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 47910 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6W-37621

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 22 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that any future phase of City and Regional Growth Deals is not hampered by what have reportedly been described by some MSPs on the Economy and Fair Work Committee as “slow and overly bureaucratic processes."

Question reference: S6W-37626

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 22 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has received any formal requests from the UK Government for collaboration on a second phase of Scottish City and Regional Growth Deals.

Question reference: S6W-37622

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 22 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to reform governance arrangements for growth deals to ensure greater transparency and accountability to local communities.

We have put a number of measures in place to ensure transparency and accountability in the Growth Deals.

The activities supported by Regional Growth Deals are designed by Local Authorities in consultation with the communities they serve. The decision-making structures supporting the Deals include elected members chosen by communities to serve their areas.

Information on Deal delivery is provided through published annual reports and regular updates on specific projects and programmes, all made available on each individual Growth Deal’s website.

Question reference: S6W-37484

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 22 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the reported absence of published waiting list data for gynaecology inpatient procedures and consultant-led outpatient appointments, and when up-to-date data will next be made available, in light of the most recent figures reportedly only covering up to the end of Q2 2024, with no updates expected before Q3 2025.

This is not correct.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) publish data relating to the length of time patients wait to be seen as a new outpatient or admitted for treatment as an inpatient or day case on a quarterly basis. The latest Stage of Treatment publication, published on 4 March 2025, includes information on gynaecology new outpatient and inpatient or day-case waits up to 31 December 2024. This can be accessed here: Stage of treatment waiting times - Inpatients, day cases and new outpatients quarter ending 31 December 2024 - NHS waiting times - stage of treatment - Publications - Public Health Scotland

The next Stage of Treatment report will be published on 27 May 2025 and will include waiting times data for all planned care specialities, including gynaecology, up to the quarter ending 31 March 2025.

Question reference: S6W-37572

Asked by: Lorna Slater, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 22 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its plans are to legislate to require waste heat to be made available to heat networks to support Scotland’s transition to zero carbon heating.

Question reference: S6W-37764

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 22 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when its review into nursing student finance will conclude, and when it will publish the findings.

The Paramedic, Nursing and Midwifery (PNM) student financial support review is currently ongoing. This review will take time, as it is important that we clearly understand how we can support our PNM students to complete their studies. The options for consideration will be presented to the me before the end of the year. An equalities impact assessment will be published once the review has concluded.

Question reference: S6W-37358

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 22 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the freedom of information release FOI/202500459761 of 29 April 2025, what information it holds regarding the 26 February 2025 meeting on zonal pricing under the Review of Electricity Market Arrangements, including (a) the agenda, (b) any briefing papers provided to its (i) ministers and (ii) officials, (c) a full list of attendees by directorate and (d) any minutes or action logs that were produced.

The purpose of the meeting on 26 February 2025 was to update myself and the Minister for Climate Action on the Review of Electricity Market Arrangements, the reform options being considered by UK Government, and the potential impact of those options for Scotland.

The briefing paper for this meeting, and list of attendees, including ministers, have already been released under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA). It is standard procedure for names of officials to be redacted in all FOIs under Section 38(1)(b), due to protections around the sharing of Third Party Data, whereby personal data is exempt from disclosure if disclosure would contravene any of the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the UK GDPR and in section 34(1) of the DPA 2018.

Upon review of the FOI, section 29(1)(a) was not cited as a redaction used. Information has been redacted under 30(b)(i), however, was redacted due to it relating to the free and frank provision of advice. This exemption recognises the need for Ministers to have space within which to seek advice and views from officials before reaching a settled public position.

In line with usual practice, details of individual tasks carried out by civil servants, including the number of hours spent on them, are not routinely recorded.

Question reference: S6W-37574

Asked by: Lorna Slater, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 22 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to provide support, similar to that available for heat pump installation, to help households meet the cost of connecting to a heat network.

Heat networks have an important role to play in meeting the objectives set out in our Heat in Buildings Strategy.

Our Home Energy Scotland (HES) Grant and Loan Scheme continues to support homeowners with an interest-free loan of up to £7,500 towards connecting to a district heating scheme.

For those in or at risk of fuel poverty, support to connect to a district heating scheme is also available through our national fuel poverty scheme, Warmer Homes Scotland.

Households wanting to take action should contact HES who can help those interested to navigate the support available. HES can be contacted on 0808 808 2282 or via their online portal https://www.homeenergyscotland.org/

Question reference: S6W-37537

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 22 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on rail improvements in the current parliamentary session to date, and how much it estimates it will have spent in total by the end of the current parliamentary session.

Question reference: S6W-37540

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 22 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on supporting community-led regeneration and town centre revitalisation in the current parliamentary session to date, and how much it estimates it will have spent in total by the end of the current parliamentary session.