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 48000 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6T-01375

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 15 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the reported comments made by the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland that the Scottish Government has “absolutely" failed to deliver for children.

Question reference: S6F-02130

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 May 2023

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s response is to a recent poll that found that more than a third of people in Scotland would consider relocating if income taxes were increased further.

Question reference: S6F-02135

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 15 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 May 2023

To ask the First Minister for what reason only 4% of Scotland's sewage discharge points are monitored, compared with 91% in England.

Question reference: S6F-02119

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Monday, 15 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 May 2023

To ask the First Minister whether the Scottish Government will reintroduce the Social Care Staff Support Fund, or take other action to improve sick pay provision for social care workers, in light of reports of a survey by GMB Scotland stating that 80% of social care workers in the private sector have considered quitting, and wider warnings that the care sector is on the brink of collapse.

Question reference: S6F-02113

Asked by: Kaukab Stewart, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 May 2023

To ask the First Minister whether he will provide an update on the work of the Scottish Government to address potentially dangerous cladding on residential properties.

Question reference: S6F-02112

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 15 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 May 2023

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-02111

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 May 2023

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-17648

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 15 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the recently-introduced Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016 (Register of Persons Holding a Controlled Interest in Land) Regulations 2021, what mitigations it can offer to the Church of Scotland, given that the church's over 6,000 congregations are all registered as separate charities and have reportedly described attempting to comply with the new regulations as extremely logistically difficult, expensive, and complicated to roll out.

The Register is a significant transparency measure that will shed light on who makes decisions about Scotland’s land. It has been live since 1 April 2022 and there is no charge to make a submission to the Register. For some, there may be a resource cost for the time taken to gather the information they require as part of their preparation prior to making a submission. The greater the number of properties owned, the greater the effort required is likely to be.

The Church of Scotland are one of the largest owners by volume of property titles held. This makes it important for the integrity of the Register that they comply with the RCI.

On 16 March 2023 the Scottish Parliament unanimously supported a 12-month extension to the transitional period to 1 April 2024 before offence provisions take effect. This is easing the burden by allowing those in scope to spread it over the coming year.

In letters of 16 February 2023 and 27 March 2023, the Scottish Government offered the Church of Scotland the option of another meeting with Registers of Scotland and Scottish Government officials to discuss how they can work together to help achieve compliance. The Scottish Government has not yet received a response to that offer, however officials will be in touch with the Church of Scotland to follow up on this.

The Scottish Government and Registers of Scotland are working together to deliver an additional engagement plan to help support stakeholders through the registration process. This will include additional awareness raising and a review of the existing guidance. It will not include further legislative intervention or legal advice.

Question reference: S6W-17643

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 15 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the campaign lunched by One Parent Families Scotland, #EndYoungParentPoverty, and its call for a top-up to the Scottish Child Payment for parents who are under 25 and in receipt of Universal Credit.

Universal Credit is reserved to Westminster and the UK Government has deliberately introduced age discrimination within it. We agree with campaigners that it should be paid at the same amount to everyone.

Universal Credit should be supporting families and children, not punishing them and we continue to call on the UK Government to urgently review Universal Credit, as it is fundamentally not fit for purpose.

We already take action to protect people against the impact of UK Government policies including the bedroom tax and benefit cap but we cannot mitigate every action from our fixed budget.

The Scottish Child Payment was doubled in April 2022 to £20 per eligible child and increased again to £25 when we extended it to under 16s in November, an increase of 150% in less than eight months.

Question reference: S6W-17642

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 15 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether the new Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy and Delivery Plan will include a commitment to ensure that Social Security Scotland is a fully trauma-informed organisation.