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: S6F-03730

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 20 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 January 2025

To ask the First Minister whether the Scottish Government plans to make creating sexually explicit “deepfake” images and videos a crime.

Question reference: S6F-03735

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 January 2025

To ask the First Minister, in light of the inauguration of Donald Trump as US President, and the reported prospect of import tariffs, what sectors of Scottish business it anticipates may be most affected.

Question reference: S6W-32980

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 20 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what measures are in place to ensure that the Energy Consents Unit’s decisions align with the principles of a just transition to net zero, particularly for rural communities.

Question reference: S6W-32858

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 20 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many of the buildings within the Highlands and Islands region that fall under the scope of the Housing (Cladding Remediation) (Scotland) Act 2024 do not have an identified developer and will require it to take responsibility for any remediation work, under the provisions within the Act.

Question reference: S6W-32881

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 20 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported statistics from the Office for National Statistics stating that 20% of firms in Scotland have had more difficulty recruiting workers, compared with other parts of the UK.

The Scottish Government recognises challenges faced by businesses and particular circumstances faced in Scotland, and that is why the Scottish Government stands ready to support the UK Government to design an immigration system that addresses the requirements of Scotland’s economy and communities.

The Scottish Government is working with business to grow the economy and address labour and skill shortages, promoting fair work to make it easier for people to enter and remain in the workforce and ensuring our education and skills system are responsive to national needs .

Question reference: S6W-32739

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 20 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have waited longer than 24 hours for an initial call through its Distress Brief Intervention service each year, broken down by health and social care partnership area.

In total, between June 2020 and May 2024, initial contact was not made within 24 hours for 216 people out of 58,657 referrals (less than 0.4%). The following table breaks this down by percentage due to the small number of cases in each area.

Health & Social Care Partnership	June 20-May 21	June 21-May 22	June 22-May 23	June 23-May 24
	% of all referrals
Aberdeen City	0.3	0	0.1	0.2
Aberdeenshire	0	0	0	0
Angus	0	0	0	0
Argyll and Bute	0	0	0.8	0.9
Clackmannanshire and Stirling	0	0	1.7	0
Dumfries and Galloway	0	0	0.7	0.5
Dundee City	0	0	0	0.1
East Ayrshire	0	0.3	0	0
East Dunbartonshire	0	0	0	0.9
East Lothian	0	0	0.8	0
East Renfrewshire	0	0	1.1	0
Edinburgh City	0	0.2	0	0
Falkirk	0	0	0.9	0
Fife	0	0	0.2	0.2
Glasgow City	0.2	0	0.4	0.5
Highland	0.4	2.2	1.9	0.4
Inverclyde	0	0.2	0.9	0.4
Midlothian	0	0	0.5	0
Moray	0	0	0	0
North Ayrshire	0	0	0	0.2
North Lanarkshire	0	0	0.1	0.4
Orkney Islands	0	0	1.4	7.0
Perth and Kinross	1.2	2.1	0.5	0.8
Renfrewshire	0	0	1.3	0
Scottish Borders	0	0	0.6	0.3
Shetland	0	0	0	0
South Lanarkshire	0.9	0.1	0.5	1.0
West Dunbartonshire	0	0	0.5	1.3
West Lothian	0.6	0	0	0
Western Isles	0	0	0	0
Not Known (referrals with partial or missing postcodes)	0.6	0.7	0.9	0.9
Scotland Total	0.3	0.3	0.5	0.4

Question reference: S6W-33204

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 20 January 2025

The figures requested are as follows:

1. In the 2021-22 financial year, there were 12,912 unclaimed deposits, totalling a value of £3,306,695.

2. In the 2022-23 financial year, there were 13,900 unclaimed deposits, totalling a value of £3,660,948.

3. In the 2023-24 financial year, there were 20,197 unclaimed deposits, totalling a value of £5,419,255.

In reference to the increase of number and value of unclaimed tenancy deposits in recent years, Scottish Government received notification from one of the schemes in August 2023 explaining that they had reviewed the criteria used to report on unclaimed deposits. This resulted in a fluctuation in their figures with a corresponding increase in the total unclaimed deposit value pool amongst the three schemes.

Each of the three schemes may calculate unclaimed deposits differently, as an unclaimed deposit is not currently defined in law. Provisions within the Housing (Scotland) Bill will create a legal definition of when a tenancy deposit can be considered unclaimed, ensuring there is consistency in all three schemes figures if the Bill is approved.

Question reference: S6W-33198

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 20 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that In Practice Systems Ltd, which is reported to be the main software supplier for GP practices in Scotland, has voluntarily entered administration, and what action is being taken to mitigate any impact to GP service delivery.

The Scottish Government are liaising with NHS National Services Scotland, as the contract holder, and are a member of their GPIT Incident Management Team which has specifically been established to lead on this matter. Through this, NSS are in regular contact with the Administrator. Assurances are continually sought from the Administrators on their plans to ensure continued performance and delivery of the Managed Services to NHS Scotland for the foreseeable whilst the administrators actively seek a buyer for In Practice Systems Ltd.

In the meantime, there remains no impact on GP service delivery and existing operational governance around Service levels is very much still in place. GP practices are advised to utilise the service and raise any queries through their usual health board escalation routes.

Question reference: S6W-33211

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 20 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many children under 16 are currently living in rented accommodation with an energy performance certificate (EPC) rating of D or below.

The Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS) provides a snapshot of the occupied domestic housing stock in each survey year, including energy efficiency ratings and household composition.

In 2022, using data from the SHCS it is estimated that approximately 120,000 children under 16 were living in rented accommodation with an energy performance certificate (EPC) rating of D or lower (under the SAP2012 v9.93 methodology).

This ought to be considered as an approximate estimate as the SHCS survey methodology is not aligned with more robust population estimates by age, from sources such as the Population Census, instead the SHCS methodology focuses on alignment by household numbers and different types of dwellings.

Question reference: S6W-33205

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 20 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many unclaimed tenancy deposits there were as of 1 January 2025.

Parliament dissolved ahead of election

Chamber and committees

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