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-01573

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Simita Kumar on 22 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that Scotland's African and black communities and citizens are represented on the Anti-Racism Coalition.

A range of different stakeholder organisations are reflecting shared concerns about the nature and extent of protest activity, disorder and incidents of hate, prejudice and intimidation and their impact on faith communities, adversely racialised communities, people seeking asylum and refugees. This has been independent of government and there is not a formal or constituted body as such called the Anti-Racism Coalition.

The following organisations that raised concerns represent the diverse experiences of adversely racialised communities in Scotland:

Anti-Racism Observatory for Scotland
Black and Ethnic Minority Infrastructure Scotland (BEMIS)
Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights (CRER)
Council of Ethnic Minority Voluntary Organisations (CEMVO)

Question reference: S7W-01676

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 13 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 22 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the 2026 Scottish National Party manifesto commitment to enact a statutory price cap on essential food items, what its response is to comments from the Scottish Retail Consortium, as reported in The Sunday Times on 12 July 2026, that, 12 weeks on from the policy announcement, the organisation remains "completely in the dark on even the most rudimentary details" of the proposals.

Question reference: S7W-01675

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 13 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 22 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the 2026 Scottish National Party manifesto commitment to enact a statutory price cap on essential food items, what its response is to comments by the Food & Drink Federation Scotland, as reported in The Sunday Times on 12 July 2026, that such a policy could lead retailers to source a greater proportion of imported food products in place of domestically produced goods.

Question reference: S7W-01586

Asked by: Pauline Stafford, MSP for Bathgate, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Kirsten Oswald on 22 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what preventative action it is taking to address graffiti, and what consideration it has given to restricting access to aerosol paint by young people, including through increasing the minimum age for its purchase.

The Scottish Government is currently reviewing the Antisocial Behaviour (etc.) (Scotland) 2004 Act, and the provisions on the sale of spray paint fall within the scope of that review.

The Scottish Government supports local authorities and Police Scotland, who lead the response to graffiti, in working with communities to prevent and tackle antisocial behaviour. Under the 2004 Act, each local authority and the Chief Constable have a joint duty to prepare and keep under review an antisocial behaviour strategy for their area. Prevention is also supported nationally, including through Phase 7 of CashBack for Communities, which is providing £26 million over three years for projects that steer young people away from crime and antisocial behaviour.

Question reference: S7W-01604

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 22 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the commitment in the Scottish National Party manifesto to enact a statutory price cap on essential food items, what its response is to the comments from members of its own Retail Industry Leadership Group in The Sunday Times on 5 July 2026 that the policy risks "higher prices for other items in shops" and "reduced footfall for some retailers".

Question reference: S7W-01603

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 22 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the commitment in the Scottish National Party manifesto to enact a statutory price cap on essential food items, what representations it has received on the policy from (a) industry bodies and (b) trade associations.

The Scottish Government remains committed to committed to publishing draft legislative provisions and progressing work on the price cap on essential food items. We have engaged constructively with a range of industry bodies and trade associations, which have shared their views on the proposal. Their expertise and experience are helping to inform our consideration of the policy and will continue to do so as development of the proposal progresses.

Question reference: S7W-01601

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 22 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the commitment in the Scottish National Party manifesto to enact a statutory price cap on essential food items, what additional resources will be required for local authority trading standards to (a) monitor and (b) enforce the policy.

Question reference: S7W-01570

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Simita Kumar on 22 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a list of the strategic stakeholders, which it funds and works closely with on key anti-racism priorities, that it anticipates will form the Anti-Racism Coalition.

The Scottish Government funds the following organisations who support the delivery of the Anti-Racism Delivery Plan published in March 2026. This is independent of government and there is not a formal or constituted body as such called the Anti-Racism Coalition. These organisations are:

Anti-Racism Observatory for Scotland (AROS)
Article 12 in Scotland
Black and Ethnic Minority Infrastructure Scotland (BEMIS)
Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights (CRER)
Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA)
Council of Ethnic Minority Voluntary Organisations (CEMVO)
Intercultural Youth Scotland (IYS)
Minority Ethnic Carers of People Project (MECOPP)

Since February 2026 there have been four Roundtable meetings with these organisations and the Scottish Government. A Terms of Reference for these Roundtables is being developed collaboratively.

Separately, a range of different stakeholder organisations are reflecting shared concerns about the nature and extent of protest activity, disorder and incidents of hate, prejudice and intimidation and their impact on faith communities, adversely racialised communities, people seeking asylum and refugees.

Question reference: S7W-01447

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 22 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the time taken to approve a criminal warrant, what was (a) the average time, (b) the longest time and (c) the shortest time, in each of the last five financial years.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Decisions on criminal warrants are judicial decisions taken independently by sheriffs or justices, and the data requested are not routinely recorded.

Search warrants are prepared by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) and presented by the officer seeking the warrant to the presiding judicial office holder.

COPFS holds limited information relating to search warrant applications. The time taken to process a request will vary depending on the individual circumstances of each case. COPFS manually records the date on which a request to consider a warrant application is received from Police Scotland or another specialist reporting agency. It also records, where entered by staff, the date on which a final decision on that request was taken by COPFS or a judicial officeholder. However, COPFS are unable to readily provide reliable figures for the average, longest, or shortest time taken in each of the last five financial years due to identified limitations and inconsistencies in the way that the information has historically been recorded and maintained.

COPFS does not hold data on the time taken to execute a warrant after it has been granted by a judicial officeholder.

Question reference: S7W-01315

Asked by: Laura Moodie, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 June 2026
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 22 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what staff resources within (a) it and (b) Education Scotland are allocated to the delivery of Learning for Sustainability, and what its position is regarding whether these are sufficient to deliver the outstanding actions in Learning for sustainability: action plan 2023 to 2030.