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Parliament dissolved ahead of election

The Scottish Parliament is now dissolved ahead of the election on Thursday 7 May 2026.

During dissolution, there are no MSPs and no parliamentary business can take place.

For more information, please visit Election 2026

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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

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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 4 May 2021
  6. Session 6: 13 May 2021 to 8 April 2026
Answer status
Question type

Displaying 48968 questions Show Answers

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Question reference: S6W-30403

  • Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
  • Date lodged: Thursday, 03 October 2024
  • Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recommendation within the Scottish Land Commission's report, Land Reform and Taxation: Advice to Scottish Ministers, to (a) establish "a programme to bring all land onto the valuation roll" and (b) commit to "the development and use of a consistent and comprehensive cadastral approach which would enable the integration of information on land ownership, use and value, building on the current work of Registers of Scotland".

Question reference: S6W-30346

  • Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
  • Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 October 2024
  • Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether Police Scotland has corresponded with the Scottish Biometrics Commissioner about the reported proposals to deploy live facial recognition technology in Scotland, and, if so, whether this correspondence was undertaken before the Chief Constable outlined the proposals to the media.

Question reference: S6W-30365

  • Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
  • Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 October 2024
  • Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to publish the report that it commissioned on the constitutional role(s) of the Law Officers for Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-30315

  • Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
  • Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2024
  • Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has received a reliable estimate of the false positive rate of the live facial recognition technology that the Chief Constable of Police Scotland has reportedly proposed deploying for law enforcement purposes.

Question reference: S6W-30333

  • Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
  • Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2024
  • Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its understanding is regarding how images used by live facial recognition systems will be stored, under the reported proposals by Police Scotland's Chief Constable.

Question reference: S6W-30321

  • Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
  • Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2024
  • Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how people will be able to access data on whether they have been subjected to the use of live facial recognition technology, under the reported proposals outlined by the Chief Constable of Police Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-30314

  • Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
  • Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2024
  • Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether live facial recognition technology could disproportionately misidentify the faces of ethnic minority people, and what implications this might have for the use of the technology.

Question reference: S6W-30329

  • Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
  • Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2024
  • Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the reported comments by Police Scotland's Chief Constable while proposing the use of live facial recognition for law enforcement purposes, what its position is on whether the non-consensual use of AI in public for live facial recognition is "parallel" to the consensual use of AI in confidential medical settings for the detection of cancer.

Question reference: S6W-30311

  • Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
  • Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2024
  • Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has had any correspondence from Police Scotland regarding the reported proposals from the Chief Constable to deploy live facial recognition technology for law enforcement purposes.

Question reference: S6W-30317

  • Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
  • Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2024
  • Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the overall accuracy of the live facial recognition technology that the Chief Constable of Police Scotland has reportedly proposed deploying for law enforcement purposes.