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

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Displaying 2022 questions Show Answers

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Question reference: S6W-41850

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 November 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 27 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any impact of single-year budgets on court backlog recovery.

Question reference: S6W-41873

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 November 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 27 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when the Minister for Children, Young People and The Promise last attended a meeting of the National Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Strategic Group.

Question reference: S6W-41874

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 November 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 27 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when the Minister for Victims and Community Safety last attended a meeting of the National Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Strategic Group.

Question reference: S6W-41851

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 November 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 27 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what data it holds on the number of court cases that fail or are discontinued because witnesses do not appear for rescheduled hearings due to delays.

Question reference: S6W-41848

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 November 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 27 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to prevent cases collapsing as a result of witness disengagement caused by repeated adjournments.

Question reference: S6W-41849

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 November 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 27 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will introduce a multi-year funding model for the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS), in light of SCTS stating in its 2025-26 business plan that its current budget is insufficient to increase court capacity to meet demand.

Question reference: S6W-41872

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 November 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 27 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs last attended a meeting of the National Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Strategic Group.

Question reference: S6W-41598

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 10 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what recent engagement is has had with the National Records of Scotland regarding the operation of the Marriage (Scotland) Act 1977 and whether it needs to be updated.

The main focus of the Scottish Government's recent engagement with the National Records of Scotland regarding the Marriage (Scotland) Act 1977 has been in relation to our planned Family Law consultation, this includes (i) whether we should legislate to raise the minimum age of marriage and civil partnership to 18 and (ii) setting qualifying requirements for religious and belief bodies to meet when they solemnise marriage. The draft consultation is currently being finalised and we expect to be in a position to launch the consultation by the end of this year.

Question reference: S6W-41599

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 10 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to update the Marriage (Scotland) Act 1977.

Question reference: S6W-41518

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 7 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-40884 by Angela Constance on 17 October 2025, how much funding in total has been provided to any restorative justice test cases that have been conducted in the last 18 months.