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-04196

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Auditor General’s November 2024 report, Fiscal sustainability and reform in Scotland, which states that “The Scottish Government has not been sufficiently transparent with the Scottish Parliament or the public about the current fiscal situation”.

Question reference: S6O-04212

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to ScotRail ticket offices scoring one out of five in the most recent Service Quality Inspection Regime data.

Question reference: S6W-32516

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 8 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what steps it is taking to encourage increased use of public transport, in light of recently reported disruption, delays and staff shortages on the ScotRail network.

Any cancellations, delays or disruptions are disappointing and we recognise the impact that this has on rail users. However cancellations represent a small percentage of the overall number of ScotRail services. ScotRail’s performance is consistently higher than the GB network average.

I refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-32514 on 8 January 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Question reference: S6W-32555

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 8 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many free journeys have been taken by (a) ScotRail employees, (b) partners of ScotRail employees and (c) dependants of ScotRail employees, over the last three years.

Question reference: S6W-32579

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 8 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps are being taken to improve the punctuality and reliability of Caledonian Sleeper services.

Question reference: S6W-32486

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 December 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 8 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the reported lack of International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standards in relation to ultra high frequency electronic identification technology in livestock.

Question reference: S6W-32471

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 8 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-31982 by Gillian Martin on 17 December 2024, what plans it has to assess any land contaminated by historic metal mining.

Question reference: S6W-32369

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 8 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the project to reduce average rail journey times between Aberdeen and the central belt by 20 minutes by 2026, by how many minutes it now anticipates that journey times will be reduced in the timeframe allocated.

There has been no change to the scope of the Aberdeen Central Belt Service Improvements Project.

As regards project timelines, in January 2024, Ms McAllan, then Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Just Transition informed the Net Zero, Energy and Transport committee, that the time over which the commitment to deliver journey time improvements and increase capacity, between Aberdeen and the Central Belt, was under review. This remains the position.

Question reference: S6W-32222

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 8 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6T-02170 by Fiona Hyslop on 5 November 2024, what its response is to reported concerns that the "redeployment of some ScotRail staff to provide more and better assistance for passengers" might lead to staff sometimes being moved from the station at which they are usually based, which could result in uncertainty for passengers regarding the hours at which a staff presence can be expected.

Question reference: S6W-32221

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 8 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the publication of the report, Dignity for Drivers, by ASLEF, what steps it is taking in Scotland to address the issue raised suggesting that there is a lack of satisfactory toilet facilities for train drivers.