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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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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 23 July 2025
Answer status
Question type

Displaying 43212 questions Show Answers

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Question reference: S6W-30335

  • Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
  • Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 October 2024
  • Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to Professor Angela Daly's reported comments that live facial recognition technology is "not fit for purpose" and is "generally unethical", in light of the reported proposals by the Chief Constable of Police Scotland to deploy the technology in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-30343

  • Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
  • Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 October 2024
  • Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the reported proposals from the Chief Constable of Police Scotland, what its response is to reports that the use of live facial recognition by South Wales Police has produced 2,833 false alerts, compared with only 72 resultant arrests.

Question reference: S6W-30325

  • Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
  • Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2024
  • Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether Police Scotland can sufficiently monitor the workings of live facial recognition systems, as proposed by the Chief Constable, in relation to any stereotyping or harmful assumptions, in light of the so-called black box problem affecting some AI systems.

Question reference: S6W-30327

  • Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
  • Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2024
  • Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether the live facial recognition systems that Police Scotland's Chief Constable has proposed deploying for law enforcement purposes could be used to corroborate other pieces of evidence in criminal proceedings.

Question reference: S6W-30308

  • Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
  • Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2024
  • Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what it considers the potential behavioural impact on officers would be of the reported proposals from the Chief Constable of Police Scotland to deploy live facial recognition technology for law enforcement purposes.

Question reference: S6W-30332

  • Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
  • Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2024
  • Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what safeguards will be in place to minimise any incidences of wrongful arrests under the reported proposals by Police Scotland's Chief Constable to deploy live facial recognition for law enforcement purposes.

Question reference: S6W-30792

  • Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
  • Date lodged: Monday, 21 October 2024
  • Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis has been conducted of any expected changes to the levels of non-drug related crime that occur near or within the vicinity of the safer drug consumption facility in Glasgow.

Question reference: S6W-30788

  • Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
  • Date lodged: Monday, 21 October 2024
  • Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many of its civil servants have worked on the establishment of the safer drug consumption facility in Glasgow in the financial years (a) 2023-24 and (b) 2024-25 to date, and what the salaries are of those civil servants working in this area.

Question reference: S6W-30539

  • Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
  • Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 October 2024
  • Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has made any contract extension for the Chief Entrepreneur.

Question reference: S6W-30516

  • Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
  • Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 October 2024
  • Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding any impact on its energy policy and strategy, what its position is on the reported calls on the UK Government by Scottish Renewables and other trade bodies to rule out zonal pricing under the Review of Electricity Market Arrangements (REMA), and to instead commit to a Reformed National Market (RNM) programme.