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-35960

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 23 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the claim by the Institute for Fiscal Studies in its website article, Two-child limit mitigation in Scotland would help larger poor families but policy design could harm work incentives, which was published on 14 March 2025, that its proposed two-child limit mitigation policy could harm work incentives by creating a "cliff-edge" effect.

We have consistently called for the UK Government to remove the two-child cap at source. Fixing a broken Universal Credit system would be the best way to alleviate the impacts of the pernicious two-child cap, however it is clear that despite repeated calls on them to do so, the Scottish Government can no longer wait for action. That is why we are taking decisive action as early as possible, using the limited social security powers that we have, to scrap the cap in Scotland. Our actions will result in an estimated 20,000 fewer children living in relative poverty in 2026-27.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission’s report on “Mitigating the two-child limit and the Scottish Budget” states, “it is likely that the proposed mitigation payments would not generate large behavioural responses over and above the ways that families may already have adapted to the Scottish Child Payment.”

Our own published analysis of how Scottish Child Payment interacts with the labour market concludes that it is not currently negatively affecting work incentives at scale in the economy.

However, we will continue to analyse the impact of Scottish Child Payment on work incentives, and of the two-child cap mitigation when it is introduced.

Question reference: S6T-02471

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that 506 sex offenders in Scotland have changed their name in the past two years.

Question reference: S6T-02475

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects to conclude negotiations with Peel Ports regarding the purchase of Ardrossan Harbour.

Question reference: S6F-04007

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 April 2025

To ask the First Minister whether he will provide an update on when the Scottish Government expects to respond to the Loch Long salmon farm planning application.

Question reference: S6F-04003

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 April 2025

To ask the First Minister what impact the Scottish Government anticipates that the Supreme Court judgment regarding For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers will have on the implementation of the Public Sector Equality Duty in Scotland.

Question reference: S6F-03999

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 April 2025

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-04001

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 April 2025

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-04000

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 April 2025

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-04008

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 April 2025

To ask the First Minister, in light of the reported issues arising from proposed rural nursery closures or mothballing, including the potential impact on the sustainability of rural communities and the operation of primary schools, whether the Scottish Government will review the relevant legislation and the guidance on criteria for protecting rural primary schools from closure.

Question reference: S6W-36811

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 22 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of a recent UK-wide survey suggesting that 17% of NHS staff did not consider their building to be safe, whether it will commission a similar survey of NHS Scotland staff.

The iMatter Continuous Improvement Programme, which was developed by NHSScotland staff, enables the measurements of staff experience and employee engagement across all 22 Health Boards as well as participating Health and Social Care Partnerships.

This enables Health Boards to ensure that the insights and experiences of staff are captured and acknowledged, helping to influence and shape initiatives to enhance staff support.