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-01228

Asked by: Laura Moodie, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 22 June 2026
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 8 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the adequacy of existing financial supports for families, including the Scottish Child Payment, in light of evidence suggesting that such payments are often used to meet basic needs rather than to lift families out of poverty.

It will be the defining mission of this government to support families with the cost of living and to eradicate child poverty.

Economic modelling published in March 2026 assesses the cumulative impact of our policies on child poverty. It estimates that action in ‘Bringing Hope, Building Futures’, our Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan for 2026-31, will keep 100,000 children out of relative poverty this year. The impact is proportionately greater for families on the very lowest incomes, with our policies estimated to keep 70,000 children out of deep poverty this year.

Compared to elsewhere in the UK, our Five Family Payments – inclusive of our Scottish Child Payment, three Best Start Grants, and Best Start Foods – are providing unparalleled financial support to families. Our Five Family Payments could be worth over £11,000 by the time an eligible child turns six and around £26,000 by the time an eligible child turns 16. This compares to less than £2,000 for families in England and Wales, where support ends when an eligible child turns four.?

This is part of much wider support for families, including our continued investment in the provision of 1,140 hours of high-quality funded early learning and childcare to all three and four year olds and eligible two year olds. If families paid for this offer themselves, it would cost them around £6,400 per eligible child per year.

Our action is making a real difference to families, with the Institute for Fiscal Studies estimating some of the lowest income households with children are around £2,760 per year better off compared to England as a result of our approach to income tax and benefits.

We know that we must continue to go further to tackle child poverty and support families with the cost of living. That is why we have committed to taking forward plans to ensure essential food items in supermarkets are affordable, to expand support for childcare to all children from nine-months to the end of primary school, and to introducing a £2 nationwide cap on bus fares to lower the cost of people’s commute.

Question reference: S7W-01214

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 June 2026
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 8 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with the accountable bodies for the (a) Forth and (b) Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeports regarding compliance by employers in designated tax and customs sites with Fair Work Charter conditions.

Question reference: S7W-01208

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 June 2026
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 8 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many jobs have been created in designated tax and customs sites in the (a) Forth and (b) Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeports since March 2024 to date.

The tax sites in Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport were designated in April 2024 and those of Forth Green Freeport in June 2024. Since then, both Green Freeports have been working up their full business cases, which were signed off in autumn 2025, whilst also promoting the tax sites to investors. This has been showing early signs of success, including for example Sumitomo's £350 million new subsea cable factory at Port of Nigg and Quantum Capital Group's £300 million financing for the development of the Ardersier Energy Transition Facility.

The current, early phase of Green Freeports programme is focused on site preparation and construction of facilities, like Sumitomo's factory. This results in the creation of short-term construction job opportunities, with long term job creation expected to follow thereafter.

Job creation by companies located in the tax and customs sites is monitored through bi-annual data collections from the Green Freeports, showing 32 new direct jobs created at Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport and one new direct job at Forth Green Freeport since the designation of the tax sites and 30 September 2025. The Green Freeports also report that construction work, with associated indirect employment (not captured in the formal monitoring), is underway at tax sites in Grangemouth, Rosyth, Nigg and Inverness. At the latter two, Green Freeports advise that approximately 250 construction staff are supporting delivery of the projects on site.

Question reference: S7W-01581

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 July 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 4 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to compile the proposed ancient woodland condition reports for the National Register of Ancient Woodland, including the frequency of updates and arrangements for publication.

Question reference: S7W-01574

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 July 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 4 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government when the National Register of Ancient Woodland will be published.

Question reference: S7W-01585

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh North Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 July 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 4 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on introducing a Scottish statutory instrument to devolve powers to local authorities for determining the location and deployment of speed cameras and speed calming measures within local areas.

Question reference: S7W-01588

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh North Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 July 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 4 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what further funding can be devolved to local authorities to enable an increase in the provision of funding towards the community policing fund.

Question reference: S7W-01587

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh North Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 July 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 4 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what additional funding is available to local authorities to enable them to increase their budget for community police officers.

Question reference: S7W-01578

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 July 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 4 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what opportunities it will provide to communities to participate in the delivery phase of the National Register of Ancient Woodland.

Question reference: S7W-01589

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh North Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 July 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 4 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding each local authority in Scotland has been provided to fund their community police force.