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 46716 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6O-02664

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 October 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its consideration of the proposal for a railway station in Newburgh, Fife.

Question reference: S6O-02670

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 October 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to improve rail services for passengers in the Mid Scotland and Fife region.

Question reference: S6O-02669

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 October 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met with COSLA to discuss climate adaptation funding.

Question reference: S6W-22393

Asked by: Kate Forbes, MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 October 2023
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Neil Gray on 25 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when the First Minister’s Investor Panel will report, and whether it has made any comments or recommendations regarding the Scottish Government’s proposal to issue a bond.

We expect the Panel to report its full findings and recommendations by the end of November. The Panel provided its first stage work to the Scottish Government in September. This covers a wide range of findings and recommendations relating to how Scotland can attract mobile capital to support the just transition to net zero. It includes a recommendation that: “Although it will involve additional costs, Scotland’s profile could be significantly raised in the international capital markets by using existing devolved powers to issue debt. This will provide a motivation for regular engagement by investors and an opportunity to market Scotland’s investment story. It would also allow the development of relationships with providers of debt, a track record and credit rating.”

Question reference: S6W-22354

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 23 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 25 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will request that its trunk road maintenance contractor engages with Glasgow City Council to repair the feature lighting located beneath the M8 motorway bridges at Junction 16 Craighall Road.

Question reference: S6W-22096

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what plans are in place to increase capacity in NHS Ayrshire and Arran to prevent operations being cancelled for reasons related to capacity and other non-clinical issues.

The Scottish Government is working closely with NHS Ayrshire and Arran to increase capacity and reduce cancellations. A number of improvement actions to enable the prioritisation of resources to areas where the capacity gap has the greatest impact are already underway, including:

A bottom-up review of operating capacity within surgical teams;
Increase resilience of the planned care service through protection of planned care beds to ensure that operations are not cancelled as a result of bed capacity; and
Introduction of new enhanced roles across the wider multi-disciplinary teams to increase capacity and improve sustainability, such as surgical care practitioners, anaesthesia associates and theatre assistant practitioners.

These actions will help NHS Ayrshire and Arran deliver its plans to increase capacity which include targeted recruitment, extended workforce roles and new models of service delivery.

Question reference: S6W-21856

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 25 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much total funding has been put into mental health services in each financial year since 2021-22.

Funding for mental health services is drawn from the overall funds allocated to NHS Scotland by the Scottish Government. The latest available data from the Public Health Scotland Scottish Health Service Costs shows that for
‎ 2021-22 total expenditure by NHS Scotland on mental health was £1.299 billion.

https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/scottish-health-service-costs/scottish-health-service-costs-high-level-costs-summary-2021-to-2022/

Question reference: S6W-21778

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 25 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-19943 by Jenny Gilruth on 10 August 2023, for what reason there has been a reduction in the number of teacher bursaries awarded compared with 2018.

The reduction in the number of bursaries awarded in 2022-23 compared with 2018 is the result of a decrease in the number of applications received and as a result, less were approved. Information on the number of applications received and bursaries awarded is available in the Skills Development Scotland 2022-23 evaluation report. https://www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk/media/50367/stem-bursary-evaluation-report-2022-23.pdf .

Question reference: S6W-21764

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 25 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is possible for a local authority to revoke a person's free bus travel card under the Young Persons' (Under 22s) Free Bus Travel scheme if they are found to be using the bus network to commit criminal offences in multiple areas away from their home address.

Question reference: S6W-21851

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 25 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of (a) P1 and (b) P7 pupils have been assessed as having visible signs of dental decay in each year since 2012, broken down by NHS board.