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-38773

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 4 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much (a) it and (b) Scottish Enterprise has spent on engagement with Flamingo Land Lomond Banks in each year since it first indicated an interest in the site at Balloch.

Question reference: S6W-38766

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 4 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to protect dementia services.

Question reference: S6W-38729

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 16 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 4 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of the Children (Equal Protection from Assault) (Scotland) Act 2019, including whether it is aware of any data setting out (a) the views of children and families on the impact of the Act, (b) the views of professionals with responsibility for child protection on the impact of the Act, (c) whether the Act has led to an increase in referrals of families to social work or other family support services, and (d) whether the Act has led to an increase in parental prosecutions for assault.

The Scottish Government has not yet carried out an assessment of the impact of the Children (Equal Protection from Assault) Scotland Act 2019.

The Implementation Group for the Act continues to meet on a yearly basis. Minutes of these meetings are at: Children (Equal Protection From Assault) (Scotland) Act 2019 implementation group - gov.scot.

We are not aware of any data on the views of children and families on the impact of the Act itself. However, the Policy Memorandum for the Bill which became the 2019 Act summarised information on the incidence of physical punishment and on children and young people’s views of physical punishment. Please see Children (Equal Protection from Assault) (Scotland) Bill Policy Memorandum (paragraphs 46 to 51).

On the views of professionals, the Scottish Government is aware of a recent open letter by a range of health bodies calling for the removal of the “reasonable punishment” defence in England: Thirteen leading public health organisations call on Government to outlaw physical punishment | RCPCH.

The Scottish Government does not have data on changes in relation to the number of referrals to social work or other family support services. The Child Protection Statistics for Scotland only started including data on inter-agency referral discussions (IRDs) from 2023-24: Children’s Social Work Statistics: Child Protection 2023-24 - gov.scot In any event, the reasons for IRDs taking place are varied.

Data on the number of people convicted for common assault as a main charge is available at criminal-proceedings-scotland-2022-23-main-tables.xlsx (see table 4b). If there are multiple charges proven against an accused in a single proceeding, the main charge is the crime or offence receiving the most severe penalty. The data is not split to show whether the person being prosecuted is a parent: this information is not held in the Criminal Proceedings data. The figures for 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23 are likely to reflect the impact of the pandemic and should not be considered indicative of longer-term trends.

Information on crimes recorded by the Police is available at Recorded+Crime+-+2024-25+-+Bulletin+tables.xlsx (see table A1 for information on common assault). Again, this does not show information on whether a person recorded as committing a crime is a parent.

Question reference: S6W-38741

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 4 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it has reportedly delayed commencement of section 1(4) and section 30(2) of the Children (Scotland) Act 2020.

The Scottish Government outlined our approach to commencing section 1(4) and section 30(2) of the Children (Scotland) Act 2020 in my letter of 11 March 2025 to the Convener of the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee. This letter can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/-/media/files/committees/equalities-human-rights-and-civil-justice-committee/correspondence/2025/non-implementation-of-acts-of-the-scottish-parliament-11-march-2025.pdf. As I outlined, the Scottish Government intends to lay commencement regulations later this year which will include section 1(4) and section 30(2). There will be a lead-in period of around 12 months before these provisions come into force to take account of operational implications for the courts and any need to put court rules in place.

Question reference: S6W-38578

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 4 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many older people are currently on waiting lists for a social care assessment.

Question reference: S6W-38767

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 4 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will list any meetings held in the last 10 years between Scottish Enterprise and representatives of Flamingo Land Lomond Banks, or consultants acting on its behalf.

Question reference: S6W-38748

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 4 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the percentage mortality was of naturally produced (a) salmon ova, (b) alveins, (c) fry, (d) parr and (e) smolts in each year since 2021.

Question reference: S6W-39135

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 31 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will issue new guidance regarding the equal treatment of all school pupils in relation to NHS outreach and preventative services.

Question reference: S6W-39130

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 31 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of the number of tenancies that have been lost as a result of landlord exits from the market since November 2024.

Question reference: S6W-39141

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 31 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much public money will be spent on any (a) rebranding, (b) relocation and (c) restructuring associated with the new body to replace the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA).