safety and efficacy of medicines is currently reserved to the UK Government and is the responsibility of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. As a result, the Scottish Government has not assessed any lessons learned regarding the Australian Government’s approval in 2023 for psychiatrists to prescribe MDMA for post-traumatic stress disorder, and psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression.