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-42406

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 15 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many police officers have taken part in the Your Leadership Matters training programme.

Question reference: S6W-42244

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 01 December 2025
Current Status: Holding Answer by Shona Robison on 15 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what emergency support is available from it or the UK Government to any local authorities that are forced to use financial reserves due to the impact of any decisions that are outwith their control, such as asylum policy changes.

Question reference: S6W-42408

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 15 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it monitored and measured the value and impact of the Your Leadership Matters training programme for Police Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-42243

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 01 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 15 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with (a) Glasgow City Council and (b) the UK Government, regarding any impact of asylum policy decisions on the city's homelessness services.

Scottish Ministers and officials meet with Glasgow City Council counterparts on a regular basis to discuss the pressures on housing and homelessness services in the city. I have met councillors from Glasgow City Council on three occasions to discuss progress in response to the housing emergency, including, most recently, with Cllr Kelly, Cllr Casey and the Leader of the Council on 9 December. Glasgow City Council officers also provided the Housing to 2040 Board with an update at the 12 November meeting and the Minister for Equalities and I attended a roundtable hosted by the Scottish Refugee Council on 20 November to discuss refugee homelessness.

The Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice attended a Scottish Refugee Council roundtable on 7 April this year to discuss refugee homelessness in Glasgow alongside Glasgow City Council leaders and officials. The UK Government Minister of State for Border Security and Asylum was invited but did not attend and has not responded to our calls for engagement on these issues.

Scottish Ministers have been clear that there will not be a rolling back on the rights of any homeless household in Scotland. Instead we continue to call on the UK Government to provide adequate funding to local authorities to ensure they are able to provide support to meet the housing needs of newly recognised refugees. We have also made more resource and support available, including via our Housing Emergency Action Plan in September.

Question reference: S6W-42216

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 15 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its news release, Harnessing data and technology to revolutionise public services, on 20 November 2025, when its planned digital public services app will introduce a digital proof of age.

Being able to use the native app to prove your age is on the roadmap for delivery after we are able to offer transactional and location based alerts and notification services.

There is no defined data for this yet as the focus is being about to offer transactional and location based alerts, however once these are delivered proof of age will be the priority.

Currently work is underway with organisations who would like to use this service.

Question reference: S6W-42254

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 01 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 15 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-26978 by Paul McLennan on 7 May 2024, how (a) much funding has been spent through the National Acquisition Programme and (b) many social homes have been delivered in each local authority area in each year since it was first announced in June 2023.

The National Acquisition Programme was announced in June 2023 to support the purchase of existing homes for use as affordable housing. Initially, £60 million was allocated for 2023-2024 to be delivered through local authority Resource Planning Assumptions. The spend and homes delivered for 2023-2024 is outlined in Table 1 the figures for social rent are a subset of the total.

Table 1 – 2023-2024 Acquisitions

Local Authority Area	Total Spend (£m)	Total Homes Delivered	Total Social Rent
Aberdeen City	4.234	126	100
Aberdeenshire	1.131	16	10
Angus	1.846	26	26
Argyll & Bute	0.182	1	1
City of Edinburgh	9.027	138	138
Clackmannanshire	1.974	57	57
Dumfries & Galloway	0.035	1	1
Dundee City	0.520	13	13
East Ayrshire	0.925	30	30
East Dunbartonshire	2.964	21	21
East Lothian	0.186	34	34
East Renfrewshire	0.248	6	6
Falkirk	3.150	70	70
Fife	2.970	57	57
Glasgow City	17.069	176	167
Inverclyde	0.537	33	33
Midlothian	0.195	38	38
Moray	0.042	1	1
naEilean Siar	0.000	0	0
North Ayrshire	2.417	7	7
North Lanarkshire	7.972	110	110
Orkney Islands	0.000	0	0
Perth & Kinross	2.497	59	47
Renfrewshire	0.897	27	27
Scottish Borders	1.450	22	17
Shetland Islands	0.228	3	3
South Ayrshire	1.455	37	37
South Lanarkshire	9.723	202	202
Stirling	1.450	37	37
The Highland Council	3.932	65	38
West Dunbartonshire	3.890	41	41
West Lothian	0.000	45	45
Total	83.146	1499	1414

In 2024-2025, the approach to acquisitions evolved to include £80 million targeted funding for acquisitions and voids over two years(split evenly between 2024-25 and 2025-26)to help reduce homelessness. The following table shows the total spend on acquisitions, which includes this £40 million targeted element.

Table 2 – 2024-2025 Acquisitions

Local Authority Area	Total Spend (£m)	Total Homes Delivered	Of Which Social	£40m only spend	£40m only Homes	Of Which Social
Aberdeen City	3.128	58	58	0.375	12	12
Aberdeenshire	0.580	8	8	0.173	3	3
Angus	0.546	8	8	0.066	1	1
Argyll & Bute	1.839	25	25	0.135	2	2
City of Edinburgh	11.582	221	221	10.882	175	175
Clackmannanshire	1.235	27	27	0.173	4	4
Dumfries & Galloway	0.000	0	0	0.000	0	0
Dundee City	2.552	37	37	0.637	7	7
East Ayrshire	2.404	3	3	0.122	0	0
East Dunbartonshire	2.128	41	41	0.222	2	2
East Lothian	0.441	5	5	0.441	5	5
East Renfrewshire	0.215	4	4	0.215	0	0
Falkirk	2.910	54	54	0.751	17	17
Fife	1.898	38	38	1.848	37	37
Glasgow City	14.032	131	131	5.088	8	8
Inverclyde	0.307	8	8	0.084	1	1
Midlothian	1.013	10	10	0.472	7	7
Moray	0.321	5	5	0.143	3	3
naEilean Siar	0.000	0	0	0.000	0	0
North Ayrshire	0.475	36	36	0.097	0	0
North Lanarkshire	13.759	191	191	0.673	0	0
Orkney Islands	1.212	0	0	0.000	0	0
Perth & Kinross	7.785	143	136	0.066	2	2
Renfrewshire	2.266	26	26	0.388	5	5
Scottish Borders	0.840	14	11	0.146	3	3
Shetland Islands	0.040	0	0	0.000	0	0
South Ayrshire	0.758	0	0	0.301	0	0
South Lanarkshire	7.363	134	134	1.724	27	27
Stirling	0.928	30	30	0.750	13	13
The Highland Council	2.263	23	9	0.270	5	4
West Dunbartonshire	0.562	43	43	0.342	4	4
West Lothian	1.602	25	25	1.602	25	25
Total	86.984	1348	1324	28.186	368	367

For 2025-2026, this targeted funding for acquisitions and voids was doubled in September 2025 taking the targeted funding component to £80m. Given the 2025-2026 programme has not concluded, figures relating to spend and homes on acquisitions for 2025-2026 are not yet available but the spend and total of home delivered in the first quarter only of the financial year(1 Apr – 30 June)are outlined in Table 3.

Table 3 – 2025-2026 Acquisitions – 1st Quarter

Local Authority Area	Total Spend (£m)	Total Homes Delivered	Of Which Social	£80m only spend	£80m only Homes	Of Which Social
Aberdeen City		8	8
Aberdeenshire
Angus
Argyll & Bute
City of Edinburgh
Clackmannanshire
Dumfries & Galloway
Dundee City
East Ayrshire	0.050
East Dunbartonshire
East Lothian
East Renfrewshire
Falkirk
Fife	0.050
Glasgow City	0.068	21	21
Inverclyde
Midlothian
Moray
North Ayrshire	0.040	3	3	0.040	1	1
North Lanarkshire	1.180
Orkney	0.140	1	1	0.140	1	1
Perth & Kinross
Renfrewshire
Scottish Borders
Shetland Islands
South Ayrshire	0.490
South Lanarkshire
Stirling
The Highland Council	1.903	23	15	1.317	15	15
West Dunbartonshire
West Lothian
Total	3.921	56	48	1.497	17	17

Due to the way the Affordable Housing Supply Programme operates, grant payments can be drawn down across multiple financial years. As a result, expenditure in any given year does not necessarily correspond to the number of homes completed in that same year, as homes are only recorded as complete once the entire project has concluded.

You can find more information on Resource Planning Assumptions for council areas here.

We will continue to provide updates on delivery through the Affordable Housing Supply Programmeas part of published quarterly statistics.

Question reference: S6W-42242

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 01 December 2025
Current Status: Holding Answer by Shona Robison on 15 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what mechanism exists, or is being considered, to enable financial costs for local authority services to be shared across Scotland when they result from policy decisions not made locally, such as changes to asylum policy.

Question reference: S6W-42567

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 12 December 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 9 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that some Edinburgh Western constituents are yet to receive their Winter Heating Payments and have been told that they may need to wait until February to get them in their accounts, what the reasons are for some payments not having been allocated.

Question reference: S6W-42578

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 December 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 9 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to the inclusion of dentistry within the MyCare.scot app roll-out.

Question reference: S6W-42563

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 December 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 9 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of recent increases in pre-employment vetting failures within the Scottish Prison Service, whether it will provide a breakdown of the reasons for every vetting failure, including (a) criminal history, (b) financial vulnerabilities, (c) undisclosed associations, (d) intelligence suggesting links to organised crime, (e) failure to provide required documentation and (f) any other identified grounds, in each of the last five years.