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

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 46716 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6W-41425

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 6 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to support carers who are unable to attend (a) medical appointments and (b) hospital stays due to caring responsibilities.

The Scottish Government’s National Carers Strategy published in December 2022 sets out a cross-government approach to tackling issues that affect carers, including through health and social care policies. The Strategy sets out our intentions regarding carers’ healthcare at chapter 3. We considered whether it was feasible to provide flexible health appointments for carers, including replacement care for appointments as part of the implementation process of the Strategy.

Following comprehensive scoping work and engagement across Scottish Government, we are focusing on strengthening signposting and guidance to ensure carers can make the most of existing provisions, particularly where appointment slots are available within current practice frameworks. This approach will help us deliver practical improvements while continuing to explore longer-term opportunities for collaboration and innovation.

Unpaid carers have rights under the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 to an adult carer support plan (or young carer statement) looking at their caring situation and needs for support. That needs to take account of the extent to which they are willing and able to provide care, which would be impacted by a need for medical treatment.

Such plans should include information about whether there are arrangements in place for the provision of care to the cared-for person in an emergency and arrangements for future care planning. Both of these aspects should provide an opportunity for agreeing how care will be provided should the carer need medical treatment. Carers also have rights to have their plan reviewed when there is a material change to their caring situation, such as the need for medical treatment or a hospital stay.

The 2016 Act also places a duty on local authorities and relevant health boards to jointly prepare a local carer strategy which must include their plans for helping carers put arrangements in place for the provision of care in emergencies. Local authorities must also establish an information and advice service for carers, which should offer information and advice about emergency and future care planning for carers in their area.

Question reference: S6W-41242

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 6 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of Disclosure Scotland's budget has been allocated to improve application processing times.

I have asked Gerard Hart, Chief Executive of Disclosure Scotland to respond. His response is as follows:

Disclosure Scotland is currently performing within its Service Level Agreement (SLA) to process 90% of applications within 14 days.

Disclosure Scotland is forecasted to spend £9.84 million on staff costs in financial year 2025 to 2026 to deliver our disclosure processing and support services. This is against a total forecasted Resource Departmental Expenditure Limit (RDEL) spend of £34 million. Of the £9.84 million, £900,000 has been allocated to improve processing times this financial year.

Question reference: S6W-41205

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 6 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many Protecting Vulnerable Group (PVG) certificate applications relating to people working with children are currently outstanding beyond the standard processing target.

I have asked Gerard Hart, Chief Executive of Disclosure Scotland to respond. His response is as follows:

Disclosure Scotland’s service level agreement is to process 90% of applications within 14 days and we are currently performing within this target.

As of Monday 20 October 2025, there were 1,132 Protecting Vulnerable Group (PVG) applications relating to people working with children outstanding beyond 14 days.

Note 1: Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) applications from 1 April 2025 onwards, with the implementation of the Disclosure (Scotland) Act 2020, represents: Level 2 PVG scheme disclosure (Join), Level 2 PVG scheme disclosure (Existing), Confirmation of PVG scheme membership (Join) and Confirmation of PVG scheme membership (Existing). Prior to 1 April 2025, PVG applications represents: Scheme Record Disclosure, Short Scheme Record Disclosure, Existing Scheme Record Disclosure and Statements of Scheme Membership.

Note 2: This figure relates to PVG applications solely applying to work with children with a processing time of 14 days and above at the time of data extraction.

Note 3: The processing time for applications currently being processed on the system incorporates all time between an application being received by Disclosure Scotland, through to the time of data extraction. Disclosure Scotland deducts any time which the application was suspended on our system, such as being suspended for customer contact. Weekend days are included in the number of processing days for applications, but national holidays and Scottish Government public and privilege holidays are excluded.

Question reference: S6W-41262

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 6 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of Disclosure Scotland’s total workforce is currently made up of agency or temporary employees.

Question reference: S6W-41157

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 6 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-41119 by Jim Fairlie on 9 October 2025, who will be attending the Wildfire Summit on 14 October 2025, and what will be discussed.

The following stakeholders were invited to the Wildfire Summit on 14 October 2025:

Scottish Government

Forestry and Land Scotland

Cairngorms National Park Authority

Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority

Scottish Forestry

NatureScot

Scottish Environmental Protection Agency

Scottish Fire and Rescue Service

Firebreak Services

Police Scotland

Her Majesty's Fire Inspectorate Service

Brightsparks Burning Techniques

Scottish Land and Estates

Scottish Gamekeepers Association

British Association for Shooting and Conservation

National Farmers Union for Scotland

Scottish Crofters Federation

Scottish Countryside Alliance

Heather Trust

Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust

RSPB Scotland

John Muir Trust

National Trust for Scotland

Scottish Ramblers Association

Scottish Countryside Rangers Association

Trees for Life

UK Met Office – Scotland liaison

Association of British Insurers (ABI) – Scotland representative

Highland Council

Dumfries and Galloway Council

Highland Adapts

Local Gamekeepers

The focus of the summit was for stakeholders to share their views on addressing future wildfire risks, including what is needed to increase Scotland’s resilience to wildfires.

A roundtable on wildfires event will take place in the coming weeks at the Scottish Parliament which will provide MSPs with the opportunity to hear from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and the Scottish Government about a brief overview of the 2025 wildfires season, key outcomes from the Scottish Multi-Agency Resilience Training and Exercising Unit (SMARTEU) debrief, an overview of learnings so far from the series of engagements and to contribute to building resilience into our wildfire preparedness and response.

Question reference: S6W-41149

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 6 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to introduce a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week thrombectomy service, in light of the recent announcement that such a service has been introduced at Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham.

A commitment to a round-the-clock thrombectomy service was set out in our Stroke Improvement Plan and this remains our aim for the thrombectomy service in Scotland.

NHS National Services Division have been commissioned by Scottish Government to lead on the development of a national thrombectomy service and have undertaken work to establish the current position of thrombectomy services. A task and finish group has been established, to undertake an assessment of updated capacity and analysis of clinical, operational, financial and workforce challenges to inform work on increasing provision.

Included in this will be to steps to benchmark against NHS England and international models.

Question reference: S6O-05141

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 November 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the economy secretary has had with ministerial colleagues regarding the impact on Glasgow's economy, and the wider regional economy, of the absence of a rail link from Glasgow Airport to the city centre.

Question reference: S6O-05143

Asked by: Annabelle Ewing, MSP for Cowdenbeath, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 November 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has made an assessment of the potential economic benefits of the reinstatement of an international ferry route from Rosyth.

Question reference: S6O-05139

Asked by: Edward Mountain, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 November 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what evidence it received in relation to the decision to allow the continued use of electro-fishing for razor clams beyond January 2025, when the trial that started in February 2018 was due to end.

Question reference: S6O-05142

Asked by: Gordon MacDonald, MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 November 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what impact its transport policies are having on people in the Edinburgh Pentlands constituency.