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-43988

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 12 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what the estimated age is of each of the CalMac Clyde and Hebrides ferries in operation under Transport Scotland’s public contract; how many are operating beyond their originally planned service life, and what the scheduled commissioning date is for their replacements.

Question reference: S6W-43971

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 12 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to help people over 75 who wish to install solar panels but who may be ineligible for energy saving grants due to their age.

Question reference: S6W-43987

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 12 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of the number of taxpayers projected to enter the higher rate income tax band between 2026 and 2030 due to threshold freezes, and what assessment it has undertaken of the potential impact of any such projected fiscal drag.

Question reference: S6W-43985

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 12 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what measures are currently being taken to safeguard prosecutorial independence and prevent political interference in the legal process.

Question reference: S6W-43986

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 12 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what specific actions it is currently taking to reverse the reported rise in violent crime, particularly in sex offences and domestic abuse.

Question reference: S6W-43842

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 23 February 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 9 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to review the rolling stock of train carriages throughout the country, and what its response is to reports of leaking roofs and uncomfortable carriages on services between Glasgow and the (a) Oban and (b) Fort William/Mallaig branch of the West Highland Line.

Question reference: S6W-43710

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 20 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-39198 by Neil Gray on 22 July 2025, whether the deadline of end of June 2025 for the roll-out of the new theatre scheduling tool was met.

The Scottish Government has met the stated commitment confirming all territorial NHS boards and the National Hospital Golden Jubilee were scheduled into the national theatre scheduling tool rollout plan by the end of June 2025, in line with the NHS Scotland Operational Improvement Plan (https://www.gov.scot/publications/nhs-scotland-operational-improvement-plan/pages/1/).

The tool is now live in seven territorial boards – NHS Lothian, NHS Forth Valley, NHS Highland, NHS Lanarkshire, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, NHS Borders, NHS Ayrshire and Arran, and NHS Tayside – and implementation continues across the remaining Health Boards.

The remaining Health Boards are on track to go live by the end of March 2026.

Question reference: S6W-43796

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 February 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 4 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that any underspend arising from delays in funding for long COVID services is ring-fenced for long COVID care rather than being returned to the Scottish Government or diverted to other areas in order to prevent disruption to patient care and the delivery of essential services, and what formal accountability measures it will apply to guarantee this.

Question reference: S6W-43794

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 February 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 4 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration has been given to the needs of children and young people with long-term conditions when developing the Long Term Conditions Framework; for what reason children and young people do not appear to be included despite contributions from children’s and young people’s organisations and what steps the Scottish Government will take to ensure that their needs are fully reflected and represented in the final framework.

Question reference: S6W-43795

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 February 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 4 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government regarding funding for long COVID services for 2025–26, (a) for what reason it was delayed, (b) when NHS boards were formally informed of the delay, (c) how much time they had to respond, (d) what impact the delay had on service delivery, staffing and patient care and (e) what urgent remedial action was taken to prevent disruption for people living with long COVID.