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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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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 4 May 2021
  6. Session 6: 13 May 2021 to 8 April 2026
  7. Current session: 14 May 2026 to 25 September 2026
Answer status
Question type

Displaying 3477 questions Show Answers

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Question reference: S7W-02662

  • Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
  • Date lodged: Monday, 24 August 2026
  • Current Status: Answer expected on 22 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many participants in the Oil and Gas Transition Training Fund have subsequently entered employment, and, of these, how many entered employment in the renewable energy or wider low-carbon energy sector. 

Question reference: S7W-02640

  • Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
  • Date lodged: Monday, 24 August 2026
  • Current Status: Answer expected on 22 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how its drug-checking strategy distinguishes between the threat of fentanyl and the rise of synthetic potent analogues, such as nitazenes, and what steps are being taken to ensure that distributed test strips match the reality of current street supply contaminants.

Question reference: S7W-02644

  • Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
  • Date lodged: Monday, 24 August 2026
  • Current Status: Answer expected on 22 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to support a national, public-facing drug-checking network building on multi-agency models piloting in Aberdeen, Dundee and Glasgow that combines rapid test strips with advanced laboratory testing such as mass spectrometry.

Question reference: S7W-02642

  • Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
  • Date lodged: Monday, 24 August 2026
  • Current Status: Answer expected on 22 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Police Scotland and the Lord Advocate regarding the legal status of individuals possessing or distributing drug-testing equipment, to ensure that peer-led harm reduction initiatives face no risk of prosecution under drug paraphernalia or possession frameworks.

Question reference: S7W-02646

  • Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
  • Date lodged: Monday, 24 August 2026
  • Current Status: Answer expected on 22 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of international data regarding automated harm reduction kiosks such as those deployed in Ohio, USA and whether it will evaluate the feasibility of deploying similar 24/7, low-barrier vending machines in Scotland to distribute naloxone and rapid adulterant testing strips.

Question reference: S7W-02675

  • Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
  • Date lodged: Monday, 24 August 2026
  • Current Status: Answer expected on 22 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the UK Government's joint committee report on biodiversity collapse, what progress has been made toward reaching a decision on the planning application for the proposed golf development at Coul Links since the report was submitted to the Scottish Ministers on 29 August 2025, and by what date that decision will be issued.

Question reference: S7W-02645

  • Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
  • Date lodged: Monday, 24 August 2026
  • Current Status: Answer expected on 22 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether funds from the £250 million National Mission on Drug Deaths can be made available to third-sector groups and local Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs) looking to purchase and maintain smart, digital harm-reduction dispensers in urban and rural areas currently lacking fixed-site needle exchanges or overdose prevention centres.

Question reference: S7W-02661

  • Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
  • Date lodged: Monday, 24 August 2026
  • Current Status: Answer expected on 22 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what its latest estimate is of the current and forecast workforce shortfall in the offshore wind sector in North East Scotland, broken down by occupation. 

Question reference: S7W-02639

  • Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
  • Date lodged: Monday, 24 August 2026
  • Current Status: Answer expected on 22 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what recent assessment it has made of the clinical efficacy and cost-effectiveness of integrating the distribution of rapid testing strips, including those detecting fentanyl and nitazenes, into existing harm-reduction networks and needle exchanges.

Question reference: S7W-02638

  • Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
  • Date lodged: Monday, 24 August 2026
  • Current Status: Answer expected on 22 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what national guidance or training it is providing to third-sector organisations, such as the Scottish Drugs Forum, to educate drug users on the limitations of test strips, specifically addressing the risks of false negatives and the "chocolate chip cookie effect", where a contaminant is unevenly distributed within a batch.