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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: S6T-02570

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 June 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the removal of dangerous building cladding, in light of the recent publications by Scotland’s Cladding Remediation Programme.

Question reference: S6F-04173

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 09 June 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 June 2025

To ask the First Minister how the Scottish Government is working to ensure that patients are accurately informed of waiting times for NHS treatments following referrals to a specialist.

Question reference: S6F-04167

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 June 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 June 2025

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's position is on whether the home leave for prisoners system is operating appropriately and as intended.

Question reference: S6F-04164

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 June 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 June 2025

To ask the First Minister what the impact on Scotland will be of the Chancellor’s Spending Review 2025.

Question reference: S6F-04163

Asked by: Lorna Slater, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 June 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 June 2025

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-04162

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 09 June 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 June 2025

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-04161

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 June 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 June 2025

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-38073

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 02 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 9 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it plans to take to close the reported gap between the amount of land allocated and permissioned for homes, and the number of homes being completed.

Across Scotland, there is a high-level estimate that more than 164,000 homes have planning permission but have not yet been built. This has set the context for the 23 actions set out in the Planning and Housing Emergency Delivery Plan that we published last November. We are making good progress delivering across all of these actions, which relate to policy, delivery, capacity and efficiency.

As an example, we have been identifying and removing barriers on stalled housing sites. Everyone involved in planning has a role to play in accelerating delivery, so we have established a Short Life Working Group, involving industry partners, to address challenges such as flexibility on affordable housing provision, flooding, market viability, education and transport (road and rail). We are also working more intensively to broker solutions for individual sites where progress has stalled. This work is informing the priorities for the National Planning Hub, which is offering practical help for planning authorities to access specialist expertise, build professional skills and capacity, and support efficiency.

We have committed to continuing action on stalled housing sites and the Hub in the 2025-26 Programme for Government. We will also consult this year on mechanisms to accelerate house building and stimulate access to land with planning permission where building has not started. These are examples of the delivery focus and practical intervention we are taking to help build more of the homes Scotland needs sooner.

Question reference: S6W-38059

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 June 2025
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 9 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to obtain robust data to track and identify emerging trends in Scotland regarding children’s use of (a) tobacco, (b) e-cigarettes and (c) nicotine pouches, in light of the reported 21,559 S2 and S4 pupils who answered questions about smoking and vaping in the Scottish School Adolescent Lifestyle and Substance Use Survey (SALSUS) in 2018 and the 25,411 S2 and S4 pupils who replied regarding use of tobacco and e-cigarettes in the Health and Wellbeing Census of 2021-22.

Our Tobacco and Vaping Framework: Roadmap to 2034 committed to tracking and reporting progress towards our 2034 target. This included work to develop further indicators, building on existing baseline data (taken from the Scottish Health Survey and the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children study) as part of the first two-year implementation plan.

As part of our ongoing analytical work on the Framework, we identified a need for more regular and more detailed data on children due to the rapidly changing landscape.

Since 2024 the Scottish Government has purchased a booster sample in the ASH SmokeFree GB Youth survey. This is an annual survey of 11-18 years olds in Great Britain that has been running since 2013. This has allowed us to achieve representativeness by age and gender for young people age 11 – 17 years living in Scotland.

Data from the Scotland booster sample provides robust and valuable information annually on patterns of use of cigarettes, vapes and novel nicotine products (including nicotine pouches).

Question reference: S6W-38118

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 02 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 9 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it currently funds any research into topical steroid withdrawal, and, if this is not the case, whether it plans to do so.

The Scottish Government’s Chief Scientist Office (CSO) supports open competitive grant and fellowship schemes for applied health research in Scotland across a wide remit that is inclusive of consideration of applications for funding for research relating to skin conditions such as topical steroid withdrawal. Applications submitted to these schemes are assessed through independent expert peer-review with funding recommendations made by independent expert committees. No projects for topical steroid withdrawal are currently being funded. CSO also invests in NHS Research Scotland to support NHS Boards host and participate in public, charity, and industry sector funded clinical studies and trials. This includes a Dermatology Research Network to support the delivery of clinical research on skin conditions. While a number of clinical studies of treatments for skin conditions are being supported, none relate specifically to topical steroid withdrawal.