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 40714 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6F-01689

Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Linlithgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 January 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 January 2023

To ask the First Minister what the implications for Scotland and the Scottish Government are following Met Office reports that temperatures in Scotland and the UK reached the highest on record in 2022.

Question reference: S6F-01684

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 09 January 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 January 2023

To ask the First Minister when the Cabinet will next meet.

Question reference: S6F-01680

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 January 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 January 2023

To ask the First Minister for what reason two ferries, which will serve Islay, are being built in Turkey.

Question reference: S6F-01679

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 09 January 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 January 2023

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-01678

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 January 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 January 2023

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6T-01078

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 January 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to mitigate the impact of recent teacher strikes on children's education.

Question reference: S6T-01077

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 09 January 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that, during freezing temperatures in December, ambulances were called out to 800 people with hypothermia.

Question reference: S6W-13385

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 9 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many currently serving police officers have criminal records.

While the Scottish Government does not hold the information requested, we take seriously any concerns raised by or against police officers, and are clear that when things go wrong the police are held to account, lessons learned and improvements made.

We greatly value the vital role our police officers play and recognise the vast majority of officers carry out their duties with professionalism and integrity, while keeping our communities safe.

The recruitment and discipline of police officers is a matter for the Chief Constable, with oversight by the Scottish Police Authority.

Police Scotland applies a stringent vetting process for new recruits and where officers fall short of their professional standards the disciplinary system will hold them to account.

Question reference: S6W-13013

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 9 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the projected response time is for handling claims for Scottish Child Payment as of December 2022.

Official Statistics on Scottish Child Payment are published every quarter. The last publication was on 29 November 2022 and provided information on processing times up to 30 September 2022: Scottish Child Payment: high level statistics to 30 September 2022 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . The next release of Official Statistics, covering the period to the end of December 2022, is due to be published on 28 February 2023.

Social Security Scotland received a high volume of applications for Scottish Child Payment when it extended to under 16 year olds on 14 November. Initial management information indicates that from Monday 14 November 2022 to Sunday 11 December 2022, the total number of applications received was 123,000.

Social Security Scotland are working hard to process payments as quickly as possible and tens of thousands of eligible of clients will receive their payment before Christmas. The remaining eligible clients will receive payment in early 2023 and have been contacted to make them aware of this so they are able to plan accordingly.

If eligible, all payments will be calculated from the day that the client applied or submitted a change of circumstances to add an extra child, so nobody should lose out financially.

Question reference: S6W-13009

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 9 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many clients Social Security Scotland has referred to VoiceAbility advocacy service.

VoiceAbility has received a total of 673 referrals, leading to 463 people receiving the appropriate advocacy support when accessing and applying for Social Security Scotland benefits. Of those 673 referrals, 23 were directly referred by Social Security Scotland. This figure does not include support provided as a result of indirect referrals or signposting from Social Security Scotland, which cannot be quantified.

The advocacy service is independent from Scottish Government and Social Security Scotland. As such, VoiceAbility offer a number of direct referral routes including self-referral, being referred by a friend or family member or being referred by other support organisations.