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 48032 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6W-43735

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 February 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 27 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Cabinet Secretary for Transport is ashamed that the written case for Scottish ministers and the Lord Advocate in the judicial review of the Scottish Prison Service policy for the management of transgender people in custody did not include a single mention of women’s rights.

Question reference: S6W-43738

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 February 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 27 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice is ashamed that the written case for Scottish ministers and the Lord Advocate in the judicial review of the Scottish Prison Service policy for the management of transgender people in custody did not include a single mention of women’s rights.

Question reference: S6W-43488

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 13 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether operating costs, including energy and staffing costs, are taken into account in the valuation of licensed hospitality premises for non-domestic rates calculation purposes.

The valuation of all non-domestic property is a matter for the Scottish Assessors who are independent of central and local government. By law, Assessors must ascertain a Net Annual Value (NAV) for all subjects entered on the Valuation Roll. This is defined as “the rent at which the lands and heritages might reasonably be expected to let from year to year” under section 6(8) of the Valuation and Rating (Scotland) Act 1956.

Scottish Assessors produce Practice Notes for different types of subjects and these are accessible at: 2026 Practice Notes – Scottish Assessors. The Practice Note for Licensed premises can be found at Licensed Premises.

The essence of the valuation scheme for licensed premises is the Hypothetical Achievable Turnover (HAT). Assessors identify the relationship between available rents and turnovers for licensed premises at the relevant valuation date. This relationship can then be used to derive a scheme of value which can be used to value all licensed premises. The calculation of HAT does not incorporate operating costs such as energy or staffing costs.

Question reference: S6W-43682

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2026
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Neil Gray on 13 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the escalation status of NHS Ayrshire and Arran for finance.

The NHS Scotland Support and Intervention Framework is one of the key elements of the evidence-based approach to monitoring performance and managing risk across the NHS in Scotland. All NHS Boards are reviewed against the framework based on their financial position. Following careful consideration of NHS Ayrshire and Arran’s position, the decision was made by Government for the Board to be escalated to Stage Four of the Framework for finance, specifically: financial sustainability; financial management and control; and financial governance and leadership. This is based upon a financial assessment of the Board and the level of support required to deliver a return to financial sustainability.

On 4 November 2025, Audit Scotland published a Section 22 report regarding NHS Ayrshire and Arran’s financial position concluding “the severity of the financial challenge facing NHS Ayrshire and Arran is unprecedented”. As a response the Scottish Government has been liaising closely with the Health Board on their financial position and the Director General now deems further escalation necessary to ensure the Board’s financial recovery. There has been a recent change in the Board’s leadership, and so the focus of escalation will be to provide the Executive team a package of support commensurate with the financial challenges faced.

Stage Four escalation will come into immediate effect and will involve senior external support and monitoring from Scottish Government. This will support the Board to return to financial sustainability, including establishing an Assurance Board chaired by Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government will continue to work with NHS Ayrshire and Arran to monitor their financial position and assist with longer term financial planning and improvement. Regular updates will be provided to Ministers on the financial position of NHS Ayrshire and Arran following this escalation.

The Parliament will of course be kept updated on any further developments.

Question reference: S6W-43705

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 26 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on the extent of land required to deliver 3.5GW of solar farms and meet its 2030 solar deployment ambition, expressed as a percentage of Scotland’s land area, and whether it will publish any such information.

Question reference: S6W-43652

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 26 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the UK Government's press release of 3 February 2026, Government to cover travel costs of children with cancer, which accepted the proposal by Young Lives vs Cancer for a £10 million travel fund to support the cost of the young people travelling for treatment, what (a) steps it will take to ensure parity for children and under-25s in Scotland who have cancer with those in England, (b) discussions it has held with the UK Government regarding the implementation of the fund, and whether these will inform any decisions about expanding the Young Patients Family Fund eligibility criteria to include all such young people, including those receiving treatment as day-patients, and (c) assessment it has carried out of any impact on reducing health inequalities of expanding the Young Patients Family Fund's eligibility criteria to include these young people.

Question reference: S6W-43702

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 26 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason a reference to the draft Solar Vision is not included in the Energy Supply annex of the Draft Climate Change Plan.

Question reference: S6W-43684

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 26 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to reopen the Local Bridge Maintenance Fund.

Question reference: S6W-43708

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 26 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to publish any information it holds regarding the dual use of land for solar farms and food production.

Question reference: S6W-43677

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 26 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many Foundation Apprenticeships have been funded at any level by Skills Development Scotland in (a) hospitality, (b) automotive, (c) construction and (d) undisclosed subject areas, in each year from 2023 to 2026 to date.