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: S6O-05160

Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 November 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on progress with delivery of the Stirling and Clackmannanshire City Region Deal.

Question reference: S6O-05137

Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 November 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on any progress made to address concerns raised by local residents about levels of noise from HMP Cornton Vale.

Question reference: S6O-05108

Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 October 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what action it is taking to safeguard the future of the Alloa Campus of Forth Valley College.

Question reference: S6W-41120

Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 October 2025
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Neil Gray on 9 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its consideration of the escalation status for NHS Forth Valley, under the NHS Scotland Support and Intervention Framework.

NHS Forth Valley had been experiencing difficulties with performance, including concerns raised by Healthcare Improvement Scotland following unannounced inspections in 2022. This led to the Board being escalated to Stage 4 of the NHS Scotland Support & Intervention Framework in November 2022 for governance, leadership and culture, bringing direct formal oversight and coordinated engagement from Scottish Government in the form of an Assurance Board.

The NHS Forth Valley Assurance Board, which last met on 5 September 2024, was then satisfied that NHS Forth Valley has made considerable progress in delivering their Assurance and Improvement Plan and that the organisation was sufficiently evidencing tangible improvements across the three areas for which they were escalated: governance, leadership and culture, and the decision was taken to
de-escalate the Board to Stage 3 of the Framework from 1 October 2024. Moving to Stage 3 meant that NHS Forth Valley no longer required direct formal oversight and the Assurance Board was stood down.

The Board continued to be reviewed by the Scottish Government’s National Planning and Performance Oversight Group (NPPOG) and following careful consideration, the decision has been taken that NHS Forth Valley’s escalation status for governance, leadership and culture, should be lowered to Stage 2 from 9 October 2025. This decision also reflects the continued dedication, effort, and commitment of NHS Forth Valley staff which is bringing results and progress in reducing the longest waits.

Scottish Government will continue to engage with NHS Forth Valley and monitor progress with a view to reporting back to NPPOG in March 2026.

Question reference: S6W-41095

Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 October 2025
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Angus Robertson on 8 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what further publications it has planned in connection with its policy on giving people in Scotland the information that they need to make an informed decision on their constitutional future.

On 8 October 2025, the Scottish Government will publish a new paper setting out why Scotland should become an independent country, and what an independent Scotland could look like.

It explains how independence offers the potential of transformational change, building a new economy to boost living standards, making the most of our energy resources, protecting our NHS, creating a migration system that meets Scotland’s needs, and rejoining the European Union.

The proposals set out in this publication feature analysis of the evidence that informs them, as well as references to sources.

A Fresh Start with Independence will be available to view on the Scottish Government website from 8 October 2025 at Building a new Scotland - gov.scot

Question reference: S6O-05024

Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 September 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when the housing secretary will meet with those constituents from Tillicoultry affected by reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, following the commitment to do so that was made in early August.

Question reference: S6W-40307

Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 September 2025
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Angus Robertson on 3 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what further publications it has planned in connection with its policy on giving people in Scotland the right to decide their constitutional future.

On 4 September 2025, the Scottish Government will publish a new paper which evidences and updates the right of people in Scotland to decide their future.

Your Right to Decide demonstrates that the right to decide has been accepted across the political spectrum, including by former UK Prime Ministers and calls on the current UK Government to respect this key democratic principle.

Your Right To Decide will be available to view on the Scottish Government website from 4 September 2025 at https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781806430321.

Question reference: S6O-04855

Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 June 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with NHS Forth Valley regarding access to health services for communities that rely on local bus links.

Question reference: S6W-37995

Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 11 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much private sector investment has been leveraged as a result of the Stirling and Clackmannanshire City Region Deal, and how this is spread between the two local authority areas.

Funding for the Deal is awarded to the Stirling and Clackmannanshire region rather than individual council areas, including joint projects between the three main Deal partners, Stirling Council, Clackmannanshire Council and University of Stirling. The Stirling and Clackmannanshire City Region Deal private sector investment total secured to date is £476,000, with this investment coming through the University of Stirling’s Scotland’s International Environment Centre (SIEC Phase 1) as commissioned work.

All other secured and leveraged investment in the Deal is from the public sector, including academia, or third sector.

Question reference: S6W-37996

Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 10 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many jobs have been directly created as a result of the Stirling and Clackmannanshire City Region Deal, broken down by (a) local authority area and (b) projects which (i) have been delivered and (ii) are in the delivery phase.

The Stirling and Clackmannanshire City Region Deal has created 82 jobs. Due to the nature of Deal investment, job creation can arise over several years post project completion. These job figures reflect the early delivery stage of the overall Growth Deal with only five projects fully complete to date.

	Projects delivered: Stirling Council area	Projects in delivery: Stirling Council area	Projects delivered: Clackmannanshire Council area	Projects in delivery: Clackmannanshire Council area	Total
Stirling Council projects	2	10			12
Clackmannanshire Council projects			32	4	36
University of Stirling projects	0	24	0	10	34
Total	2	34	32	14	82