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-04703

Asked by: Evelyn Tweed, MSP for Stirling, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with stakeholders regarding safe parking and road use in popular rural areas, including Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park.

Question reference: S6O-04700

Asked by: James Dornan, MSP for Glasgow Cathcart, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding progress on the recommendations in the final report by the Social Tariff Working Group.

Question reference: S6O-04701

Asked by: Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it is working with partners to support the Port of Leith's contribution to Scotland's net zero ambitions.

Question reference: S6O-04674

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Independent
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the potential impact on Scotland’s labour market of the Prime Minister’s recent statement on immigration policy.

Question reference: S6O-04696

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it decided to make a direct award of the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services contract to CalMac.

Question reference: S6W-37477

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 14 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-35302 by Gillian Martin on 12 March 2025, how much it estimates would be raised in leasing fees for a 50-year lease of the site under the current ScotWind leasing process.

Based on 2024 estimates, Crown Estate Scotland projects a revenue from ScotWind developments of £3.42m per gigwatt over the lifetime of the project. If leased through ScotWind then Inch Cape (1.08GW installed capacity) would return £3.7m annually.

The figures provided are estimates only – actual revenues achieved will be dependent on a range of issues, including those affecting deployment scale, and timing and windspeeds.

Question reference: S6W-37307

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 02 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 14 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any potential benefits of introducing a price cap for the use of agency staff in healthcare positions, such as that introduced by NHS England in April 2023.

The Scottish Government is clear that all nurse agency workers should be accessed via the relevant national procurement framework operated by NHS National Services Scotland unless in exceptional circumstances. This approach supports efforts by NHS Scotland Boards to ensure that all engagements involving nurse agency workers represent value for money and contribute towards the delivery of high quality patient care.

With regards to the engagement of medical agency workers, our recently concluded Medical Locum Task and Finish Group considered the experience of NHS England in adopting price caps and concluded that such a step was unlikely to aid efforts to ensure best value in respect of such engagements. Instead, all NHS Scotland Boards are asked to operate robust governance processes in respect of decisions concerning the engagement of medical agency workers, ensuring that such workers are only used as a measure of last resort. Where this is the case, steps should be taken to ensure best value is secured in relation to such engagements, including through the development of clear exit strategies where possible.

Question reference: S6W-37382

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 14 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the workforce and skills requirements associated with the potential implementation of zonal electricity pricing reforms in Scotland, broken down by skills category.

Question reference: S6W-36910

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 14 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether wigs and other gender-affirming items should be provided at public cost to prisoners who have violated prison rules or engaged in threating or abusive behaviour while in custody, and what the reasons are for its position on the matter.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

The Scottish Prison Service agree that those living in custody with protected characteristics, such as gender reassignment, should be supported wherever reasonably practicable.

The Management of Transgender People in Custody Policy 2023 indicates that in addition to local property entitlements, transgender people may need access to other property to assist them. This is considered on an individualised basis.

Entitlement to this property is made through assessment that forms part of a transgender person’s individual case management process and is consistent with SPS’s commitment to ensuring equality, diversity and human rights for all individuals living in prisons.

Any breach of discipline will be dealt with in accordance with the Scottish and Young Offenders Institutions (Scotland) Rules 2011. Any punishment awarded by the adjudicator will be proportionate to the charge and the evidence presented.

Question reference: S6W-37144

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 14 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any risks posed by Scottish universities maintaining research and commercial partnerships with Chinese institutions identified by UK national security agencies as being linked to the Chinese military or state.

Although national security is reserved to the UK Government, the Scottish Government has continued to engage with UK Government regarding collaborations with Chinese state-linked institutions.

The Scottish Government expect universities, as autonomous bodies, to conduct due diligence on managing risks associated with international partnerships and comply with relevant legal requirements, including the National Security Act 2023, and National Security and Investment Act 2021.