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: S6O-04294

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what factors it considered when determining not to introduce any new bands or increase the rates of Scottish income tax for the remainder of this parliamentary session.

Question reference: S6O-04290

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the finance secretary has had with ministerial colleagues regarding infrastructure investment plans for the building of new schools, in light of the recent Audit Scotland report, which noted that further borrowing will be needed to invest in these.

Question reference: S6O-04312

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the petition, reportedly signed by hundreds of Keith residents and businesses, regarding the disruption caused on the A96 by the ongoing works at Union Bridge, including the calls for businesses to be compensated for any significant losses during these works.

Question reference: S6O-04288

Asked by: Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the economy secretary has had with ministerial colleagues regarding establishing a standalone postgraduate business school to help create more companies, attract talent and boost innovation.

Question reference: S6O-04285

Asked by: Edward Mountain, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the total monthly running cost of Ferguson Marine is.

Question reference: S6O-04296

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6O-04265

Asked by: Emma Roddick, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 29 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to the Scottish Prison Service to help give people in custody the best chance of reintegrating into the community at the end of their sentence.

The Scottish Government provides funding to local authorities and third sector delivery partners to provide throughcare support to people leaving custody to help them transition back into the community.

This includes over £3 million a year to support short-term prisoners address essential needs such as healthcare, social security payments, housing and employment opportunities. This support is available across the prison estate and begins 12 weeks before an individual is released.

We will be building on this existing support by funding a new national throughcare service for all short-term prisoners and those on remand, commencing in April 2025.

Question reference: S6W-33703

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 29 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its strategy is for the digitisation of people’s medical records.

Question reference: S6W-33337

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 29 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) neuropsychologists and (b) trainee neuropsychologists there are, broken down by NHS board.

The latest data received by the Scottish Government from NHS Education for Scotland (NES) is as follows:

a) WTE Applied Psychologists working in Neuropsychology in NHS Scotland as of 30 September 2024:

NHS Board	WTE Applied Psychologists working in Neuropsychology
NHS Scotland	53.1
NHS Ayrshire & Arran	5.9
NHS Borders	0.0
NHS Dumfries & Galloway	0.8
NHS Fife	2.3
NHS Forth Valley	2.4
NHS Grampian	8.6
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde	14.8
NHS Highland	3.1
NHS Lanarkshire	3.6
NHS Lothian	8.3
NHS Orkney	0.0
NHS Shetland	0.0
NHS Tayside	3.4
NHS Western Isles	0.0
State Hospital	0.0
Golden Jubilee National Hospital	0.0
NHS Education for Scotland	0.0

b) NHS Education for Scotland (NES) does not hold this information centrally.

Question reference: S6W-33860

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 29 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what statistical evidence it uses to underpin the continued application of the Sea Fish (Prohibition on Fishing) (Firth of Clyde) Order 2024.

The Clyde closure is in place to maximise the opportunity for cod to reproduce and hence recover the stock. The closed area was defined according to extensive published literature on the types of seabed substrate on which cod prefer to spawn, and data on substrate type distribution provided by the British Geological Survey (BGS). This information has not changed since the closure was put in place.

When the Sea Fish (Prohibition on Fishing) (Firth of Clyde) Order 2024 was made, it was accompanied by a Business Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA).

Following the 2025 closure there will be a public consultation on future management. That consultation will assess any changes that have happened since 2022 and make recommendations for the future on that basis.