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-30004

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what further action it can take to support (a) local authorities and (b) other public bodies to ensure that public toilets are maintained and do not face closure, in light of reported concerns regarding their necessity, particularly for children and older and disabled people, and their function in preventing damage and waste in tourist and other public areas.

Question reference: S6W-30201

Asked by: Edward Mountain, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 10 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many full-time employees were working for Children’s Hearings Scotland as of August (a) 2022 and (b) 2024.

Question reference: S6W-30156

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 10 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when a decision will be made on whether to extend the current Northern Isles Ferry Service contract from 30 June 2026 to 30 June 2028.

Question reference: S6W-30169

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 10 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether there are any plans to (a) improve the consistency of data on the (i) number and (ii) outcomes of adoption placements across local authorities and (b) start monitoring any new data in relation to adoption placements to improve the understanding of adoption in Scotland.

The National Records of Scotland, a non-Ministerial office of the Scottish Administration, publishes data tables annually, including in relation to the number of adoptions per year in Scotland.

In addition, the Care Inspectorate publishes an annual fostering and adoption statistical bulletin which outlines data from local authorities’ annual returns, including in relation to their adoption services.

The Scottish Government uses this data, and direct engagement with stakeholders, to continually improve the understanding of adoption in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-30200

Asked by: Edward Mountain, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 10 October 2024

Question reference: S6O-03844

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 10 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to the regulation of dog walking services, following its public consultation on the licensing of activities involving animals.

While there was support among respondents to our consultation last year, concerns were also expressed about the proportionality and cost of such a scheme and about the capacity of local authorities to absorb and meaningfully enforce additional licensing requirements. We are therefore assessing whether less onerous and more proportionate approaches, such as registration schemes linked to codes of conduct, could deliver similar outcomes to licensing.

Question reference: S6W-30485

Asked by: Maggie Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 9 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the reported comment by the Fire Brigades Union Scotland that the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service is in a “deadly cycle of decline”.

Question reference: S6W-30360

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 9 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what work is being carried out to (a) expand the red-only squirrel areas of Scotland and (b) facilitate grey squirrel control.

The Scottish Government fully supports the work being undertaken by the Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels (SSRS) partnership project. The project has been working in strategic areas to protect, maintain and promote existing red squirrel populations, and to defend these populations from the spread of squirrelpox. With support from project staff, professional Grey Squirrel Officers have been working with volunteers and landowners to deliver strategic grey squirrel control in four priority areas: Argyll, the Trossachs and Stirling; Tayside (collectively the Central Lowlands); North East Scotland; and South Scotland.

The SSRS Project has recently been awarded just over £1m by the Scottish Government’s Nature Restoration Fund. Over two years, this funding is enabling the creation of new community-focused rapid response monitoring and control networks across the northern Central Lowlands, made possible by increased year-round professional grey squirrel control activities in the area. This will pave the way for a long-term southward shift of the current “Highland Line Control Zone” – the 10km zone stretching from Balloch to Montrose and buffering the diagonal Highland Boundary Fault Line, where Scotland’s Highland red-only squirrel population intersects with the most northly reaches of grey squirrels incurring from the Lowlands.

This funding has enabled a concentrated effort to eradicate the last remaining isolated population of grey squirrels in the North East of Scotland. The project also aims to eradicate grey squirrels from the islands of Loch Lomond with the support of partners and landowners and additional funding from the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority.

Funding for land managers for grey squirrel control is also available through the Sustainable Management of Forests under the Scottish Government’s Forestry Grant Scheme.

The Scottish Government and partners will continue to be involved in discussions on taking forward the work currently being undertaken by SSRS.The Scottish Strategy for Red Squirrel Conservation was published in 2015 and we are currently reviewing this with a view to publishing a revised strategy in 2025.

Question reference: S6W-30242

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 27 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 9 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in order to prevent school meal debt and hidden hunger among pupils, what plans it has to widen the eligibility for free school meals to all families in receipt of Scottish Child Payment.

We remain focused on delivering the next phase of our free school meal expansion programme, which is to Primary 6 & 7 pupils in receipt of the Scottish Child Payment and will deliver this within the parliamentary term. We are committed to universal expansion in primary schools when the financial circumstances allow.

We review the eligibility criteria for free school meals regularly to take account of changes to the national living wage. The eligibility criteria were last updated in April this year.

Question reference: S6W-30220

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 27 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 9 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish an updated version of the Scottish Schools Adolescent Lifestyle and Substance Use Survey (SALSUS) before the end of the current parliamentary session.

Parliament dissolved ahead of election

Chamber and committees

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