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: S6W-30695

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 12 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has considered extending modern language provision in primary and secondary schools to include the languages spoken by New Scots pupils and their families, in line with the recommendations set out in the University of Glasgow-led project, Welcoming Languages, and the principles of the New Scots Refugee Integration Strategy.

The Scottish Government notes the University of Glasgow-led project and report ‘Welcoming Languages’, and officials are in contact with researchers from the University to consider the report’s findings and to ensure that learning from the project is shared with the education system.

The 1+2 Languages policy provides all pupils with an entitlement to learn additional languages from primary 1 (P1). Schools and local authorities make decisions on the specific languages taught based on the needs of their learners and local circumstances.

Currently, the first additional language, taught from P1, must be a language that can be taught to national qualification level (i.e. Cantonese, French, Gaelic (Learners), German, Italian, Mandarin, Spanish and Urdu) which includes some of the most spoken community languages in Scotland. The SQA is responsible for establishing and maintaining all national qualifications, and a range of criteria would need to be met before establishing any new language qualifications.

The second additional language, taught from Primary 5 (P5), can be any language. The latest survey of local authorities, taken in 2023, showed that some primary schools, supported by Education Scotland and Scotland’s National Centre for Languages (SCILT), are already offering a wider range of second additional languages including Polish, Arabic and Ukrainian.

Question reference: S6W-30709

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 12 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to improve the nutritional standards of school meals, beyond the 2020 regulatory interventions.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting the health and wellbeing of all children and young people by giving them the best possible start in life.

We expect all local authorities to meet their statutory duty to comply with their statutory duty to comply with the Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink in Schools (Scotland) Regulations 2020, which are based on scientific evidence and dietary advice designed to ensure children and young people are provided with food and drink which contains an appropriate amount of energy and nutrients to support their healthy growth and development. They also ensure there is a limit to the amount of salt, sugar, fat and saturated fat contained within food and drink offered at any time of the school day, including at meal times.

We recognise that local authorities, and schools themselves, are best placed to decide upon the content of their school menus at the local level given their understanding of local needs and circumstances. Working in partnership with Education Scotland Health and Nutrition Inspectors, who monitor compliance with the Regulations, we continue to support local authorities as they build upon the work already being done to ensure that school meals meet the highest standards of nutrition, recognising that this is vital to supporting our children and young people’s effective learning.

Question reference: S6W-30714

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 12 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to address the affordability and availability of unhealthy food and drink products.

To improve our food environment and support heathier choices, we are committed to legislate to restrict the promotion of food and drink high in fat, salt or sugar (HFSS) at the point of purchase. The consultation on the detail of proposed regulations closed on 21 May 2024 and independent analysis of the responses is underway. The feedback received will be used as part of the policy decision-making process, alongside a range of other available information and evidence.

We support the Healthy Living Programme to help convenience stores offer healthier choices. More than two-thirds of the 2,300 strong Healthy Living Programme membership serves the most deprived areas of the country and ensures access to affordable, healthier food and drink in those communities.

We continue to help smaller businesses to reformulate common products to make them healthier. This is playing an important role in improving dietary health by removing hundreds of millions of calories from Scottish food and drink products sold across the country, including deprived areas.

This was also discussed as part of the Population Health Framework development roundtables with Public Health and Business stakeholders in September.

Question reference: S6T-02182

Asked by: Roz McCall, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland's call for it to introduce "legal protection for children on the use of physical restraint and seclusion in all situations where children are in the care of the state".

Question reference: S6F-03527

Asked by: Maggie Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 November 2024

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to reported concerns that its proposed formula for calculating rent controls in the Housing (Scotland) Bill will require above-inflation rent rises for hundreds of thousands of renters, thus not tackling unaffordable rents.

Question reference: S6F-03538

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 November 2024

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to reports that its spending on private consultants has almost doubled in the space of five years.

Question reference: S6F-03519

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 November 2024

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-03534

Asked by: Evelyn Tweed, MSP for Stirling, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 November 2024

To ask the First Minister what engagement the Scottish Government has had with the UK Government regarding reports from BBC Panorama that smart meters in Scotland are experiencing a disproportionate number of operational issues compared with elsewhere in the UK, due to differences in connection type used to send data to energy providers.

Question reference: S6F-03526

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 11 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 November 2024

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

Question reference: S6F-03520

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 11 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 November 2024

Question to be taken in Chamber.