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-36171

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 1 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the suggestion by the Scottish Retail Consortium that the £3 million fund to deal with retail crime, which was announced in its 2025-26 Budget, should be made permanent.

I was pleased to welcome the launch of Police Scotland’s plans to tackle retail crime last month, which is being funded by an additional £3 million from the Scottish Government.

I hope to see these plans make a difference to the rates of shoplifting Scotland has seen in recent months, and we will continue to liaise closely with Police Scotland as their planned actions are rolled out.

We have increased police funding year-on-year since 2016-17, investing more than £14.6 billion since the creation of Police Scotland in 2013. The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government has initiated planning for the next Scottish Spending Review, that will identify opportunities to optimise the use of Scottish Government funding over the longer term.

The conclusion of the UK Government’s 2025 spending review will provide key funding information to underpin the Scottish Government’s own multi-year spending review. Provision of funding in future years will also be part of discussions with the Scottish Police Authority and Police Scotland to understand the budget requirement to deliver their three-year business plan.

Question reference: S6W-36177

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 1 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government on what date it was notified by CMAL regarding its decision to award the contract for the Small Vessel Replacement Programme to Remontowa Shipbuilding SA in Poland.

Scottish Ministers were made aware on 14 March 2025 that CMAL had selected Remontowa Shipbuilding SA in Poland as the lead bidder for the Small Vessel Replacement Programme phase one vessels contract.

CMAL informed all bidders of the outcome of the procurement process on 17 March 2025. Ministers were then notified on 28 March 2025 that no challenges to the procurement outcome had been made during the required ten day standstill period, and that CMAL would be signing the contract with Remontowa later the same day.

Question reference: S6W-36073

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 1 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it maintains a central register of recommendations made by sheriffs in fatal accident inquiry determinations, and, if so, how it ensures that these recommendations are tracked and reviewed.

Question reference: S6W-36170

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 1 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it takes to encourage the reporting of crimes against retailers and their staff, including to make it easier for such incidents to be reported.

The Scottish Government continue to urge all retailers and their staff to keep reporting crimes. While it might feel like some minor incidents aren’t worth it, or individual retailers may feel like the police won’t be able to do anything, each crime report aids our collective understanding of who is doing this and why. Local officers may also well have intelligence they can use to catch the perpetrators.

Our Budget will make an additional £3 million available in 2025-26 to tackle retail crime.

This funding will support the formation of a Retail Crime Taskforce which will provide a visible and measurable impact on retail crime and will deliver on the following objectives:

Prevent: Stop people from becoming perpetrators of Retail crime by developing and implementing intervention and diversion mechanisms with partners.
Pursue: Target retail crime by bringing perpetrators to justice, with a focus on repeat offenders and organised criminals.
Protect: Strengthen the collective protections against Retail Crime by engaging directly with retailers on crime prevention and training.
Prepare: Mitigate against the impact of Retail Crime by exploring innovate opportunities for direct reporting systems.

New technologies will also be utilised to explore ways to make it easier for retail staff to directly report crimes to police, as well as capitalising on Police Scotland’s existing Digital Evidence Sharing Capability (DESC), to secure early criminal justice outcomes.

This builds on a successful proof of concept within Fife Division and will aim to provide an efficient and effective direct reporting system to retailers.

Question reference: S6W-35976

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 1 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the feasibility of its net-zero targets for agriculture, in light of concerns raised in Scotland on Sunday on 16 March 2025 that current policies could put farms "at risk".

The Scottish Government is fully committed to delivering net zero by 2045. Our pathway to net zero must recognise that agriculture and food production relies on natural processes and will always cause some degree of emissions. We have no policy to reduce livestock numbers. Instead, we are committed to supporting the sector to enhance productivity and resilience while reducing emissions intensity

We are committed to supporting our agriculture sector to be productive and profitable while helping to address the climate and nature crises. We firmly believe there is no contradiction between high quality food production and producing it in a way that delivers for the climate and nature.

We are transforming how we support farming and food production in Scotland to deliver our Vision for Agriculture and become a global leader in sustainable and regenerative agriculture.

Importantly, the Whole Farm Plan will help farmers and crofters measure their businesses’ impact and find ways to become more efficient and to cut emissions. We continue to explore new, innovative ways to help mitigate emissions from agriculture, measure and build carbon sequestration, while continuing to produce high quality food and improve biodiversity.

It is important that we recognise that reaching net zero will require ambitious action from every sector and our next Climate Change Plan will set out our approach to delivering on Scotland’s net zero targets in a way which is just and fair for everyone.

Following the passage of the Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2024, our carbon budgets will be set through secondary legislation taking into account the latest advice from the Climate Change Committee once available. Following setting of the carbon budgets, Scottish Ministers have two months to lay a draft climate change plan before the Scottish Parliament.

Question reference: S6T-02457

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 31 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recent NASUWT survey, which recorded that 49% of female teachers in Scotland had reported physical abuse or violence in the last 12 months.

Question reference: S6F-03996

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 31 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 April 2025

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's position is on whether the reported increased annual cost of Scotland's prisons to over £77,000 per prisoner represents good value for public money.

Question reference: S6F-03974

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 31 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 April 2025

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-03977

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 31 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 April 2025

To ask the First Minister what engagement the Scottish Government has had with the UK Government regarding what assessment has been made of the potential impact of an extension of US tariffs on Scottish businesses that export to the US market.

Question reference: S6F-03975

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 31 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 April 2025

Question to be taken in Chamber.