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-34447

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 20 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many incidents of whistleblowing have taken place in each public service organisation in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S6W-34129

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 20 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on legal advice and representation for current and former ministers in relation to public inquiries in the last 10 years, broken down by inquiry.

There are at present five ongoing Scottish statutory public inquiries, and a number of UK statutory inquires which could seek evidence from ministers in Scotland. The Edinburgh Trams Inquiry reported in September 2023 following hearings in 2017-2018 and the Penrose Inquiry reported in 2015, albeit from the records available we do not believe that external legal advice was taken in connection with those inquiries which falls within the scope of this question. The amount spent by the Scottish Government on external legal advice, including representation for current and former ministers, in relation to public inquiries is as follows:

The Scottish Hospitals Inquiry	£1,191,298 inclusive of VAT
The Sheku Bayoh Inquiry	£20,160 inclusive of VAT
The Covid-19 Inquiries	There have been no legal costs for current or former ministers for the Scottish Covid-19 Inquiry. For the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, we do not hold a breakdown of legal costs per witness. £2,123,692 inclusive of VAT
The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry	£673,942 inclusive of VAT
The Eljamel Inquiry	No such costs have been incurred to date.
Infected Blood Inquiry	£432,045 inclusive of VAT between 2018/19 and 2024/25[1]

To note, we are unable to cost the Government’s internal legal advice provided by the Scottish Government Legal Directorate.

[1] These figures are for overall legal advice or support for the Scottish Government and former staff or Ministers, and include some travel and accommodation costs for travel to hearings in London.

Question reference: S6W-35005

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 20 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when it will conduct its review of the package of student financial support available for nursing and midwifery studies, and whether, as part of that review, it will explore any changes to reflect those who choose rural and remote work.

The Paramedic, Nursing and Midwifery (PNM) student financial support review is currently ongoing. The review aims to ensure that all PNM students are adequately supported to complete their studies, this includes students from remote and rural locations. A key aspect of the work associated with the review is to hear directly from PNM students about their experiences and opinions on financial support during their studies.

Question reference: S6W-34585

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 20 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to revising the guidance on the Primary Care Improvement Plan reserves, with the aim of allowing for greater flexibility, including for the reserves to be allocated during the setting of annual budgets.

We are investing over £190 million annually in the implementation of primary care multidisciplinary teams through the Primary Care Improvement Fund (PCIF) as well as additional funding for annual pay uplifts. The utilisation of PCIF funding held in reserve from the previous year to support in-year PCIF objectives is an approach we have now taken for a number of years. It is prudent to reinvest these public funds given the challenging financial context.

Question reference: S6W-34175

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 20 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what reasons have been recorded by emergency services for calls having been hung up or terminated prematurely, and, on average, what percentage of cases each reason represents.

Question reference: S6W-34174

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 20 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many calls to each emergency service have been recorded as being (a) hung up and (b) terminated before completion in each year since 2018; what proportion of calls this represents, and what information it has regarding the reasons given for calls ending in this matter.

Question reference: S6W-34534

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 20 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish the minutes of each meeting of the Future Anti-Racism Observatory for Scotland: Design Advisory Group.

The Design Advisory Group (DAG) was working with Scottish Government to help develop plans for the Anti-Racism Observatory for Scotland. As the group was working independently, it took responsibility for minuting its own meetings.

We understand that due to some resourcing and capacity issues within the group, there has been a delay in finalising and publishing the minutes. However, the DAG, like the Scottish Government, is committed to transparency and accountability and will aim to publish the minutes by the end of March 2025.

Question reference: S6W-34392

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 20 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what powers it has to influence grid management in Scotland, and whether it has assessed the possibility of using any such powers to align Scottish transmission impact assessment thresholds with those in England and Wales.

The Scottish Government has no powers to influence grid management in Scotland as legislation and regulations relating to gas and electricity networks are reserved to the UK Government. The independent system operator, National Energy System Operator (NESO), is responsible for strategic planning and day-to-day operation of the electricity network, working with network companies across Great Britain. Regulation of the electricity and gas networks is carried out by the independent energy regulator Ofgem.

The Scottish Government has no role in networks regulation apart from its statutory planning and consenting process.

Question reference: S6W-34140

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Dorothy Bain on 20 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many reports of speeding were submitted to the procurator fiscal by Police Scotland in each year since 2018, broken down by trunk road.

The following table shows the overall speeding numbers grouped by financial year reported. Charges have been identified using the Scottish Government classification of level 2 of speeding. The format in which locus information is recorded and in particular whether the locus for each case is a trunk road or otherwise would require a manual check of each case. This information is not readily available.

All charges reported to COPFS under:-
Scottish government classification level two - 45.Speeding
- count is by charge and grouped by financial year reported
*year to date 5 February 2025

			Financial year reported
Offences	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25*
Speeding offences	15,940	18,127	13,306	15,580	12,382	14,872	13,461

Question reference: S6W-34027

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 20 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on hospitality for visitors to its buildings in each of the last five years.