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-36502

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 23 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether local authorities will be required to ringfence extended producer responsibility payments that they receive, for the purpose of improving collection and recycling rates of packaging materials, or for any other purpose.

Question reference: S6W-36436

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 23 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what savings it estimates have been achieved in the 2024-25 financial year through the early termination or non-renewal of public sector office leases.

Question reference: S6W-36314

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 23 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it is using AI to expedite the collation and publication of responses to its consultations.

We are very aware of the significant opportunity which AI presents in relation to the delivery of better and more efficient public services, and work in this area has been on-going since the launch of Scotland’s AI Strategy in 2021.

We also have a long standing commitment to listen to the people of Scotland and through our recent CivTech challenge process, focused on delivering innovative technical solutions to real world public service challenges, we have looked for technology to help us better reach and learn from citizens.

As a result, Comhairle is a new digital platform being developed by Scottish based technology company, CrownShy. Comhairle connects existing open-source civic technologies into a unified interface that will allow the Scottish Government to scale the number, scope and quality of its public dialogues, and guide users towards best public engagement practice.

We have been working closely with colleagues in the UK Government to help to trial and improve their AI driven Consult tool. Making use of Large Language Models (LLMs) Consult can expedite the identification and collation of consultation responses, facilitating a faster and more insightful response when dealing with large response volumes.

As well as being trialled by policy teams, our social research teams have offered their statistical and research expertise to help develop and improve the products output quality. Working as part of the pilot team for this product has allowed the Scottish Government to help contribute to the development of a tool which we hope will be able to be used across the public sector.

We are also making use of externally supplied AI driven consultation tools to help transcribe lengthy interviews and then to aid with the faster analysis of their out puts. By investing in these products we are able to free up staff time to focus more effort on developing our responses and actions rather than the administrative side.

All of these tools are being delivered with a strong focus on openness about situations where AI is being used, and an infrastructure which offers the strongest possible security and protection for our citizen’s data.

Question reference: S6W-36038

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 23 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it is taking in rural areas, particularly in the Highlands, to improve (a) mental health services for vulnerable people and (b) adult social support.

The Scottish Government recognise that people in rural areas, particularly those who are vulnerable, can experience particular challenges in relation to their mental health, wellbeing and social care support.

Decisions around the provision of mental health services are a local responsibility and are delivered through a mixture of NHS, local authority and third sector organisations. Mental Health services will vary depending the local population needs and will be guided by clinical decision making.

While we expect service decisions to be taken locally, we have invested £66 million in our Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults since 2021. The Fund has a strong focus on prevention and early intervention and prioritises a range of ‘at risk’ groups including those people disadvantaged by geographical location (particularly remote and rural areas) with over 900 awards being made to community projects supporting people disadvantaged by geographical location (including rural areas) since its inception.

Social care funding has been increased by this government to ensure quality care is delivered in Scotland. We expect all partners involved to work together for the benefit of people supported in care across Scotland and ensure the continuity of care for all those who need it.

While we are investing almost £2.2 billion for social care and integration we do recognise that there are particular challenges faced in rural areas such as the Highlands and despite substantial funding increases, significant these challenge remains – prevention, early intervention and reform remain critical to delivering an effective, efficient and sustainable health and social care system.

Question reference: S6W-35960

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 23 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the claim by the Institute for Fiscal Studies in its website article, Two-child limit mitigation in Scotland would help larger poor families but policy design could harm work incentives, which was published on 14 March 2025, that its proposed two-child limit mitigation policy could harm work incentives by creating a "cliff-edge" effect.

We have consistently called for the UK Government to remove the two-child cap at source. Fixing a broken Universal Credit system would be the best way to alleviate the impacts of the pernicious two-child cap, however it is clear that despite repeated calls on them to do so, the Scottish Government can no longer wait for action. That is why we are taking decisive action as early as possible, using the limited social security powers that we have, to scrap the cap in Scotland. Our actions will result in an estimated 20,000 fewer children living in relative poverty in 2026-27.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission’s report on “Mitigating the two-child limit and the Scottish Budget” states, “it is likely that the proposed mitigation payments would not generate large behavioural responses over and above the ways that families may already have adapted to the Scottish Child Payment.”

Our own published analysis of how Scottish Child Payment interacts with the labour market concludes that it is not currently negatively affecting work incentives at scale in the economy.

However, we will continue to analyse the impact of Scottish Child Payment on work incentives, and of the two-child cap mitigation when it is introduced.

Question reference: S6W-36174

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 23 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason young people with a confirmed diagnosis of cancer must wait at least three months before they can apply for adult or child disability payment.

Question reference: S6W-37049

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 6 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of people appearing before a court, who were aged between 19 and 25 years old, have cited attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as part of their defence in each of the last three years.

Question reference: S6W-37010

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 6 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, what its response is to the findings in the HM Inspectorate of Prisons Scotland paper, Report on HMP Barlinnie Full Inspection 18-22 November 2024, which indicate that 65% of prisoners were in shared cells that did not meet the standard cell space of four metres square per prisoner, largely due to the overcrowding of 300 prisoners more than capacity.

Question reference: S6W-36966

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 6 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is considering introducing no-fly zones, jamming equipment, or other deterrent technologies around the prison estate.

Question reference: S6W-36914

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 6 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the Scottish Fiscal Commission's projection that the number of people aged over 85 in Scotland will almost double in the next 25 years, and what implications this may have for public finances.