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-40316

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 17 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it supports collaborative research on brain tumours.

In March 2025 the Scottish Government Chief Scientist Office and the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission (TJBCM) announced a partnership to advance brain tumour treatment, care and research through Scotland's first dedicated neuro-oncology fellowships.

Two TJBCM fellowships have to date been funded via this collaboration: a neuro-oncology fellowship hosted jointly in Glasgow and Edinburgh, and a brain tumour neurology fellowship hosted in Glasgow.

Question reference: S6W-40329

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 17 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what support it provides to colleges in relation to financial sustainability.

Question reference: S6W-40328

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 17 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what support it provides to colleges that are facing a material reduction in income following changes of policy in relation to the transfer of funds between revenue and capital departmental expenditure limit budgets.

In 2024-25 the Scottish Government worked with the Scottish Funding Council and enabled a £13.4m ‘swap’ of capital for resource funding, recognising that colleges required additional resource funding for maintenance purposes.

Aware of the maintenance pressures colleges continue to face, actions are underway through the College Tripartite Alignment Group, comprising of Scottish Government, the SFC and Colleges Scotland, to consider options for a current year and longer term solution. These discussions sit in the context of SFC’s ongoing work with the sector to develop a College Infrastructure Investment Plan, due to publish in autumn 2026.

The Tripartite Alignment Group provides strategic direction on the pressures and opportunities facing colleges. More can be found about its work here on the Scottish Government’s website. For example, the Group has increased the flexibility in the system with the introduction of the SFC’s College Transformation Framework in Academic Year 2025-26 which offers options around bespoke funding arrangements between colleges and the SFC to enable colleges to plan their curriculum more effectively over a number of years. The Group has also agreed a new asset disposals process which enables most colleges to retain a significant proportion of the value of any sale to invest locally.

Question reference: S6W-40553

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 September 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 30 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much (a) it and (b) its agencies has spent on promotion through social media influencers in each year since 2021.

Question reference: S6W-40550

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 September 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 30 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the acquisition of the Woodland Invest portfolio by Gresham House Forest Fund VI LP, which was concluded in August 2025.

Question reference: S6W-40555

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Independent
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 September 2025
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answer expected on 30 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-40302 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 12 September 2025, regarding Adult Disability Payment (ADP) reviews, whether it will confirm the financial cost to Social Security Scotland of conducting the 142,100 reviews of claimants transferred from Personal Independence Payment to ADP, in light of the figure showing that 79% of the reviews resulted in no change of award.

Question reference: S6W-40546

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 September 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 30 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the acquisition of the Woodland Invest portfolio by Gresham House Forest Fund VI LP, which was concluded in August 2025, what assessment it has made of the potential impact of this on (a) community wealth building, (b) sustainable development, (c) local democracy, (d) environmental quality and (e) biological diversity.

Question reference: S6W-40538

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 September 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 30 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the total cost of chartering the MV Alfred from Pentland Ferries, including the cost of any agreed future commitments.

Question reference: S6W-40554

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 September 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 30 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-40215 by Neil Gray on 11 September 2025, how many of the newly qualified paramedics that have joined the Scottish Ambulance Service in the North Region since 2023 are (a) still employed and (b) have been signed off work due to stress.

Question reference: S6W-40549

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 September 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 30 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the acquisition of the Griffin Forestry Estate by Gresham House FF VI LLP, which was concluded in July 2025.