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: S6F-03926

Asked by: Michelle Thomson, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 March 2025

To ask the First Minister what assessment the Scottish Government has made of the recent UK Living Standards Review 2025, from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, and any implications for its work to grow Scotland’s economy.

Question reference: S6F-03920

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 March 2025

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to tackle Islamophobia in Scotland, in light of reports of an attack on a mosque in Aberdeen at the weekend.

Question reference: S6F-03924

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 March 2025

To ask the First Minister how the Scottish Government is marking Endometriosis Awareness Month.

Question reference: S6F-03919

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 17 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 March 2025

To ask the First Minister when the Cabinet will next meet.

Question reference: S6F-03914

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 March 2025

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-03915

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 March 2025

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-35465

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 17 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-34348 by Maree Todd on 28 February 2025, what its position is on the extent to which it is responsible for the use of locum psychiatrists in NHS Scotland, in light of its authorities and powers regarding the relevant labour market and regulatory conditions, and its authorities and powers regarding the direction of NHS boards.

The deployment of medical agency staff, including locum psychiatrists, is a matter for individual NHS Scotland Health Boards. Health Boards should always be seeking to secure best value whenever they enter into arrangements regarding use of locums in order to maximise the impact that investment has on the quality and availability of patient care.

To address specific challenges in the recruitment and retention of permanent psychiatrist posts in Scotland, we have established a Working Group which is actively considering locum usage. The specific challenges facing psychiatry have been considered by the Medical Locums Task and Finish Group. The Psychiatry Working Group will make a series of recommendations and are expected to report to Ministers in Spring 2025.

Scottish Ministers have a number of mechanisms open to them to drive improvements in the delivery of services across NHS Scotland, with powers of direction under the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978 being just one of those.

Question reference: S6W-35458

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 17 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-35095 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 5 March 2025, how many staff are in Social Security Scotland’s counter fraud branch; whether the full and undivided work attentions of all the staff in that branch are towards the work of countering fraud in social security, and whether the Scottish Government has any way of determining what proportion of work done by Social Security Scotland’s counter fraud branch goes into identifying fraudulent applications.

Social Security Scotland carefully considers what information on counter fraud can be placed into the public domain to ensure it does not undermine the ability of Social Security Scotland to prevent and detect crime and protect the public purse. It does not disclose details of the size of the Counter Fraud Branch.

Counter Fraud Branch consists of officials who work closely together to prevent, detect, identify and investigate allegations of fraud against Social Security Scotland. The staff undertake fraud risk assessment, intelligence management and investigation activities and are located throughout Scotland.

The majority of the staff resources within the Counter Fraud Branch are fully engaged in delivering the Counter Fraud activities highlighted above. A small proportion work to understand, monitor and where appropriate investigate potential internal threats – which includes, but is not limited to, insider fraud. This team also provides specialist investigation support to other business areas within Social Security Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-35430

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 17 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what funding has been made available to the Association of Chief Officers of Scottish Voluntary Organisations, and what the objectives associated with that funding were, for each of the last five financial years.

Please see the following table outlining the funding made available to the Association of Chief Officers or Scottish Voluntary Organisations and the objectives associated with that funding for each of the last five financial years.

Financial Year	Grant name/amount	Objectives/Outcomes of Grant
20-21	ACOSVO Core Grant Funding £164,773	The main objectives / expected outcomes of the Grant are: Inspire: Champion Third Sector Leadership Excel: Build Skills and Confidence for Excellent Leadership Develop: Develop and Sustain ACOSVO as an Organisation which is an Example of Leadership and Governance Good Practice Support the government and communities in responding to Covid-19, as required.
20-21	Resilient Leadership Study £8,000	To support the study of “Resilient leadership in the third sector in Scotland” To expand intelligence gathering amongst third sector leadership to support this To deploy learning in support of leadership exchange work, the Scottish Leaders Forum and other priorities as agreed.
21-22	ACOSVO Core Grant Funding £219,697	The main objectives / expected outcomes of the Grant are: Inspire: Champion Third Sector Leadership Excel: Build Skills and Confidence for Excellent Leadership Develop: Develop and Sustain ACOSVO as an Organisation which is an Example of Leadership and Governance Good Practice Support the government and communities in Covid-19 recovery and renewal and responding to the end of the EU Exit transition as required.
21-22	Cyber Resilience – Voluntary Sector “Be Better Informed” Project £5,200	Increase access to, and use of, threat intelligence to inform understanding of risk Promote the use of NCSC’s Cyber Information Sharing Platform (CISP) Include information on cyber threat and risk in advice and guidance from third sector advisory and regulatory bodies Promote the range of cyber security standards and regulations available to support clearer choices for the Third sector based on their exposure to risk and their risk appetite.
22-23	ACOSVO Core Grant Funding £219,697	The main objectives / expected outcomes of the Grant are: Inspire: Champion Third Sector Leadership Excel: Build Skills and Confidence for Excellent Leadership Develop: Develop and Sustain ACOSVO as an Organisation which is an Example of Leadership and Governance Good Practice Support the government and communities in Covid-19 recovery and renewal and responding to the end of the EU Exit transition as required.
23-24	ACOSVO Core Grant Funding £228,485	SUPPORT, DEVELOP & INSPIRE voluntary sector leaders at all stages in their journey ADVANCE thinking, ideas and resilience for the future STRENGTHEN connections, organisations, governance, sustainability and partnerships.
23-24	£44,000	The expected outcomes of the Grant are: Implementing the recommendations of ACOSVO EDI survey on Learning and development; Transition and succession planning; and Participating in Delivering Equally Safe at Work The targets/milestones against which progress in achieving objectives/expected outcomes shall be monitored are: Monitoring of progress against outcomes and objectives is expected to be a joint and shared process. We will develop with the Grantee a proportionate approach to monitoring and reporting, via enabling relationships based on partnership, a focus on outcomes, and mutual learning, that takes forward our shared thinking, and can inform future policy.
24-25	ACOSVO Core Grant Funding £228,485	Outcome 1. SUPPORT, DEVELOP & INSPIRE voluntary sector leaders at all stages in their journey Outcome 2. ADVANCE thinking, ideas and resilience for the future Outcome 3. STRENGTHEN connections, organisations, governance, sustainability and partnerships.
24-25	£44,000	The expected outcomes of the Grant are: Implementing the recommendations of ACOSVO EDI survey on Learning and development; Transition and succession planning; and Participating in Delivering Equally Safe at Work The targets/milestones against which progress in achieving objectives/expected outcomes shall be monitored are: Monitoring of progress against outcomes and objectives is expected to be a joint and shared process. We will develop with the Grantee a proportionate approach to monitoring and reporting, via enabling relationships based on partnership, a focus on outcomes, and mutual learning, that takes forward our shared thinking, and can inform future policy.

Question reference: S6W-35420

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 17 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to address reports of burnout and low morale among police officers in Scotland.

This is an operational matter for Police Scotland. The Chief Constable stated to the Criminal Justice Committee that the wellbeing of police officers and staff is one of her main priorities. Police Scotland has made a £17 million investment in wellbeing, which includes their 24-7 employee assistance programme that will focus on providing support wherever and whenever it is needed, and enhanced occupational health services to support officers and staff wellbeing.

The Chief Constable has provided reassurance that Police Scotland has a healthy recruitment pipeline, and more recruits have been taken on this (financial) year than at any time since 2013.