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-02813

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh North Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 15 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the UK Government's strategy for England, Our place to give: a plan for growing place-based philanthropy, and whether it has identified any approaches within that strategy that could inform collaboration between government, philanthropy and civil society in Scotland.

The Scottish Government has noted the publication of the UK Government’s “Our Place to Give” strategy with interest. We recognise the significant history of philanthropy in Scotland and welcome the opportunity to strengthen Scotland’s Third Sector through meaningful collaboration with philanthropists and charitable foundations.

We are committed to developing a Third Sector Partnership Agreement in collaboration with the sector and other partners, including independent funders. The Partnership is an opportunity to build on the relationship between Scottish Government and the Third Sector, recognise the third sector’s role and reset how Scottish Government, the third sector and partners work together to design and deliver policy and services that meet the needs of the people of Scotland.

Question reference: S7W-02817

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh North Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 15 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will convene a roundtable with philanthropists, charitable foundations and representatives of the wider third sector to consider how Scotland can encourage greater philanthropic giving and develop opportunities for government and philanthropy to work together on shared priorities.

The Scottish Government understands how important it is to embed collaboration is to the delivery of our shared priorities. In the Programme for Government, we announced the development of a Scottish Prevention Investment Framework, which aims to provide a consistent approach to identifying, assessing and prioritising investment in prevention and early intervention, helping direct resources towards actions that improve outcomes for people and reduce future demand on public services. Collaboration with external parties, including with philanthropists and the third sector, will be part of the development of this Framework.

Question reference: S7W-02814

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh North Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 15 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, following the publication of the UK Government's strategy for England, Our place to give: a plan for growing place-based philanthropy, whether it will consider developing a strategy for Scotland to encourage philanthropy and strengthen the relationship between government, charitable funders and philanthropists.

Question reference: S7W-02812

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh North Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 15 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with philanthropic foundations and individual philanthropists regarding the role that philanthropy can play in supporting charities and communities across Scotland.

The Scottish Government recognises the role that philanthropy can play in supporting our third sector and communities across Scotland. As part of our policy development with respect to the third sector, Scottish Government engages with independent funders, philanthropic foundations and academics. We recognise the funding pressures that third sector organisations are facing and we will continue to engage and explore opportunities which would support a sustainable and resilient third sector.

Question reference: S7W-02811

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh North Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 11 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what programmes it has to respond to the reported decline in children's online safety.

The Scottish Government currently have a number of programmes in place and planned for the future to help create a safer online environment for children and young people. On 25 March 2026 the Online Safety Taskforce published its Action Plan which brings together our priorities for protection children and young people from online harm. This plan will continue to be built upon to ensure it evolves alongside the lived experiences of children and young people across Scotland.

We recognise that online safety is a complex problem and that there is a spectrum of harm that can occur – from damaging concentration, to wasted childhood years scrolling on one end, through to the absorption of harmful violent/misogynistic/radicalising content in the middle, to incitement to self-harm and grooming at the most acute end. We have therefore committed in our Programme for Government to take a public health approach to online safety to ensure children, parents and schools are better equipped to deal with online safety.

As part of this approach we launched Digital Wellbeing surveys on 19 August to hear directly from children, young people and parents/carers on the issues facing them and what further guidance they would like. On the 25 August we launched a public health campaign, with content on how parents can help keep their children safe online, as well as a public consultation on restricting access to mobile phones in schools.

We fund a range of initiatives that address social media usage amongst children and young people to help them navigate online spaces and use screens in a healthy, safe and positive way. This includes the Digital Discourse Initiative and the Mind Yer Time resource which is designed by children and young people to use social media and screens in a healthy way. We also work with Parent Club to provide a range of advice for parents and carers on supporting the mental health and wellbeing of their children and families, including a range of advice and information specifically for parents of teenage children.

Question reference: S7F-00040

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh North Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 September 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 September 2026

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S7W-02726

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh North Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 8 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to amend the Disclosure (Scotland) Act 2020 so that spent convictions are excluded from Level 1 disclosures, in line with the provisions of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022.

Spent convictions are excluded in a level 1 disclosure in Scotland therefore no legislative changes are required to achieve this policy.

The changes made to disclosure in England and Wales through the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 relate to the periods of time before a conviction becomes spent. Changes to the length of time before a conviction becomes spent were legislated for in Scotland through the Management of Offenders (Scotland) Act 2019 and came into force in August 2020. Scottish Government guidance was published to help individuals understand what the reforms meant for them and their individual circumstances.

Question reference: S7F-00030

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh North Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 September 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 September 2026

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S7W-02309

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh North Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 1 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that nearly 90% of sewage spills in Scotland may be illegal.

Environmental performance is regulated by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and this would be a matter for them to investigate.

Scottish Water’s recently published annual report and accounts for 2025-26 reported that environmental pollution incidents were reduced from 199 in 2024-25 to 191 in 2025-26. There were only two serious environmental pollution incidents in 2025-26, down from four in 2024-25.

Question reference: S7W-02310

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh North Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 1 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether, for the purposes of assessing the legality of sewage overflows, it will publish a definition of "heavy rainfall".

Officials are working with Environmental Standards Scotland to look at the need for a definition taking into account current and future policies and guidance.

As the member is aware from my answers to his previous questions (most recently S7W-00613 on 8 June 2026), this work is on-going and is not at a point that it can be shared with Parliament. It is important that the work considers fully the consequences of any policy changes given the potential costs falling to customers of the investment consequences.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.