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-04585

Asked by: Maggie Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Aberdeenshire Council regarding the reported financial pressures that it is experiencing.

Question reference: S6O-04580

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what funding will be available to help infrastructure projects in south west Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-04590

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with the City of Edinburgh Council regarding its allocated budget.

Question reference: S6W-35741

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 23 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions its ministers have had in relation to requests to deliver Hugh’s Law, which would offer financial assistance to parents when children undergo prolonged hospital treatment.

We fully recognise that this is a challenging time for families. The Young Patients Family Fund helps families of young inpatients under 18 in Scotland cover some of the costs of hospital visits, regardless of diagnosis. Families can get support to cover costs of travel, food and/or accommodation.

Importantly, no-one needs a formal diagnosis to apply for Child Disability Payment which has paid out over £1 billion to families with disabled children to date. Parents applying on behalf of a terminally ill child can use our fast-tracked route to apply so they and their family can access the maximum level of financial support they are entitled to – quickly and with dignity.

Question reference: S6W-36562

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 23 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it will fund the projected increase in social security expenditure without raising taxes or making reductions to other public services.

The Scottish Government will continue to provide vital assistance to enable older people to heat their homes, to help disabled people live independent lives and will keep thousands of children out of poverty. The Scottish Fiscal Commission’s December 2024 forecasts show that our investment in Social Security over and above the money we get from the UK Government is projected to be less than 3.5% of the total Scottish Government Resource Budget by 2029-30.

As part of our Medium-Term Financial Strategy, we consider the medium to longer-term drivers of public spending and assess these against forecast funding. It is then for Ministers to prioritise expenditure, as part of the annual budget process and Spending Reviews, in line with the principles and policies on the use of borrowing and reserve powers.

The Fiscal Sustainability Delivery Plan which will publish alongside the Medium-Term Financial Strategy in May 2025 will set out the actions we’re taking to improve the sustainability of the public finances over the medium-term.

Question reference: S6W-36498

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 23 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it will take to ensure transparency in how extended producer responsibility scheme funding is allocated to local authorities.

PackUK is the scheme administrator for extended producer responsibility for packaging (pEPR), operating on behalf of the four nations. PackUK is responsible for calculating and distributing local authority payments.

The requirements that PackUK must consider when assessing funding to local authorities are set out in the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024.

In November 2024 indicative payments were shared with local authorities, along with guidance to help local authorities understand how payments have been calculated and allocated. PackUK has also engaged with local authorities through online forums and gathering stakeholder feedback to ensure accuracy of payments. Scottish Local Authorities have been indicatively allocated a total of £160m in 2025-26, out of a total of £1.4bn in pEPR funding across the UK.

Scottish Government officials have continued to work closely with COSLA throughout the development and implementation of pEPR.

Question reference: S6W-36510

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 23 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it will evaluate the impact of the extended producer responsibility scheme on investment in Scotland, particularly within sectors impacted by packaging-related fees, such as food and drink production.

Question reference: S6W-36501

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 23 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what criteria will be used to assess the recycling efficiency of local authorities under the extended producer responsibility scheme, and what the penalties will be for councils that fail to meet these standards.

An efficient waste management service is defined by the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024 as a waste management service where disposal costs are as low as reasonable possible, taking into account the waste management service provided by a local authority, and any other factors specific to that authority, or to the area in relation to which it exercises its waste management functions, which in the opinion of PackUK (the EPR scheme administrator) are likely to affect its disposal costs.

Effectiveness assessments of local authorities waste management services are carried out by PackUK. The assessment of whether a local authority is running an effective waste management service for household packaging waste will include the amounts of household packaging waste managed, and the proportions recycled, recovered or disposed of. It will also account for local authority specific factors including population density, accessibility, deprivation, and government policies in each nation, as well as other relevant factors. Metrics will be agreed between PackUK and local authorities.

If PackUK determines that a local authority is not providing an effective waste management service, they will give notice to the local authority and work with them to determine how the services could be improved. Only if a local authority is not doing everything they can be reasonably expected to do to improve its waste management service and has no mitigating circumstances, could they then be subject to a deduction of their payment up to 20%.

Effectiveness assessments can be brought in from 2026 if sufficient data is available to make assessments, but must be brought in by 2028.

Question reference: S6W-36508

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 23 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to evaluate the economic impact of the extended producer responsibility scheme on brewers and pubs in Scotland, including whether packaging costs have affected prices.

The Scottish Government has considered the impact on businesses through the publication of a Full Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA).

We will be evaluating the impacts of extended producer responsibility for packaging in future years through a four nation evaluation of the policy. The evaluation is being led by Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and will run from
2024-2029.

Question reference: S6W-36444

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 23 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many incidents involving vaping in schools have been reported since the roll-out of the Tobacco and Vaping Framework.

Scottish Government is clear that children and young people should not be using vapes as these are an age-restricted product. Our ‘Take Hold’ marketing campaign educated parents, carers and children about the dangers of vaping and increased the awareness of the harms and risks of nicotine addiction.

The Scottish Government does not hold statistics on vaping in schools. As the responsible body, education authorities are best placed to provide this level of information.