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-43459

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 January 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 12 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-43144 by Ivan McKee on 27 January 2026, whether it will confirm whether Corporate Travel Management North Ltd holds any data on frequent flyer or other travel loyalty scheme accounts used in connection with ministerial air travel booked through Scottish Government travel management arrangements.

Question reference: S6W-43447

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 January 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 12 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many requests for review have been made by applicants to the Future Farming Investment Scheme whose application was deemed ineligible, and how many of these have been responded to.

Question reference: S6W-43446

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 January 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 12 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider encouraging businesses and public bodies to take part in DFN Project Search internship schemes.

Question reference: S6W-43424

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 January 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 12 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it is taking to make paths and streets accessible to all in (a) rural and (b) urban communities.

Question reference: S6W-43113

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 29 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what arrangements are in place to ensure that there is operational separation between decisions on Electricity Act 1989 consents and decisions relating to capital investment, infrastructure financing or budget allocation.

The Minister for Public Finance has no role in decisions relating to funding, financing or financial guarantees for electricity transmission infrastructure projects that are subject to Electricity Act 1989 consents.

Legislation and regulations relating to electricity networks are reserved to the UK Government, with the National Energy System Operator (NESO) responsible for the strategic approach to the development of the electricity system across Great Britain.

Regulation of the electricity network including approval of investment in infrastructure is carried out by the independent energy regulator Ofgem.

Question reference: S6W-43263

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 29 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the sustainability of third sector and charitable perinatal mental health services in rural areas, including the Scottish Borders, in light of reports that demand for specialist one-to-one counselling and therapy remains high but funding streams are increasingly focused on community-based provision.

The third sector continues to play a key role for families in providing access to perinatal mental health support. In 2019, the Scottish Government established the Perinatal and Infant Mental Health (PIMH) Fund, administered by Inspiring Scotland.

Between October 2024 and March 2026, we are investing £1.5 million through this fund to support third-sector organisations delivering vital (non-clinical) mental health support during pregnancy and the early years. This funding has been distributed to 16 organisations, geographically spread across Scotland, including rural areas such as the Scottish Borders, Western Isles and Dumfries and Galloway. Inspiring Scotland’s most recent reporting PIMH Progress Update: April - September 2025 - Inspiring Scotland shows that the Fund continues to have a resoundingly positive impact.

Subject to Parliamentary approval of the 2026-27 Scottish budget, we have committed to continue to fund these vital supports in the coming financial year.

Question reference: S6W-43233

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 29 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address the impact of local authority budget decisions on dementia and community care services, including care at home, respite, day care and post-diagnostic support, to ensure that people living with dementia continue to receive the support that they need.

The Scottish Government remains committed to ensuring that people living with dementia and their families have access to consistent, high-quality care and support throughout every stage of their condition.

To support these ambitions, the 2026-27 budget includes record funding of £22.5 billion to health and social care, including supporting the pay uplift for our valued adult social care workforce. The budget also delivers a real terms increase of £700m in the Local Government Settlement between 2025-26 and 2026-27, taking this to over £15.7 billion. This includes an investment of over £2.3 billion for social care, exceeding our commitment to increase funding by 25% by the end of this Parliament.

As part of the national Dementia Strategy and first two-year Delivery Plan, which is jointly being taken forward with COSLA, the voices of lived experience, local and national delivery partners, we have prioritised efforts to ensure the right supports are available in our communities. This helps people living with dementia to access care in the setting of their choice and helps reduce the need for more intensive health and social care interventions for any longer than is clinically necessary. To support these ambitions, we have invested across the lifetime of the Delivery Plan around £1.45 million to increase direct support to dementia community groups and settings nationally, and £7 million via Health and Social Care Partnerships to increase the number of people who benefit from our commitment to a minimum of 12 months’ Post-Diagnostic Support.

The Scottish Government also recognises the invaluable role of care partners and unpaid carers, including those supporting people living with dementia. To help sustain and improve the health and wellbeing of carers across Scotland, we are progressing the Carers Act to further enhance and extend the rights of adult and young carers by investing £88.4 million per year in local carer support through Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 funding; £600,000 in 2025-26 for local carers centres in addition to local authority funding; and £13 million this year for the voluntary Short Breaks Fund.

While the commissioning of local services appropriately sit with local authorities, so that they can best respond to and meet local need, we are focused on wider social care reform and the National Care Service to improve people’s lives. The Care Reform (Scotland) Act 2025 and the new National Care Service Advisory Board, alongside other national programmes including GIRFE, Coming Home, the Self-directed support improvement plan and Support in the Right Direction funding, are all playing a part to improve services across Scotland and will be vital pillars in the National Care Service going forward. These programmes all work towards ensuring that people living with dementia receive the support they need.

Question reference: S6W-43215

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 29 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how it is collaborating with industry and education providers to create pathways into freight-related careers.

At National level, the Scottish Government is working closely with partners, including the Scottish Funding Council and Skills Development Scotland, to deliver the 2025-26 Programme for Government commitment to a new national skills planning approach for skills needs at national and regional levels. New or improved processes will be designed with stakeholder engagement, including employers, colleges, universities, training providers, Enterprise Agencies, and regional partners.

Apprenticeships are a key pathway to careers in the freight sector. Collaboration with employers and other key stakeholders is an integral part of the development, design and re-design of apprenticeships, with organisations strongly encouraged to get involved in apprenticeship development and to help identify demand.

Specifically for freight, Modern Apprenticeship pathways are currently available for Freight Logistics at SCQF levels 5, 6 and 7 via Skills Development Scotland. In 2024-25, Transport and logistics apprenticeship starts were among the top ten starts by occupational grouping in 2024-25, comprising around 3% of total starts. The achievement rate for freight logistics apprenticeships in 2024-25 was 80%, in line with the overall average, demonstrating the success of our education and training providers.

Our 2025 Draft Transport Just Transition Plan highlighted opportunities for workers in decarbonising transport, including the freight sector and, to date, we have invested just over £1.2 million to support Scotland's colleges to move at pace to prepare for the transition and provide relevant training.

In 2023, in collaboration with industry, the Scottish Government established the Zero Emission Truck Taskforce, who published a Decarbonisation Pathway including actions on workforce skills development HGV Decarbonisation - Pathway for Scotland - Zero Emission Truck Taskforce | Transport Scotland.

Following on from this, in 2025 Transport Scotland set up a zero-emission heavy duty vehicle skills forum to help share knowledge among industry and other stakeholders. This covered various topics related to skills and workforce challenges, including attracting and retaining talent.

Question reference: S6W-43267

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 29 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to provide longer-term funding certainty for charitable perinatal mental health services beyond short-term or transitional funding arrangements, in order to prevent any loss of established and effective provision.

In 2019, the Scottish Government established the Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Fund (PIMH), administered by Inspiring Scotland. Between October 2024 and March 2026, we are investing £1.5 million through this fund to support third-sector organisations delivering vital (non-clinical) mental health support during pregnancy and the early years.

Inspiring Scotland’s most recent reporting PIMH Progress Update: April - September 2025 - Inspiring Scotland shows that the Fund continues to have a resoundingly positive impact. Subject to Parliamentary approval of the 2026-27 Scottish budget, we have committed to continue to fund these vital supports in the coming financial year.

Question reference: S6W-43184

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 29 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the publication of the Women’s Health Plan: Phase 2 (2026-2029), by what date it will publish the Action Plan for the Elimination of Cervical Cancer, and what the timeline is for its implementation.

The Scottish Government intends to publish the Cervical Cancer Elimination Action Plan in spring 2026.

In the meantime, progress is already under way towards our goal of eliminating cervical cancer by 2040. This includes the upcoming launch of a cervical screening pilot for Human Papillomavirus (HPV) self-sampling, which is expected to begin in March. Self-sampling will be offered in selected GP practices within some of Scotland’s most deprived areas to women who have never, or rarely have, been screened. This pilot will inform the planning of a national roll-out of self sampling, and increase uptake within the cervical screening programme.