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-42744

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 19 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 15 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that the increased demand for temporary accommodation for immigrants does not displace low-income households already on waiting lists.

Everyone has a right to support when experiencing homelessness and access to temporary accommodation if needed in the short term.

A person’s right to receive homelessness assistance and an offer of permanent accommodation from a local authority depends on their immigration status.

Local authorities have a statutory duty to offer a permanent home to anyone assessed as unintentionally homeless. However, there is no time limit for the local authority to offer a household a permanent home. The time it takes depends on the particular needs of the household and the availability of suitable housing in the area.

Allocation policies for social housing are determined by local authorities and housing associations, but there must be a reasonable level of priority for those who are homeless or threatened with homelessness, living in unsuitable accommodation, or in overcrowded conditions.

Question reference: S6W-42714

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 15 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of its tax policies on the competitiveness of Scotland's high streets relative to those in the rest of the UK.

The Scottish Government continually works with stakeholders to understand the impacts of the many factors affecting Scotland’s high streets, including Scottish and UK taxes.

That is why in the draft Budget, published on 13 January, we announced plans to reduce the non-domestic property rate that retailers will be liable for, delivering the lowest Basic Property Rate since 2018-19.

We are, however, taking this course of action without the full economic powers needed to fully address the issues facing Scotland’s economy, and have called on the UK Government to take action to reverse its damaging decision to increase employers’ national insurance contributions, and to remove barriers for the re-use and re-development of town centre buildings through a review of the rate of VAT for the refurbishment of existing buildings.

Question reference: S6W-42703

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 15 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish the correspondence it received from Audit Scotland regarding the reported governance failures at Historic Environment Scotland.

The Scottish Government did not receive any direct correspondence from Audit Scotland regarding the reported governance failures at Historic Environment Scotland.

Stephen Boyle, Auditor General for Scotland wrote on 27 October 2025 to the Public Audit Committee to inform them that he intended to publish a report under Section 22 of the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000 on the 2024-25 audit of Historic Environment Scotland. The letter is published on the Parliament website: The 2024/25 audit of Historic Environment Scotland Section 22 report | Scottish Parliament Website

The Historic Environment Scotland Section 22 report from Audit Scotland was published alongside the Historic Environment Scotland Annual report 2024-2025 and laid before Parliament on 16 December 2025 at 09:30. The 2024/25 audit of Historic Environment Scotland | Audit Scotland

Further correspondence from Audit Scotland on the Section 22 report may have been received directly by Historic Environment Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-41983

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 15 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what funding The City of Edinburgh Council is receiving to address pothole repairs, and how this compares with investment levels in each of the last 10 years.

The Scottish Government’s policy towards local authorities’ spending is to allow local authorities the financial freedom to operate independently and therefore does not provide funding specifically for pothole repairs. The vast majority of funding is provided by means of a block grant and it is then the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them, including on road repairs, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

The Scottish Government has increased The City of Edinburgh Council’s revenue funding for day-to-day services by 50.7% between 2016-17 and 2025-26, it is then for locally elected representatives to make local decisions on how best to allocate resources and deliver services to their local communities

Question reference: S6W-42752

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 19 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 15 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is aware that its guidance on adopting a "light touch" approach to regulation of landlords is reportedly being cited as justification by the Highland Council to explain why no rent penalty notices and fiscal reports have been issued over an 18-month period from July 2022.

The Scottish Government has published statutory guidance for local authorities regarding the effective regulation of landlord registration (https://www.gov.scot/publications/landlord-registration-statutory-guidance-local-authorities-2017-statutory-guidance-local/pages/1/).

This guidance is intended to help local authorities deliver effective regulation as part of a continuing drive to raise standards and ensure greater consistency in enforcement across Scotland.

The guidance makes clear to local authorities their legal requirements under relevant landlord legislation, but also that they have a range of powers they can use to encourage compliance and to target breaches.

These include rent penalty notices which suspend the rent liability of a tenant living in an unregistered property; reporting unregistered landlords to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service; the discretionary power to make a third-party application to the First-tier Tribunal on behalf of tenants to enforce the repairing standard; a late application fee if a landlord fails to renew their application on time; and action plans that are used by some local authorities to describe interventions they make to support landlords to improve their practice so that they can meet the requirements for registration.

Whilst most landlords let their houses in a responsible way, should any continue to operate outside the law then Landlord registration, supported by other legislation, provides a means for local authorities to register persons who are fit and proper and take steps to deal with those who operate outside the law.

Question reference: S6O-05408

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Falkirk West, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 January 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the economy secretary has had with ministerial colleagues regarding whether social impact bonds can be used to improve the employment opportunities for young people, including in Falkirk West.

Question reference: S6O-05407

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 January 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how the increase in the international development fund that was announced in the draft 2026-27 Scottish Budget will be spent.

Question reference: S6O-05410

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Independent
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 January 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether, without the use of private finance to enable construction of key infrastructure projects, there is a risk that Scotland could be seen as less attractive for inward investment and as a location for business, compared with other European countries.

Question reference: S6O-05406

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 January 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether local authorities should increase council tax, reduce public services, or a mixture of both, to meet any gaps in local government funding as a result of the draft Budget.

Question reference: S6O-05403

Asked by: Clare Haughey, MSP for Rutherglen, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 January 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update regarding its engagement with credit unions in relation to CMutual withdrawing its Family Protection Plan.

Parliament dissolved ahead of election

Chamber and committees

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