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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: S6W-33973

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6W-33316

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 24 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it is working with law enforcement agencies to tackle the supply of pipes and other paraphernalia used to consume illicit drugs.

We remain committed to reducing harm for individuals from the use of unsafe paraphernalia and will continue collaborating with stakeholders and harm reduction services on this matter.

We acknowledge the risks posed by unsafe, makeshift inhalation pipes, often shared among drug users. We are working closely with Police Scotland, Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, and other law enforcement agencies through the Serious Organised Crime Taskforce to address these issues.

In 2021, the Drug Deaths Taskforce advocated for expanding drug paraphernalia provision for safer consumption and urged the UK Minister for Policing to reconsider legal restrictions. Though initially rejected, Scottish Government officials are engaging with the new UK administration to revisit this matter.

Question reference: S6W-33286

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 24 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much it plans to spend in 2025-26 on work related to Scottish independence.

Question reference: S6W-33287

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 24 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when it anticipates that it will publish the next paper in the Building a New Scotland series.

Question reference: S6W-32368

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 06 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 24 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the potential impact on passenger numbers in Scotland, what discussions it has had with National Rail regarding its current Railcard terms and conditions, including that tickets must be bought before boarding the train.

The terms and conditions of all GB-wide railcards are set by National Rail, part of the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) under UK Government rail industry rules. There have been no recent specific discussions concerning changes to railcard terms. ScotRail has confirmed with officials at Transport Scotland that National Railcards can be used to buy tickets online, via the app, or at TVMs. Where ticket purchasing facilities are not available at a station, passengers can use their National Rail card when purchasing a ticket from a member of staff on-board of ScotRail trains.

Question reference: S6W-33331

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 24 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has identified the next priorities for the improvement of neurological care and support; if so, what these priorities are; what funding it will put towards achieving them, and over what time period.

Priorities for the Scottish Government are:

national implementation of the Scottish Epilepsy Register,
further adoption of successful approaches to improving services through the neurological conditions network,
continued improvements in provision of ‘social support’ and psychological services for people with neurological conditions,
continued development and adoption of condition specific care pathways,
continued development and adoption of approaches to workforce planning and training for nursing, pharmacy, neuropsychology allied health professionals, and neurophysiology.

This work will be considered as part of the development of the Long Term Conditions Strategy due to be published later this year. Any required funding will be considered during the 2025-26 budget deliberations.

Question reference: S6W-33333

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 24 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government which neurological conditions it has invested in through framework funding during the period covered by the Neurological Care and Support Framework for Action 2020–2025.

The largest proportion of funding has been awarded to projects that improve services for all or more than one neurological condition, including services for carers. Direct investment was also made to projects for the following specific conditions:

Acquired Brain Injury
Cerebral Palsy
Epilepsy
Functional Neurological Disorder (FND)
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS)
Migraine
Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
Parkinson’s Disease
Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP)
Psychogenic Non-Epileptic Seizures
Spina bifida/ hydrocephalus

A full list of projects funded through the Neurological Framework can be found here.

Question reference: S6W-33285

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 24 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many full-time equivalent civil servants are currently engaged in work relating to Scottish independence.

Question reference: S6W-33179

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 24 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many complaints it has received regarding the condition of the A90 in each of the last five years, and what actions were taken as a result.

There have been no official complaints logged regarding the overall condition of the A90 in the last five years. However, there has been a total of 171 individual complaints with resulting reports:

Financial Year	Number of Complaints	Action Taken
2019-20	37	Cat 1 / Cat 2 repairs completed. Complaints logged and action taken to rectify timeously
2020-21	30	Road resurfacing carried out All Cat 1/ Cat 2 repairs completed
2021-22	41	Road resurfacing carried out All Cat 1/ Cat 2 repairs completed
2022-23	34	Defective road signs removed and route reviewed for further defects All Cat 1/ Cat 2 repairs completed
2023-24	29	Road resurfacing carried out and ongoing repairs at location of Glencarse Overbridge Cat 1/ Cat 2 repairs completed

Question reference: S6W-33313

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 24 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what funding it has allocated to research by Scottish universities on alcohol and drug misuse in 2024-25.

Funding allocation to research by Scottish Universities in 2024-25 is £54,787. The National Mission is further supported by research undertaken at national and local levels by national boards such as Public Health Scotland and Health Improvement Scotland and third sector partners.

In October 2024, Chief Scientist Office (CSO) announced Phase 2 of the Reducing Drug Deaths Innovation Challenge. This £5 million partnership between CSO and UK Government Office for Life Sciences funds 7 innovation projects to address the rising issue of drug-related deaths. CSO contribute £500,000 to this partnership.

In addition, we provided funding of £52,500 to the University of Edinburgh to host the Drugs Research Network Scotland to deliver knowledge exchange activities through an annual conference and regular webinars and to monitor ongoing research activities.