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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.

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Question reference: S6O-04527

Asked by: Marie McNair, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment has been made regarding the potential impact that community link workers have on the social determinants of health.

Question reference: S6O-04517

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting the breeding of disease resistant ash trees.

Question reference: S6O-04521

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the progress of action 42 in the Cancer Action Plan 2023 to 2026 to carry out a clinically led review on cancer waiting times.

Question reference: S6O-04539

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it monitors the effectiveness of Social Security Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-35645

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 14 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 26 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will introduce 15 hours of funded childcare per week for children aged nine months to three years, similar to that in England, and, if so, what the timescale will be.

High quality, accessible and affordable early learning and school age childcare is critical to keeping children in Scotland out of poverty. That is why we continue prioritise investment of around £1 billion per year in delivering funded ELC to all eligible children, despite the significant financial challenges facing the Scottish Government as a result of budget choices made at Westminster.

As a result, families across Scotland have been benefitting from the provision of 1140 hours of high quality ELC since 2021. We also committed in the 2024 Programme for Government to work with local authorities to maximise the uptake of funded early learning and childcare for eligible two-year-olds.

It is important to recognise that the UK Government’s offer is not an expansion of universal ELC for children under three, as it is only available to working families in England. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has made clear that, despite billions of investment by the UK Government, ‘the poorest one third of families will see almost no direct benefit from the new entitlements’’.

The Scottish Government is committed to taking the time needed to deliver a childcare expansion that is both fair and affordable, giving children the best possible start in life and supporting parents and carers to work, train and take up education opportunities. Our approach is backed by international evidence which shows that high quality ELC is critical to giving children the best start in life, especially those experiencing poverty.

In this Parliament we are working with six councils on childcare early adopter communities (EAC), backed by £16 million over 2024-25 and 2025-26. The EACs are supporting the development of affordable childcare for low-income families with children from the early years through to the end of primary school, and evaluating the difference this can make.

The engagement and targeted delivery that takes place for younger children in the EACs this year will be a key element in developing our evidence base to inform a future expansion. We will also be drawing on research to understand what different approaches to early learning and childcare are best for younger children and piloting new approaches via projects funded by the Whole Family Wellbeing Fund.

Question reference: S6W-35701

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 26 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many offenders participated in the Caledonian System rehabilitation programme in 2022-23, and how many local authorities currently deliver the Caledonian System.

On 1 April 2022 there were 134 men actively participating in the Caledonian System, and between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023 a further 482 were given a Caledonian requirement. Currently 20 Local Authorities deliver the Caledonian System within Scotland, with another two areas, Moray and Shetland preparing to roll out this year. The Scottish Government is actively working with and encouraging those remaining local authority areas to consider adopting the Caledonian System over a phased period.

Question reference: S6W-35614

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 26 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported concerns that any increasing social security costs could reduce the funding available for other public services such as health and education.

Social security is an investment in the people of Scotland. Our priority is to ensure that people receive the support to which they are entitled and that in doing so they are treated with dignity, fairness and respect. The Scottish Government are investing around £6.9 billion in Social Security benefits in 2025-26, this is projected to increase to around £8.9 billion by 2029-30.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that finances remain on a sustainable trajectory and that we continue to reach a balanced position each year, as we have done for the last 17 years. We will continue to take forward our programme of work for doing this, which will be updated in the next Medium-Term Financial Strategy due to be published later this year, alongside the Fiscal Sustainability Delivery Plan.

Question reference: S6W-35787

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 26 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-27244 by Jim Fairlie on 13 May 2024, whether it will provide an update on how many journeys have been made through the Young Persons’ (Under 22s) Free Bus Travel scheme, broken down by local authority, based on the latest available data.

The following table shows the number of journeys, broken down by local authority, made through the Young Persons’ Free Bus Travel Scheme since its launch in January 2022 up to 28 February 2025. Journeys are based on the local authority in which the card was issued, therefore some journeys will have been undertaken outwith the local authority area.

Local Authority	Total Journeys
Aberdeen City	11,755,210
Aberdeenshire	5,817,811
Angus Council	2,795,910
Argyll & Bute	1,592,223
City of Edinburgh	42,368,125
Clackmannanshire	949,142
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar	290,964
Dumfries and Galloway	2,808,657
Dundee City	9,078,908
East Ayrshire	5,095,101
East Dunbartonshire	2,729,489
East Lothian	5,856,702
East Renfrewshire	2,688,049
Falkirk	2,943,570
Fife	15,847,992
Glasgow City	26,926,132
Highland	4,210,245
Inverclyde	3,073,230
Midlothian	5,444,718
Moray	1,703,065
North Ayrshire	5,677,541
North Lanarkshire	8,155,430
Orkney Islands	285,724
Perth & Kinross	4,563,953
Renfrewshire	6,794,793
Scottish Borders	2,696,004
Shetland Islands	553,252
South Ayrshire	2,923,356
South Lanarkshire	7,440,121
Stirling	2,524,385
West Dunbartonshire	3,564,053
West Lothian	4,880,594
Total	204,034,449

Question reference: S6W-35740

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 26 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to review the support provided to parents receiving cancer treatment.

We take a comprehensive approach to reviewing support provided to people receiving cancer treatment, which includes those who are parents. We published our Cancer Strategy for Scotland 2023-2033 and initial three year Cancer Action Plan for Scotland 2023 – 2026 along with a Monitoring and Evaluation Framework in 2023. Our aim is that every person with cancer will have access to the support they need, clinical and non-clinical, reflecting what matters to them.

We are also committed to reviewing patients’ experiences through the Scottish Cancer Experience Survey, Care Opinion and the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measures Programme.

Question reference: S6W-35785

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 26 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when the species licensing review will (a) conclude and (b) report to ministers, and by what date the findings will be published.