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-42900

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 January 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 22 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-42387 by Richard Lochhead on 17 December 2025, how many small businesses in Inverclyde have closed in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-42896

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 January 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 22 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many households in Inverclyde have been placed in temporary accommodation in each year since 2019, also broken down by how many have remained in such accommodation for more than one year, and for how long.

Question reference: S6W-42895

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 January 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 22 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many children in Inverclyde were living in temporary accommodation in each year since 2019, also broken down by how many have remained in such accommodation for more than one year, and for how long.

Question reference: S6W-42525

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 6 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many people in Inverclyde have waited at least one hour for an ambulance in the most recent year for which data is available.

Question reference: S6W-42528

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 19 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what support it will provide to support local supply chain jobs linked to marine construction in Inverclyde.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-42386 on 18 December 2025 where I signposted areas of engagement to support the maritime sector in Inverclyde.

Scottish Government has committed £500 million to the Glasgow City Region Deal, which includes £18 million towards projects in Inverclyde:

Greenock Ocean Terminal: £5.2 million towards the redevelopment of the cruise terminal at Greenock.
Inchgreen Marine Park: £5.5 million towards the establishment of the Marine Park, which aims to create opportunities for businesses to locate in the area. Part of a Joint Venture between Inverclyde Council and Clydeports (a part of Peel Ports Group).
Inchgreen dry dock is not a part of the original scope of Inchgreen Marine Park and has not received funding through the Deal, but Inverclyde Council have suggested it will be integrated following the recent UK Government funding announcement.
Inverkip: £2 million towards road improvements on the A78 to facilitate the redevelopment of Inverkip Power Station.
Growing Commercial Assets: £5.6 million towards projects to develop and improve business space in the area, with sites to be confirmed by Inverclyde Council.

In line with a PfG commitment, we are investing up to £2 million to develop engineering skills in the Glasgow City Region through a programme led by Clyde Maritime Cluster with Skills Development Scotland.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

Question reference: S6W-42384

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 18 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports on road condition in Inverclyde, whether it will increase the level of funding it provides to local authorities specifically for road maintenance.

The vast majority of funding allocated to councils is provided by means of a block grant. It is then the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them, including on road maintenance, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

The 2025-26 budget delivered record funding of over £15.1 billion for Local Government, a real terms increase of 5.5 per cent.

In 2025-26, Inverclyde Council will receive £227 million to support day to day services, which equates to an extra £13.1 million or an additional 6.1% compared to 2024-25.

As is normal, decisions on future local government finance settlements will be the subject of negotiations with COSLA on behalf of all 32 local authorities and announced as part of the outcome of the Scottish Budget on 13 January.

Question reference: S6W-42386

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 18 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the potential for expanding marine jobs in Inverclyde in (a) shipbuilding, (b) vessel repair, (c) freight and (d) maritime tourism.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting a strong maritime sector, including Inchgreen Marine Park, which has been funded through the Glasgow City Region Deal. We are actively engaging with a range of businesses interested in the redevelopment of Inchgreen Dry Dock in Inverclyde, a project further supported by recently announced UK Government funding.

Our engagement spans the wider maritime and shipbuilding sector, including collaboration with the National Shipbuilding Office and the Scottish Maritime Cluster. This work covers key areas of the maritime economy such as shipbuilding, freight facilities, maritime tourism, and vessel repair.

Several maritime companies are currently in discussions to expand shipbuilding and repair facilities in the region, creating significant job opportunities. We are aware of early-stage conversations between interested parties that could lead to further employment growth and economic benefits.

Question reference: S6W-42387

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 17 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many small businesses in East Dunbartonshire have closed in each of the last five years, and what the main reported causes of closure were.

The preferred source for data on business deaths is the annual Office for National Statistics (ONS) Business Demography series, the latest edition is available at: Business demography, UK - Office for National Statistics. Business deaths are a proxy for the number of businesses closed down. Business deaths are measured as businesses removed from the Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR), which is a database of all businesses registered for Value-Added-Tax (VAT) and/or Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) income tax. A business is removed from the IDBR if its turnover and employment are zero for several periods, or if the ONS is notified that the business has ceased trading through an administrative or survey source. Business deaths data for East Dunbartonshire are provided in Table 1. Note that we do not have information on why these businesses have ceased trading.

Table 1: Business Deaths, East Dunbartonshire, 2020 to 2024

Year	Business Deaths
2020	365
2021	360
2022	375
2023	320
2024	285

Source: Business Demography, Office for National Statistics

Question reference: S6W-42373

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 16 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to help reduce the number of vacant retail premises and revitalise local high streets in Inverclyde.

We continue to support the revitalisation of town centres through the Town Centre First Principle and delivery of the Town Centre Action Plan. National Planning Framework 4 further embeds this approach by recognising town centres as national assets, and promotes the reuse of empty buildings and town centre living to boost local economic activity.

We also support town centre regeneration through our regeneration capital investment programmes, as well as our support for Scotland’s Towns Partnership, Business Improvement Districts and the Scotland Loves Local programme.

Since 2014 Inverclyde Council has received over £13m regeneration capital investment from the Scottish Government, which has supported the transformation of empty properties into commercial, residential and enterprising activity. Examples include enhancement work in Port Glasgow’s Lower Town Quarter and improvements to Customhouse Square in Greenock.

We are also supporting local authorities to address vacant retail spaces in our high streets and town centres through a range of measures, using the levers available to us. This includes our competitive non-domestic rates regime, and supporting the re-use or repurposing of vacant units through the Fresh Start Relief and Business Growth Accelerator Relief.

Question reference: S6W-42383

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 16 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) drug- and (b) alcohol-related hospital admissions were recorded in Inverclyde in each of the last five years.

The following table shows how many drug- related and alcohol-related hospital stays were recorded in Inverclyde in each of the last five years.

Number of drug-related and alcohol-related hospital stays, Inverclyde

Year	2019-2020	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24
Drug-related	219	219	234	153	207
Alcohol-related	717	654	633	618	657

Source: Public Health Scotland

Statistics on drug and alcohol related hospital activity are published annually by Public Health Scotland and can be found here Show all releases - Publications - Public Health Scotland and here Show all releases - Publications - Public Health Scotland.