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 43188 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6O-02935

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 December 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what protection is available to victims of domestic abuse when harassment and exclusion orders expire.

Question reference: S6O-02939

Asked by: Gordon MacDonald, MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 December 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how its Budget for 2024-25 will support Police Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-02943

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 December 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has evaluated the extent to which swimming lessons are a part of the school curriculum for primary school-aged pupils.

Question reference: S6O-02936

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 December 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the proposed closure of Paisley, Ferguslie Park, Greenock, Bishopbriggs and Milngavie police stations.

Question reference: S6W-24028

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 20 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what objectives it set for any funding that it provided to the Royal Scottish Forestry Society in 2022.

Question reference: S6W-24088

Asked by: Dr Alasdair Allan, MSP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 December 2023
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Angus Robertson on 20 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will report on the outcome of the recent summit meeting of the British-Irish Council in Dublin.

On 24 November 2023, the First Minister represented the Scottish Government at the Summit meeting of the British-Irish Council hosted by the Government of Ireland and chaired by the Taoiseach – Leo Varadkar. The meeting was attended by Ministers from six of the eight BIC Member Administrations with Northern Ireland represented by senior officials.

The theme of the Summit focussed on Transforming Children’s Lives: Tackling Child Poverty and Improving Wellbeing. This discussion offered the opportunity to understand the challenges being faced by all of the Governments across these islands and to share and learn from the range of initiatives being taken to tackle the issue.

On the Latest Political Developments item, Ministers took the opportunity to recognise the 25th anniversary of the Belfast/Good Friday agreement and to reflect on the importance of BIC as one of the institutions established under that agreement.

The Council discussed political developments in Northern Ireland and highlighted the importance of the restoration of enduring devolved power-sharing institutions as soon as possible. It also reflected on the situation in Israel and Gaza, the conflict in Ukraine, the Cost of Living Crisis and the forthcoming COP 28.

In the margins of the summit, the First Minister took the opportunity to hold bilateral meetings with the Taoiseach, the First Minister of Wales and the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

The Communiqué issued by the British-Irish Council after the meeting can be found on its website at: britishirishcouncil.org.

Question reference: S6W-24092

Asked by: Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 December 2023
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Neil Gray on 20 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when the final Solar Vision and draft Bioenergy Policy Statement will be published.

Following the Scottish Government’s announcement of the proposed solar deployment ambition for Scotland in October, we are now working with industry and community stakeholders to agree a suitable level of community benefit for large scale solar projects. As a result, we will now publish our final Solar Vision with the Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan in Summer 2024.

We intend to publish the draft Bioenergy Policy Statement for consultation in the new year, and before the end of February 2024.

Question reference: S6W-23858

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 20 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how it is monitoring the progress regarding the introduction of 20-minute neighbourhoods across Scotland.

National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) policy delivery is at an early stage and early action is focusing on how policy is being interpreted and used in decision making. Scottish Government is developing a monitoring framework to support the delivery of NPF4. This monitoring framework will cover all three elements of NPF4, which are the spatial strategy, national developments and national planning policies. Policy 15, Local living and 20 minute neighbourhoods is one of the key indicator policies, and will be amongst the ones on which we will have initial focus.

Question reference: S6W-23781

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 11 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by George Adam on 20 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government which cabinet secretaries and ministers have government-issued (a) mobile phones and (b) other electronic devices.

On appointment, ministers are offered electronic equipment to assist them in carrying out their official duties. I have included table which outlines the devices used by each of the ministers.

Minister	Ministerial Role	SG Laptop	SG Tablet	SG Mobile	SG Mi-Fi
Humza Yousaf	First Minister	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Shona Robison	Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Finance	Yes	No	Yes	No
Angela Constance	Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs	Yes	No	Yes	No
Neil Gray	Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Mairi McAllan	Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Net Zero and Just Transition	Yes	No	Yes	No
Mairi Gougeon	Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Angus Robertson	Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Michael Matheson	Cabinet Secretary for NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Shirley-Anne Somerville	Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice	Yes	No	Yes	No
Jenny Gilruth	Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills	Yes	No	Yes	No
Siobhian Brown	Minister for Victims and Community Safety	Yes	No	Yes	No
Natalie Don	Minister for Children, Young People and Keeping the Promise	Yes	No	Yes	No
Richard Lochhead	Minister for Small Business, Innovation, Tourism and Trade	Yes	No	Yes	No
Fiona Hyslop	Minister for Transport	Yes	No	Yes	No
Elena Whitham	Minister for Drugs and Alcohol Policy	Yes	No	Yes	No
Tom Arthur	Minister for Community Wealth and Public Finance	Yes	No	Yes	No
Maree Todd	Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Emma Roddick	Minister for Equalities, Migration and Refugees	Yes	No	Yes	No
Graeme Dey	Minister for Higher Education, Further Education and Minister for Veterans	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Gillian Martin	Minister for Energy and the Environment	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Jamie Hepburn	Minister for Independence	Yes	No	Yes	No
Joe FitzPatrick	Minister for Local Government Empowerment and Planning	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Jenni Minto	Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health	Yes	No	Yes	No
Paul McLennan	Minister for Housing	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Patrick Harvie	Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenant’s Rights	Yes	No	Yes	No
George Adam	Minister for Parliamentary Business	Yes	No	Yes	No
Christina McKelvie	Minister for Culture, Europe and International Development	Yes	No	No	No
Lorna Slater	Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity	Yes	No	No	No
Dorothy Bain KC	Lord Advocate	Yes	Yes	No	No
Ruth Charteris KC	Solicitor General	Yes	No	No	No

Question reference: S6W-23767

Asked by: Collette Stevenson, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 20 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding groups and organisations in the East Kilbride constituency have received from South Lanarkshire's share of the CashBack for Communities fund in (a) the financial year 2022-23 and (b) total since 2008.

Information on the allocation of CashBack for Communities (CashBack) funding and project spend is only formally collected at a local authority level, based on the geographical location of CashBack participants.

Total CashBack spend recorded for South Lanarkshire local authority area for the financial year 2022-23 was £269,129. The CashBack Fund Manager, Inspiring Scotland, has identified that £40,118 of that figure was spent in the East Kilbride constituency.

22 CashBack funded organisations have been recorded as being active in South Lanarkshire at various times since 2008. Total CashBack spend recorded for South Lanarkshire local authority area between 2008 and March 2022 was £3,289,001. Inspiring Scotland estimate that £84,549 of that figure has been spent in the East Kilbride constituency.

Information on project delivery by local authority area are available on the CashBack for Communities website: https://cashbackforcommunities.org/