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-36509

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, in light of the Defra Extended Producer Responsibility Impact Assessment, what its position is on whether the cost of implementing extended producer responsibility for brewers and producers should be passed onto consumers.

Extended producer responsibility for packaging ensures that producers take full responsibility for the environmental impacts of the packaging they place on the market. Existing costs for the management of packaging waste are transferred from taxpayers to producers.

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

Question reference: S6W-36309

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 23 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to its inshore Marine Protected Areas and Priority Marine Features consultation, how long from the beginning of the consultation it anticipates it will take for any necessary protections to be implemented and enforced.

Developing evidence-based and effective fisheries management measures, and robustly undertaking statutory requirements, for more than 160 sites and areas within the inshore region is a complicated and challenging process. It is on a scale not previously undertaken therefore it is not possible to give a definitive timeline for how long it will take following the consultation as this will be impacted by a number of factors including: the length of the consultation, number of responses and the output of the statutory assessments. We are continuing to work at pace to ensure progress is made as quickly as possible.

Question reference: S6W-36503

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, regarding the extended producer responsibility scheme, how it plans to measure the efficiency and effectiveness of local authorities' recycling services, and what penalties will be imposed if councils do not meet the required standards for recycling performance.

Question reference: S6W-36502

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 whether local authorities will be required to ringfence extended producer responsibility payments that they receive, for the purpose of improving collection and recycling rates of packaging materials, or for any other purpose.

Question reference: S6W-35960

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 23 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the claim by the Institute for Fiscal Studies in its website article, Two-child limit mitigation in Scotland would help larger poor families but policy design could harm work incentives, which was published on 14 March 2025, that its proposed two-child limit mitigation policy could harm work incentives by creating a "cliff-edge" effect.

We have consistently called for the UK Government to remove the two-child cap at source. Fixing a broken Universal Credit system would be the best way to alleviate the impacts of the pernicious two-child cap, however it is clear that despite repeated calls on them to do so, the Scottish Government can no longer wait for action. That is why we are taking decisive action as early as possible, using the limited social security powers that we have, to scrap the cap in Scotland. Our actions will result in an estimated 20,000 fewer children living in relative poverty in 2026-27.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission’s report on “Mitigating the two-child limit and the Scottish Budget” states, “it is likely that the proposed mitigation payments would not generate large behavioural responses over and above the ways that families may already have adapted to the Scottish Child Payment.”

Our own published analysis of how Scottish Child Payment interacts with the labour market concludes that it is not currently negatively affecting work incentives at scale in the economy.

However, we will continue to analyse the impact of Scottish Child Payment on work incentives, and of the two-child cap mitigation when it is introduced.

Question reference: S6O-04559

Asked by: Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 23 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it is working with partners to tackle gang-related crime.

Disrupting organised crime groups, diverting individuals away from organised crime and reducing the harm caused by organised crime to individuals, communities and organisations remains a priority for the Scottish Government and its partners.

Partnership working is a crucial part of the approach to organised crime, as set out in Scotland’s Serious Organised Crime Strategy. The Serious Organised Crime Taskforce, which I chair, brings together law enforcement partners, and representatives from the public, private and third sectors.

The Scottish Crime Campus at Gartcosh enhances collaboration between key partner organisations in detecting and disrupting serious organised crime and terrorism. This includes the Police Scotland-chaired Multi-Agency Tasking and Delivery Board which comprises representatives from a number of bodies with investigative remits to share intelligence, identify emerging and current threats and collaborate on operational approach.

Question reference: S6T-02471

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that 506 sex offenders in Scotland have changed their name in the past two years.

Question reference: S6T-02475

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects to conclude negotiations with Peel Ports regarding the purchase of Ardrossan Harbour.

Question reference: S6F-04007

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 April 2025

To ask the First Minister whether he will provide an update on when the Scottish Government expects to respond to the Loch Long salmon farm planning application.

Question reference: S6F-04003

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 April 2025

To ask the First Minister what impact the Scottish Government anticipates that the Supreme Court judgment regarding For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers will have on the implementation of the Public Sector Equality Duty in Scotland.