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-02965

Asked by: Joe Fagan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Friday, 04 September 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 21 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the Programme for Government, how the new regional structures will be accountable to local authorities and local electorates.

Question reference: S7W-02964

Asked by: Paul McLennan, MSP for East Lothian Coast and Lammermuirs, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 September 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 21 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the adequacy of its July 2025 guidance in implementing recommendations 96, 98 to 101, 106 and 107 of the Animal Welfare Committee's 2023 updated opinion on the welfare of farmed fish at the time of killing; which of those recommendations it considers to have been fully implemented through guidance; what further measures it plans to introduce to provide species-specific, enforceable protections for farmed fish at slaughter, including requirements relating to stunning, inspection, enforcement and CCTV, and by what date it will introduce equivalent protections for farmed trout.

Question reference: S7W-02948

Asked by: Jamie Langan, MSP for South Scotland, Reform UK
Date lodged: Friday, 04 September 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 21 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that more than 1,200 farmers might be affected by a backlog of Future Farming Investment Scheme (FFIS) evidence verification checks, (a) when ministers first became aware of the backlog, (b) what contingency planning was carried out to ensure that FFIS evidence verification could be completed in a timely manner, given that it knew the number of FFIS grants awarded and (c) what assessment it has made of concerns that issues previously identified in the administration of agricultural support schemes might not have been fully addressed in the management of the current process.

Question reference: S7W-02972

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 September 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 21 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the comments by the First Minister during First Minister's Questions on 3 September 2026 that "green data centres must be powered from renewable energy sources, make use of energy-efficient technologies, seek to minimise water consumption and support the reuse of excess heat", (a) in which document or documents those requirements are specified, (b) what proportion of a data centre's energy consumption must be from renewable sources, (c) what level of energy efficiency is required, (d) what level of water consumption is permitted, and (e) how it enforces the requirement for the reuse of excess heat and the terms on which it is supplied.

Question reference: S7W-02973

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 September 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 21 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what the Cabinet Secretary for Public Service Reform was referring to when, during the members' business debate on motion S7M-00428 (AI Data Centres) on 3 September 2026, he stated that "we are taking forward a strategy to consider all those issues", whether it plans to develop a new strategy in relation to data centres, and when any such strategy will be published.

Question reference: S7W-02975

Asked by: Kayleigh Kinross-O'Neill, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 September 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 21 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve whole-system patient flow, including through seven-day discharge services, increased social care capacity and shared responsibility across hospital departments, in addition to measures focused on redirecting patients from Emergency Departments.

Question reference: S7W-02982

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 04 September 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 21 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its commitment in the 2026-2031 Programme for Government to publish a National Orthopaedics Plan, when will the plan be published, how many additional appointments will be created as a result, and whether new funding, in addition to funds previously announced, will be allocated to support its implementation.

Question reference: S7W-02966

Asked by: Joe Fagan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Friday, 04 September 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 21 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the Programme for Government announcement on local government reform, what discussions it had with COSLA prior to the announcement, what criteria it will use in identifying local authorities that might be candidates for merger, and whether it has identified any potential such local authorities and, if so, which.

Question reference: S7W-02976

Asked by: Kayleigh Kinross-O'Neill, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 September 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 21 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will commit to ending corridor care in NHS Scotland, and, if so, whether it will set clear milestones, timelines and accountability mechanisms to ensure that people are no longer treated in corridors and other non-clinical spaces.

Question reference: S7W-02977

Asked by: Kayleigh Kinross-O'Neill, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 September 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 21 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine's recommendation that hospital bed occupancy should not exceed 85% in order to support safe patient flow and provide surge capacity, whether it will adopt 85% hospital bed occupancy as a national performance metric and, if so, what action it will take to support NHS boards to maintain that level of occupancy.