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-40293

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 16 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many police recruits are in training, and how many are expected to join the service in the next 12 months.

As the recruitment and deployment of officers is a matter for the Chief Constable, the Scottish Government does not hold this information.

Police Scotland has confirmed that its recruitment planning takes into account the position 12-18 months ahead to inform the probationer intake process. This process is designed to be agile and depends on the actual number of leavers, which are projected in advance and thereafter managed in accordance with confirmation of numbers. During the current financial year, Police Scotland has set out its intention to recruit around 780 new officers.

The Scottish Government is investing a record £1.64 billion in policing in 2025-26, an increase of almost £90 million of additional funding from the 2024-25 budget. Our investment in policing enabled Police Scotland to take on more recruits in 2024-25 than at any time since 2013, with further intakes planned throughout 2025 and into 2026. Police Scotland has stated that it has a healthy recruitment pipeline.

Question reference: S6W-40291

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 16 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will guarantee that no police officer has to purchase elements of their own kit.

The provision and procurement of police uniform and equipment for officers is a matter for Police Scotland and the Chief Constable. I am clear that police officers and staff should be provided with the correct tools for the job.

Our record £1.64 billion investment in policing is helping equip officers with modern tools like body worn video, ensuring they have the right resources to keep communities safe.

Question reference: S6W-40225

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 16 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Scottish Retail Consortium’s suggestion in its Scottish Budget 2026-27 recommendations paper that funding for the Retail Crime Taskforce should be sustained and ideally enhanced for the coming year.

The Scottish Government’s commitment to tackling retail crime was reaffirmed in our Programme for Government, which makes clear our strong support for Police Scotland’s robust approach in addressing this issue.

The Scottish Government has commenced work on the 2026-27 Budget and the Scottish Spending Review in order to set out our spending plans to 2029-30.

Policing is a priority for the Scottish Government, as demonstrated by investing more than £14.6 billion in policing since the creation of Police Scotland in 2013.

Question reference: S6W-40204

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2025
Current Status: Holding Answer by Jenni Minto on 16 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the 2024 reports by (a) the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland (the ALLIANCE), Accessing Long Covid services in Scotland and (b) Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland, One in Five on long covid.

Question reference: S6W-40305

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 16 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many individuals have completed a stay in a stabilisation centre since 2021, and of those individuals, how many subsequently accessed detoxification or residential rehabilitation.

Question reference: S6W-40234

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 16 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what evaluation it has made of the outcomes of take-home naloxone and opioid-substitution programmes in prisons, including relapse and re-offending rates post-release.

The provision of opioid-substitution treatment in prisons is a matter for local services. The Scottish Government notes that the transition from prison to the community is a high-risk event in a recovery journey and welcomes moves to join up prison health services with the support available in local communities.

Through the National Naloxone Programme, we work in partnership with the Scottish Prison Service, NHS Boards and third sector partners to ensure Naloxone is routinely offered prior to liberation. The number of take-home naloxone kits issued by SPS is published quarterly by Public Health Scotland through the programme’s Quarterly Monitoring Bulletin, which provides data to track trends, compare outcomes over time, and assess the impact of the programme on preventing overdose deaths.

Further integration across services and consistent data collection are essential to fully assess the impacts on post-release relapse and re-offending rates.

Question reference: S6W-40239

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 16 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the estimated annual cost of targeted lung cancer screening would be at full rollout, and how this compares to the costs of late-stage treatment.

The Scottish Expert Advisory Group on Lung Screening have produced an initial evaluation of costs, which estimated the annual cost of a national screening programme at between £29 million and £39 million. The lower and upper estimates of this cost are dependent on factors such as screening uptake, which impact the total cost of scans and required staffing. The UK National Screening Committee, as part of its considerations of whether to recommend lung cancer, considered a cost effectiveness analysis alongside other evidence for lung screening.

Treatment of individuals with lung cancer is complex, and the type of treatment received by patients, such as surgery or chemotherapy, will vary by type of cancer and stage. It is therefore not possible to provide specific treatment costs for lung cancer in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-40438

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 16 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that welfare policies incentivise work.

Our social security policies have been designed to provide much needed support for the most vulnerable in our society and people can be entitled to support whether they are in work or not.

For example, our Job Start Payment helps young people who are returning to work with the costs of starting a new job, support that is only available in Scotland. The Adult Disability Payment can help to reduce the barriers that prevent some disabled people from working and we recognise that it supports many disabled people to stay in employment. Additionally, findings from the evaluation of our Five Family Payments, published earlier this month, showed that for some recipients, the Scottish Child Payment is easing work costs related to travel and childcare and giving some families greater choice and flexibility to balance work, education, and caring responsibilities.

Through the Scottish Government’s No One Left Behind approach, person-centred employability services are available in every local authority area for people of all ages who experience structural barriers to participating in the labour market. Over 156,000 people have accessed these services since powers were devolved around aspects of employability support.

Question reference: S6W-40214

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 16 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many prosecutions have been brought under the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 in each of the last five years, and how many of these resulted in convictions.

Prosecutions are considered as those cases reported the Crown Office Procurator Fiscal Service, they do not include penalties issued under the Fixed Penalty Notice provisions.

There were nine prosecutions with seven convictions, these were by year, 2019 X2, 2020 X0, 2021 X3 including one which resulted in a not guilty verdict, 2022 X1, 2023 X2, and in 2024 there was one case dropped by the Procurator Fiscal.

Question reference: S6W-40235

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 16 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what capital and maintenance investments are required to bring the prison estate to safe operating capacity, and what the timescales are for delivery.

The Scottish Government remains committed to ensuring that Scotland’s prison estate is safe, secure, and fit for purpose. In 2025-26, the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) was allocated £355m of capital funding to enable them to progress the major projects HMP Highland and HMP Glasgow, as well as wider estate maintenance.

HMP Highland, which will replace HMP Inverness, is expected to be completed in 2026. HMP Glasgow, which will replace HMP Barlinnie, is expected to be completed by 2028. The wider maintenance programme encompasses a range of activities aimed at ensuring the continued safety, functionality, and efficiency of the physical estate, including asset replacement, building fabric maintenance, surveys and condition assessments and compliance and safety works, with varying time-scales for delivery.

Future capital funding for the Scottish Prison Service is being considered as part of the annual budget process and the Scottish Spending Review, due to be published alongside the 2026-27 Scottish Budget.