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-37944

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 10 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider progressing a Dundee Northern Relief Road to reduce conflict between strategic and local traffic in Dundee, and to improve the connectivity of Aberdeen to the Central Belt, including Edinburgh, and what it estimates the cost of such a project is.

The Scottish Government currently has no plans to take forward a Dundee Northern Bypass or Relief Road. The A90 is an important part of Scotland’s Trunk Road network and passes through suburban Dundee, thus serving both strategic need through traffic and the need for local accessibility.

An upgrade to the A90 Kingsway or a possible Dundee northern bypass was considered as part of the second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2), published in 2022. After careful analysis and assessment of the evidence, the national level appraisal concluded that a bypass could provide accessibility benefits for Dundee’s northern communities and reduce journey times for through-traffic on the A90.

However, the scale of these benefits was relatively modest in comparison to the significant environmental and financial costs of a new road. Further, this option did not score well with Transport Scotland’s Sustainable Investment Hierarchy, where the rationale for investment in transport infrastructure projects is to maintain and make best use of our existing transport assets, over building new infrastructure. Taking the totality of the evidence, it was considered that the case for investment in a relief road for Dundee was therefore not sufficiently proven.

Further analysis also noted that major on-line changes to the A90 through Dundee were not considered feasible and reallocation of road space to other purposes was likely to have adverse consequences for traffic routeing. Therefore, the recommendation from STPR2 was that further, more detailed work was required, in the form of an Integrated Transport Plan, to develop a solution that delivered for local residents and strategic through-traffic alike.

A preliminary construction cost estimate for a potential bypass was developed for the STPR2 transport appraisal in 2021. However, given the intervening period and the resulting construction price inflation that has occurred since, these estimates are now out of date.

Question reference: S6W-37946

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, as part of any action to reduce any sex-related pay inequality, whether it will consider changes to tax policy to increase the pay thresholds for the intermediate and higher rate tax bands for women returning to work after maternity leave.

Our Income Tax policy supports our progressive approach to tax, which balances the need of supporting households through a challenging economic period, while raising revenue to sustain our investment in public services.

We continue to deliver on our commitment to protect lower income households, ensuring more than half of taxpayers pay less than they would elsewhere in the UK for the remainder of this Parliament.

As part of the Tax Strategy published alongside the Budget, we are providing a period of stability for Income Tax for the lifetime of this Parliament which includes committing to uprating the Starter and Basic rate bands by at least inflation.

Whilst Employment Legislation is reserved, the Scottish Government has continued to use the levers at our disposal to encourage employers to adopt Fair Work practices for all workers including flexible and inclusive and family friendly workplace practices that can help reduce barriers faced by women in the labour market. Scotland has a lower gender pay gap across full and part-time earners compared to the UK and has been so since 2003.

We continue to closely monitor the impacts of our tax policy decisions on taxpayers, businesses, and the economy using a range of evidence such as real time economic data, formal evaluations and engagement with stakeholders, including the business community.

Question reference: S6W-37932

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 5 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it undertook that resulted in it determining that CalMac should be directly awarded the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services contract without an open tender process, in light of it stating that directly awarding the contract for the Small Vessel Replacement Programme to Ferguson Marine would present a legal risk.

Direct award of public contracts is only possible in strictly limited circumstances under public procurement rules.

The CHFS3 decision was subject to a due diligence process which concluded there was no financial, operational or legal impediment to implementing a Teckal-compliant direct award.

Shipbuilding is a competitive global market and a designated sensitive sector under the UK Subsidy Control Act. For SVRP, it was assessed that a substantial subsidy would have been required to support direct award of the Phase 1 contract to Fergusons, which we did not consider would be capable of being justified. Given no clear path to subsidy control compliance and the risks of legal challenge, Ministers concluded that directly awarding the Phase 1 contract would have been likely to lead to the worst of both worlds - a delay in adding new ferries to the network and the yard ultimately not securing any work from the programme.

Question reference: S6O-04780

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 June 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of recent reports regarding the Barnett formula, and its ministers stating a preference for full fiscal autonomy, what discussions it has had with the UK Government in relation to replacing the Barnett formula.

Question reference: S6O-04707

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Crown Estate in England, Wales and Northern Ireland being granted borrowing powers so that it can, for example, invest in energy infrastructure, what its position is on similar powers being granted to Crown Estate Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-04519

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether its policy position in relation to an independent Scotland seeking to rejoin the EU includes rejoining the Common Fisheries Policy.

Question reference: S6F-03970

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 March 2025

To ask the First Minister, in light of reports of an escalation in gang-related violence in Edinburgh, with recent shootings in Niddrie and West Pilton, what immediate action can be taken to support the emergency services in ensuring the safety and reassurance of communities in the Edinburgh Eastern constituency.

Question reference: S6W-34986

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 24 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what each NHS boards’ policy is regarding compliance with the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992, which mandate that employers provide adequate and appropriate welfare facilities for staff, including suitable changing rooms where employees are required to change into special work clothing, and whether each board ensures that separate facilities are provided for men and women, or that shared facilities are used by only one sex at a time.

Question reference: S6W-34991

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 18 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether it is responsible for ensuring that clear, legally robust definitions are consistently applied across all public bodies and publicly funded organisations, particularly in relation to the fundamental definitions of “woman” and “child”, and whether it will make adherence to such definitions a condition of public funding to prevent any unnecessary costs to the public purse and any erosion of public trust as a result of potential safeguarding failures being exposed through whistleblower-led legal challenges.

Public bodies and organisations operating in Scotland can be affected by a wide range of law in both devolved and reserved areas, with differing statutory mechanisms for enforcement. The Scottish Ministers may, in some cases, be subject to statutory duties to issue guidance to affected organisations and groups. However, other public bodies will have a statutory roles in regulating enforcement and issuing guidance about areas of law, including those reserved to the UK Parliament.

For payments made by the Scottish Government to public bodies and publicly funded organisations in Scotland, the Scottish Government expects those bodies to comply with the full range of legal obligations imposed on them by all relevant legislation. This includes duties under the Equality Act 2010, where key provisions on matters such as discrimination and the various protected characteristics, including sex, are reserved, or under health and safety workplace regulations, which are also reserved.

Question reference: S6W-34992

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 14 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its policy on gender self-identification not being law in Scotland, what measures it has taken to ensure that all policies implemented by public bodies and third-party organisations receiving public funds are legally sound and compliant with existing legislation such as the Equality Act 2010 and the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992, as a condition of public funding.

The Scottish Government expects all organisations to comply with all relevant legislation, including the Equality Act 2010 and the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992.

As part of their funding agreements, organisations funded by the Scottish Government must ensure that their policies and practices are legally compliant and uphold their statutory duties, including those related to equality, safety, and workplace protections. Public bodies are responsible for ensuring that their policies align with the legal framework in Scotland, and they must conduct appropriate due diligence when implementing policies.