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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 48349 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6W-44007

Asked by: Jackie Dunbar, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 27 February 2026
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Gillian Martin on 2 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government when the next round of the Just Transition Fund for the North East and Moray will open.

I am pleased to announce that the next funding round of the Just Transition Fund (JTF) for the North East and Moray will open for applications today.

Up to £17 million will be made available to help create green jobs, support innovation, diversify energy supply chains, and enable workers to transition into low-carbon roles. For the first time, there will be a dedicated funding pot for community organisations and social enterprises, allowing eligible organisations to apply for a guaranteed share from the JTF. This round also includes new development grants to help groups strengthen or scale up emerging project ideas.

This funding round has three pots which can be applied for:

up to £3 million capital and £1 million resource for community and social enterprise projects - including specific funding to give communities the power to directly decide how money should be spent,
up to £10 million for largescale commercial projects focused on jobs, skills and economic transition – with a minimum project size of £500,000, and;
up to £3 million to support small and medium enterprises in the oil and gas supply chain diversifying into low carbon markets - expanding the provision of the ETZ Supply Chain Challenge Fund.

The JTF has invested more than £85 million into 28 projects across the region since 2022 – helping to support hundreds of jobs and companies entering the offshore wind, marine energy and carbon capture sectors.

I encourage all eligible organisations to consider applying to the fund. Further guidance and details on how to apply are available on our website.

Question reference: S6W-43733

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 2 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills is ashamed that the written case for Scottish ministers and the Lord Advocate in the judicial review of the Scottish Prison Service policy for the management of transgender people in custody did not include a single mention of women’s rights.

Question reference: S6W-44001

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 27 February 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 13 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many ferry sailings were scheduled in each year on the Lochranza to Tarbert and Tarbert to Lochranza ferry route in each year since 1 April 1999, and how many sailings did not take place due to (a) inclement weather, (b) mechanical breakdown and (c) other reasons, including the COVID-19 pandemic.

Question reference: S6W-44005

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 27 February 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 13 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that split payments of universal credit will be delivered, as set out in part 6, section 94 of the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018, and what action it has taken in the last six months regarding this work.

Question reference: S6W-44000

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 27 February 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 13 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many ferry sailings were scheduled in each year on the Lochranza to Claonaig and Claonaig to Lochranza ferry route in each year since 1 April 1999, and how many sailings did not take place due to (a) inclement weather, (b) mechanical breakdown and (c) other reasons, including the COVID-19 pandemic.

Question reference: S6W-43762

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 27 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to the second supplementary question to question S6O-05504 by Kate Forbes on 12 February 2026, when she stated that "at least 230 jobs being created and safeguarded" through the Just Transition Fund, what date the fund was first initiated and approximately how many jobs in oil and gas have been lost in the north east since that date.

The Just Transition Fund for the North East and Moray’s initial year of funding began in May 2022.

The Scottish Government does not hold statistics on job losses by year in any given sector of the economy. We do, however, monitor a range of sources of evidence around employment in the Scottish energy sector. For example, independent analysis has shown that over the period 2019 to 2022 the numbers of direct and indirect jobs supported by the Scottish offshore oil and gas sector decreased from 57,000 to 53,000.

We recognise that the energy transition will have particular impacts in the NE region. Alongside the JTF for NE and Moray, other examples of support provided by SG include the Oil and Gas Transition Training Fund for offshore oil and gas workers and the North East Scotland Investment Zone.

Question reference: S6W-43844

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 27 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what funding is available for foodshare projects.

In 2025-26 we allocated £315,000 to FareShare to redistribute high quality surplus food to community organisations with an emphasis on shared meals and promoting cash-first.

We also allocated a total of almost £200,000 to the four established regional community food networks in Scotland, which are Community Food Initiatives North East, Lanarkshire Community Food and Health Partnership, Edinburgh Community Food and the Glasgow Community Food Network. This funding helps tackle food insecurity, promotes community food and supports improved health and wellbeing.

Through our Investing in Communities Fund, we have provided around £2.8 million of funding each year between 2023-26 to 32 organisations to enable them to provide holistic support services to address poverty and inequality, including activities to directly tackle food insecurity.

Question reference: S6W-43821

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 27 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it (a) has considered creating guidelines for Scotland relating to the way that Business Improvement District (BID) levies are set and enforced and (b) plans to introduce a public record of the levies being charged by BID companies across Scotland.

The Scottish Government has no plans to produce guidelines on how BID levies should be set or enforced, as this is a matter for individual BIDs operating within the existing framework of the Business Improvement Districts (Scotland) Regulations 2007.

We do, however, provide funding support for Scotland’s Improvement Districts (SIDs), which delivers advice and governance support for BIDs, including best practice and guidance on levy arrangements.

There are no plans to introduce a public record of the levies charged by BIDs. Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally, local authorities are responsible for administering and collecting BID levies.

Question reference: S6W-43846

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 27 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with Royal Mail in relation to issues around recruitment and retention of staff in Scotland and their impact on postal deliveries.

Royal Mail and postal delivery services are reserved policy areas for the UK Government.

However, the Scottish Government engages regularly with Royal Mail, raising concerns around staffing, service performance, and local delivery issues. We continue to provide constructive challenge to ensure that postal services meet the specific needs of communities across Scotland.

The First Minister visited the Glasgow Mail Centre on 22 December to see operations first-hand and to reinforce the importance of maintaining high service standards for Scotland’s communities.

Question reference: S6W-43769

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 27 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an itemised breakdown of the cost of a standard Baby Box.