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-42747

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 19 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 13 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that communities experiencing rapid population increases due to immigration receive adequate support to maintain cohesion and public confidence in services.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting communities experiencing rapid population growth and recognise that inclusive and connected communities are a ‘must-have’ for a resilient, safe and thriving Scotland.

Through our Population Programme’s ‘More Balanced Population’ strand, we also work with partners to monitor demographic changes and support the delivery of sustainable services. This includes targeted funding of £427,500 in the current year for project delivery which responds to local need around key topics such as housing, skills and childcare in areas affected by population decline.

These actions all deliver on Scotland’s Population Strategy and its commitment to balanced growth, ensuring that population change strengthens communities, maintains cohesion and supports long-term resilience.

We are also providing an additional £300,000 this year to support grassroots projects that are uniting people from different backgrounds, cultures and faiths, in addition to £7.9 million already allocated to third sector organisations to support anti-racism work, interfaith dialogue, hate crime prevention and asylum and refugee integration projects.

Question reference: S6W-42692

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 19 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 13 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to the cumulative impact on the pelagic sector of quota reductions alongside the revised mackerel and herring Economic Link landing requirements.

The unprecedented scale of the ICES-recommended pelagic TAC reductions for 2026, means there will be impacts across the pelagic supply chain.

Both processing and catching sector views and evidence have been analysed and wider market conditions have also been considered.

In considering cumulative impacts of TAC cuts and increased landing targets, Marine Directorate held focused discussions with processors, individual catching businesses, port authorities and representative bodies and carried out analysis of landings and socio-economic evidence to fully understand impacts and options. A series of statutory impact assessments, including a Business Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) were produced. All related impact assessments are available online:

https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781806436347 - BRIA

https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781806436330 - Island Communities Assessment (ICIA)

https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781806436323 - Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA)

https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781806436316 - Consultation Outcome Document

Question reference: S6W-42622

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 19 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 13 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-42077 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 9 December 2025, on what dates the Working Group on the Supreme Court Judgement has met.

Question reference: S6W-42726

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 13 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to introducing multi-year funding settlements to provide stability for Scotland’s college sector.

Through the Colleges Tripartite Alignment Group, the Scottish Government and the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), along with Colleges Scotland, regularly discuss issues in the sector, including funding. I value this collaboration and met with the Group in December.

The Scottish Government intends to publish a multi-year Scottish Spending Review (SSR), alongside the 2026-27 Scottish Budget on 13 January. Our focus in the SSR is to align government spending with the delivery of our four priorities: eradicating child poverty, growing the economy, tackling the climate emergency, and ensuring high quality and sustainable public services. We recognise the benefit of providing longer term financial plans to support organisational planning across Scotland. We are keen to provide as much certainty as possible but must carefully balance this against the risk that spending plans may be disrupted by external events. We are carefully considering the level of detail provided in the SSR.

Question reference: S6W-42722

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 13 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of reported declining college staff numbers on the delivery of (a) technical and (b) vocational courses.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on staffing levels, operational decisions are for individual colleges to determine.

Colleges are responsible for making workforce-related decisions in line with legislative requirements, the Code of Good Governance for Scotland’s Colleges and the Scottish Funding Council’s Financial Memoranda. Such decisions are made in response to the changing needs of the local economy and industry skills demands, as well as ensuring the institution is financially sustainable.

Question reference: S6W-42723

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 13 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that colleges can meet reported rising industry demand for skilled workers in engineering, energy, transport and construction.

The Scottish Government is reforming the post-school education and skills system, including the introduction of a new Scottish Government-led approach to national skills planning, and strengthening regional skills planning, to ensure that post school provision becomes more responsive to Scotland’s strategic skills needs and priorities.

Alongside reform, we are taking targeted action to meet urgent skills needs in specific sectors. For example, we are investing up to £2 million to develop engineering skills in the Glasgow City Region through a programme led by Clyde Maritime Cluster, and the defence sector, with Skills Development Scotland. Member authorities, led by Inverclyde Council, are leading on engagement with local employability partnerships to identify individuals who would benefit; and offer training opportunities through interventions including Skills Academies, paid work experience and guaranteed interviews. We are also investing £3.5 million in colleges to provide courses in important skills in offshore wind and social care via the Offshore Wind and Care Skills Programmes, with the intention of creating industry-leading new courses and upskilling students across the country. These interventions are designed to support progression into sustainable employment and align with Fair Work and inclusive growth objectives.

Operational decisions such as curriculum delivery are the responsibility of individual colleges.

Question reference: S6W-42660

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 13 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, whether it will list how many times in each of the last five years each minister has taken a flight where a frequent flyer or other travel loyalty scheme account number was used, broken down by the (a) date of travel, (b) (i) departure and (ii) arrival airport, (c) airline used, (d) class of travel, (e) booking channel used and (f) total cost to the public purse, and what information it has on how many frequent flyer points were (A) accrued and (B) redeemed, including for what purpose points were redeemed.

The Scottish Government Travel Management system does not record personal membership or usage of travel loyalty schemes. SG guidance for staff, including Ministers, states that any such schemes should be used sparingly and not for personal gain. All ministerial travel is arranged by civil servants through the Scottish Government travel management system. All Ministerial air travel and associated costs are proactively published to the SG website

Question reference: S6W-42632

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 13 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to continue funding the Climate Just Communities programme beyond March 2026, and when it expects to make a decision on any future support.

We remain committed to climate justice, with over £12 million allocated in the draft Scottish Budget to support vulnerable communities in the Global South, particularly women, young people and people with disabilities in ways that are participatory, rights-based and inclusive.

The current round of contracts will not continue beyond March 2026, as the contracts with Climate Just Communities Lead Partners are set to reach completion.

Officials are currently exploring the approach to delivering programmes under the Climate Justice Fund in the next financial year, pending final budget agreement and recognising the importance of maintaining urgent support to communities on the ground.

Question reference: S6T-02834

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 12 January 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that the former chief executive of CalMac received a severance package exceeding £170,000, including whether this complied with the severance provisions set out in the Scottish Public Finance Manual.

Question reference: S6T-02831

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 12 January 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports of a postcode lottery for classroom supplies and that some schools have only 93p per child per week for basic classroom supplies.

Parliament dissolved ahead of election

Chamber and committees

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