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-42141

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 November 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 10 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-40706 by Jim Fairlie on 3 October 2025, what weighting community benefits and social value in Scotland will have in the tender scoring for the construction of the two new freight flex vessels to serve the Aberdeen-Kirkwall/Lerwick route.

Question reference: S6W-42152

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 November 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 10 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the "in principle" agreement on role expansion for firefighters between the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS), what its position is on any projected societal benefits that could be realised if it was implemented.

Question reference: S6W-42166

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 November 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 10 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action the Minister for Public Finance has taken to ensure the Scottish Public Pensions Agency (SPPA) is meeting acceptable processing times.

Question reference: S6W-42142

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 November 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 10 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the duration was of the advertisement on the Public Contracts Scotland website for expressions of interest in tendering for the construction of the two new freight flex vessels to serve the Aberdeen-Kirkwall/Lerwick route.

Question reference: S6W-42108

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 November 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 10 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the plans by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to develop a "virtual hospital", including by what date this will be introduced.

Question reference: S6W-42138

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 November 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 10 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding the safety of nuclear power.

Question reference: S6W-41810

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Independent
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 25 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what future commercial opportunities Scottish Water plans, and whether these include selling water for use in England.

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water I have asked them to respond. Their reply is as follows:

Scottish Water Horizons drives sustainable growth by leveraging expertise and market position to maximise commercial, reputational, and carbon benefits. They support Scottish Water's strategic ambitions, contributing to Scotland’s prosperity by creating value from Scottish Water assets. Some examples include:

Renewable energy (Solar, Hydroelectric, Wind) including large-scale battery energy storage schemes, which utilises Scottish Water’s land base.
Heat recovery from sewers to help Scottish Water and other public sector organisations (e.g. NHS, Academia) to decarbonise their estate.
Facilitating and delivering off site infrastructure (pipes & sewers) for Housing Developers.
Commercial waste management, supporting business customers to dispose of their waste ethically via Scottish Water’s wastewater assets.

Scottish Water is not currently planning or exploring selling water for use in England as the bulk export of water is extremely expensive in terms of carbon and energy use. Additionally, climate change means that the availability of water in Scotland is changing, with periods of drought becoming more frequent and more prolonged as experienced in summer 2025. It is therefore important that water resources are managed carefully and more efficiently. As Scottish Water’s Long term strategy has noted, given the impacts of climate change, population growth and migration, the East of Scotland will face serious water deficits by 2050.

Question reference: S6W-41811

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 25 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) legal and (b) illegal sewage discharges there have been in Argyll coastal waters in each of the last five years, and what estimate it has made of the expected number of such discharges by 2030.

Question reference: S6W-41829

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 25 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has carried out any analysis relating to the impact of population decline on apprenticeship uptake in the South of Scotland region.

Question reference: S6W-41814

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 25 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it has been reported that not all sewage discharge points in Argyll and Bute are monitored.