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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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S6F-03095

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 May 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 May 2024

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s response is to reports that the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service continued to prosecute postmasters when there was evidence that the Horizon computer system used by the Post Office was flawed.

Question reference: S6F-03090

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 May 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 May 2024

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-03089

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 May 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 May 2024

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-03088

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 May 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 May 2024

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6T-01964

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 May 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of recently reported developments, what plans are being made to support the continued operation of the Grangemouth refinery.

Question reference: S6T-01965

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 May 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that a large volume of data has been published onto the dark web, following the recent cyber attack on NHS Dumfries and Galloway.

Question reference: S6W-26978

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 7 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the £60 million National Acquisition Programme funding had been spent by the end of the 2023-24 financial year, and how many social homes this funding delivered, broken down by local authority area.

In 2023-2024 a total of £83.146 million was spent and a total of 1,498 affordable homes were delivered through the National Acquisition Programme (NAP). The following table provides a breakdown of these figures by local authority area.

Due to the nature of the Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP), projects may draw down grant across multiple financial years. Spend, therefore, does not necessarily directly correlate to the number of homes delivered in the same financial year, as homes are only recorded as complete once a project record has fully completed.

Local Authority Area	Spend (£m)	Homes Delivered
Aberdeen City	4.234	126
Aberdeenshire	1.131	16
Angus	1.846	26
Argyll & Bute	0.182	0
City of Edinburgh	9.027	138
Clackmannanshire	1.974	57
Dumfries & Galloway	0.035	1
Dundee City	0.520	13
East Ayrshire	0.925	30
East Dunbartonshire	2.964	21
East Lothian	0.186	34
East Renfrewshire	0.248	6
Falkirk	3.150	70
Fife	2.970	57
Glasgow City	17.069	176
Inverclyde	0.537	33
Midlothian	0.195	38
Moray	0.042	1
North Ayrshire	2.417	7
North Lanarkshire	7.972	110
Perth & Kinross	2.497	59
Renfrewshire	0.897	27
Scottish Borders	1.450	22
Shetland Islands	0.228	3
South Ayrshire	1.455	37
South Lanarkshire	9.723	202
Stirling	1.450	37
The Highland Council	3.932	65
West Dunbartonshire	3.890	41
West Lothian	0.000	45
Total	83.146	1,498

Of the £83.146 million spent a total of £9.587 million was spent on projects to be initially used by Ukrainian displaced persons and later returned to be used within the wider social housing supply after a period of up to 3 years.

Question reference: S6W-26636

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 7 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that the consultants, Deloitte, provided evidence to the Post Office in 2017 suggesting that errors in the Horizon IT system or remote tampering could have caused the financial losses that were being investigated, what its position is on whether any convictions in Scotland that involved evidence related to the Horizon IT system (a) can be considered safe and (b) should be quashed.

The Scottish Government believes that the Post Office Horizon scandal is a unique situation requiring urgent action to ensure those wrongly convicted can finally access justice. Whilst the determination of innocence or guilt in criminal cases is usually rightly a matter for the judiciary, the situation arising is unprecedented in its scale and nature.

The Scottish Government can confirm that a Bill is currently going through the usual parliamentary process and will be introduced shortly.

The Scottish Bill will need to be passed after the UK Bill has been passed, to take account of any amendments made during passage at Westminster. This is to ensure full compatibility with UK legislation and the UK compensation scheme, in which the Scottish parliament has no locus, as we do not want to see anything that could lead to sub-postmasters not being treated on and equal and fair basis.

Question reference: S6W-26977

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 7 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it has taken to decrease the time that it takes for women to obtain an endometriosis diagnosis.

We know that diagnosis time for endometriosis is not acceptable and needs to improve. We recognise the time to diagnosis is not itself an effective measurement of improved health and well-being outcomes for those living with endometriosis. It is vital that we improve care and support throughout the whole diagnosis process.

To do this we have taken a number of actions including:

Supporting the Centre for Sustainable Delivery to raise awareness and implement the Endometriosis Care Pathway for Scotland which aims to provide a holistic approach and timely care for those with endometriosis and endometriosis-like symptoms.
Increasing education among healthcare practitioners by working with NHS Education for Scotland to deliver an endometriosis masterclass session for health care professionals, covering diagnosis, treatment and current research.
Developing information on NHS Inform and working with charities such as Endometriosis UK and Young Scot to ensure that women have access to information that can support them to recognise when their symptoms might not be a normal period and enable more informed conversations with clinicians.

Question reference: S6W-26954

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 7 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has assessed the potential impact on its commitment to ban single-use vapes in the event that the UK Government's Tobacco and Vapes Bill is not passed by the UK Parliament, and what discussions the Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity has had with the UK Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, or any other UK Government ministers, regarding this Bill.

The passage of the four nations Tobacco and Vapes Bill has no impact on the Scottish Government’s commitment to prohibit the sale and supply of single-use vapes. The prohibition of the sale and supply of single-use vapes is being progressed under existing environmental powers devolved to Scottish Ministers. The UK Government and Welsh Government are progressing similar legislation in England and Wales respectively.

Work on the Tobacco and Vaping Bill, in Scotland, is being led by the Minister for Public Health and Women's Health. This Bill will increase the age of sale for tobacco products and provide powers to legislate on vape flavours, displays, packaging, and other measures. As the Bill makes provisions within the competence of the Scottish Parliament, a Legislative Consent Memorandum was brought forward on 2nd April for consideration by this Parliament.