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: S7W-03838

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 October 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 19 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of Police Scotland’s Annual Workforce Report identifying officer and staff wellbeing as a workforce risk, what action it is taking to reduce work-related stress, injury and other factors affecting workforce wellbeing.

Workforce management is an operational matter for the Chief Constable, with oversight by the Scottish Police Authority.

The Scottish Government recognises the unique pressures and mental health risks associated with policing and welcomes the work being undertaken by Police Scotland to support the wellbeing of its workforce. Police Scotland continues to strengthen prevention, early intervention and access to treatment through a range of measures.

Since 2024, Police Scotland has invested around £2m per year in an occupational health contract to support the health and wellbeing of its workforce.

Question reference: S7W-03879

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 October 2026
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 19 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on the prevalence of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) among patients registered with GP practices, broken down by NHS board and by (a) sex, (b) five-year age group and (c) deprivation decile, showing (i) number of patients and (ii) rate per 100 population, for the year 1 April 2025 to 1 April 2026.

Question reference: S7W-03831

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 October 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 19 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS) and Audit Scotland Best Value in Policing audit finding that there is no evidence that the finance-based officer establishment of 16,500 is the right number for future policing, what assessment it has made of the number of police officers required to meet current and future demand.

Question reference: S7W-03839

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 October 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 19 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of Police Scotland's Annual Workforce Report stating that a substantial number of People Strategy and Strategic Workforce Plan milestones have been carried forward between reporting years, what assessment it has made of progress made in delivering Police Scotland's workforce reform programme.

Question reference: S7W-03834

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 October 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 19 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of Police Scotland’s Annual Workforce Report stating that improvements in overtime and time off in lieu balances have not been sustained, what assessment it has made of Police Scotland’s continuing reliance on overtime and time off in lieu.

Question reference: S7W-03836

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 October 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 19 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of Police Scotland’s Annual Workforce Report identifying strategic workforce planning as a risk to delivering a sustainable police service, what assessment it has made of Police Scotland’s capacity to meet current and future demand.

Question reference: S7W-03837

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 October 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 19 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of Police Scotland’s Annual Workforce Report identifying the longstanding increase in officers on modified duties as a workforce risk, what assessment it has made of the impact on operational policing.

Question reference: S7W-03847

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Alison Thewliss on 19 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with public bodies regarding the accessibility of public health messaging material, particularly for people with learning disabilities.

In March 2026, we published the Foundation Inclusive Communication Toolkit https://www.gov.scot/publications/inclusive-communication-toolkit/pages/module-1-introduction/ ,which provides practical support to public bodies across Scotland on mainstreaming inclusive communication. The toolkit was developed to help organisations communicate more effectively with all service users, including people with learning disabilities, and supports compliance with the general equality duties under PSED.

As part of the Scottish Government’s Marketing Campaign activity, we work with public and third sector partners to understand language and accessibility requirements and have worked collaboratively to create and distribute key public health messages in additional languages and formats, including BSL, Audio, Easy Read and Large Print.

We also work with partners to improve the accessibility of health information for people with learning disabilities. This includes new Learning Disability NHS Inform pages https://www.nhsinform.scot/illnesses-and-conditions/a-to-z/learning-disability/ and collaboration with people with lived experience to co-develop accessible information and resources on learning disability annual health checks.

Question reference: S7W-03785

Asked by: Andrew Baxter, MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 19 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S7W-03010 by Neil Gray on 18 September 2026, what helicopter standby arrangements are in place under the current Public Sector Framework contract for periods of very high wildfire risk, including the geographical coverage, activation criteria, contracted availability and maximum notice-to-move time, and which organisation or organisations have authority to request deployment.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) has the authority to request helicopters for water delivery and reconnaissance/mapping through a contract with three helicopter providers. This is part of a framework contract managed by NatureScot to which Forestry and Land Scotland has access also. We have worked with SFRS, NatureScot and the helicopter providers to put these arrangements in place with as few barriers as possible.

Therefore, when a Wildfire Danger Assessment indicates a need to do so SFRS can contact the helicopter providers to put them on standby. Depending on the particular circumstances, standby could include helicopters being at their base location or at a suitable forward deployment location.

If a wildfire occurs, SFRS makes a decision whether, where and when to deploy the helicopters and thereafter contacts the provider and confirms the aircraft, crew and rendezvous point to the Incident Commander.

Question reference: S7W-03796

Asked by: Andrew Baxter, MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 19 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what provision is available for temporary mobile and radio communications support during major wildfires in areas of poor coverage, and whether responding organisations have access to deployable equipment to support coordination and public communication.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, (SFRS) Fireground communications provide short-range firefighter-to-firefighter communications at all incidents and have recently been upgraded to a digital platform. Coverage can be extended through portable repeater units located on Incident Command Units, Special Operations Units and Wildfire Support Units.

All emergency services use the airwave network, which provides an additional resilient communication capability to support fireground operations where required. Fire appliances and officers are also equipped with mobile phones for non-essential communications.

The SFRS has said it is actively engaging with mobile communications suppliers and partners to explore opportunities to further enhance incident ground communications, strengthening operational effectiveness, multi-agency interoperability and firefighter safety.

In addition, SFRS can access support through the Community Asset Register, which allows coordination of pre-planned assistance from third-sector organisations during significant incidents.