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-04634

Asked by: Clare Haughey, MSP for Rutherglen and Cambuslang, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 12 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to assess whether there are any gaps or weaknesses in existing wildlife protection laws as part of its review and consolidation of nature conservation legislation.

Question reference: S7W-04633

Asked by: Clare Haughey, MSP for Rutherglen and Cambuslang, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 12 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the progress of plans to consolidate wildlife and nature conservation legislation.

Question reference: S7O-00455

Asked by: Clare Haughey, MSP for Rutherglen and Cambuslang, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 October 2026
Current Status: Due to be taken in the Chamber on 5 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government when it anticipates that the £30 million Scotland Together Fund will open to applications.

Question reference: S7O-00408

Asked by: Clare Haughey, MSP for Rutherglen and Cambuslang, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 October 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government when it anticipates that payments for the Pension Age Winter Heating Payment will commence in 2026-27.

Question reference: S7O-00346

Asked by: Clare Haughey, MSP for Rutherglen and Cambuslang, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 September 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to a speech delivered by the Prime Minister at the Labour Annual Conference on 29 September regarding its potential impact on the people and economy of Scotland.

Question reference: S7O-00291

Asked by: Clare Haughey, MSP for Rutherglen and Cambuslang, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 September 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what assessment it has undertaken of the impact on school visits to the Scottish Parliament of the changes to the timing of First Minister’s Questions.

Question reference: S7O-00107

Asked by: Clare Haughey, MSP for Rutherglen and Cambuslang, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 June 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its Programme for Government 2021-22 commitment to consult on the phasing out of farrowing crates.

Question reference: S7W-00745

Asked by: Clare Haughey, MSP for Rutherglen and Cambuslang, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 June 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 11 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to review cat breeding licensing under the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (Scotland) Regulations 2021, including whether the licensing regime could be improved by measures such as lowering the threshold for licensing to two litters per year, increasing public awareness to encourage applications, and introducing an anonymous reporting system to allow the public to report unlicensed breeders.

The Scottish Government has no plans to review the licensing framework regulating cat breeding; nor do we have any current plans to reduce the threshold for licensing from 3 litters in any 12-month period to 2. Responsibility for enforcing the legislation regulating cat breeding sits with local authorities and it is the responsibility of local authorities to ensure that cat breeders are licensed. Any member of the public can report cat breeders suspected of operating without a licence to the appropriate local authority and this can already be done on an anonymised basis, so we do not believe that a separate reporting system is necessary.

Question reference: S7W-00748

Asked by: Clare Haughey, MSP for Rutherglen and Cambuslang, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 June 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 11 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what action it plans to take to tackle the breeding of cats with extreme characteristics, including whether it plans to update the 2021 cat breeding guidance to cover all such cats.

The Scottish Government recognises that there are health concerns linked with cats with extreme characteristics, such as the Scottish Fold. It acknowledges that breeds such as the Scottish Fold and Munchkin have been found to likely represent a breach in the licencing condition of no breeding should occur if it could have a detrimental effect on the cat’s health or wellbeing.

We will continue to work with industry stakeholders and engage with DEFRA in order to keep pace with advances in science and will be looking at issues of artificial insemination of cats, and the breeding of exotic/wild cat-hybrids in line with the recommendations from the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission.

Question reference: S7O-00077

Asked by: Clare Haughey, MSP for Rutherglen and Cambuslang, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 June 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to Police Scotland to improve the 101 service.