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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: S6W-34532

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 28 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-33839 by Paul McLennan on 31 January 2025, whether the figures provided are based on deposit amounts that were agreed to be returned to the tenants.

Question reference: S6W-34531

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 28 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the maximum time period a tenant has to claim the return of a deposit following the end of their tenancy agreement.

A tenant can start the reclaim process for a deposit return at any point on or past the date on which their tenancy ends. In cases where a landlord has commenced the reclaim process first, a tenant has 30 working days to advise whether or not they agree to the proposed return amount. In either situation, where a tenant or landlord does not agree with the proposed return by the other party, there is a dispute resolution system in place.

If neither the tenant or landlord commences the repayment process, the tenant can log on to their deposit account and request a reclaim at any point. There is no statutory time limit on a tenant being able reclaim their deposit and currently any funds that are considered to be unclaimed are held indefinitely by the tenancy deposit schemes in a designated account.

Question reference: S6O-04404

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 February 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on when it plans to introduce its proposed Heat in Buildings Bill.

Question reference: S6O-04369

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 February 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on any correspondence it has had with the UK Government and the Scottish Public Pensions Agency regarding the legacy of the Scottish Police Pension 1987 Scheme.

Question reference: S6W-34360

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 18 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding any impact in Scotland, what its position is on the finding of the UK Government consultation, Review of the ban on the use of combustible materials in and on the external walls of buildings, that hotels, hostels and boarding houses presented an “equivalent, or greater, sleeping risk” and as such should be captured within a ban on combustible façade material.

Question reference: S6W-34359

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 18 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will (a) publish the phase 1 research and (b) commit to publishing the phase 2 research carried out by the Building Research Establishment in support of the consultation document, Scottish Building Regulations: Proposed review of fire safety topics including Cameron House Hotel recommendations: Fire safety risks in traditional buildings used as hotels, review of current provision on fire suppression, combustible cladding and other issues.

Question reference: S6O-04322

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recent programme, Disclosure: Kids on the Psychiatric Ward, which features Skye House in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

Question reference: S6W-33839

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 31 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding how many tenancy deposits were unclaimed at the end of the tenancy agreement in each year since 2021-22, and what action it takes to promote the uptake of deposits.

The requested information is detailed in the following table:

Financial Year	Increase in unclaimed deposits from previous year	Total number of unclaimed deposits
2021-22	862	12,912
2022-23	988	13,900
2023-24	6,297	20,197

The total value of unclaimed deposits in the requested financial years can be found in our previously issued response to S6W-33204 on 20 January 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

In reference to the increase of number and value of unclaimed tenancy deposits in 2023-24, Scottish Government received notification from one of the schemes in August 2023 explaining that they had reviewed the criteria used to report on unclaimed deposits. This has resulted in a fluctuation in their figures with a corresponding increase in the total number of unclaimed deposits amongst the three schemes.

Each of the three schemes may calculate unclaimed deposits differently, as an unclaimed deposit is not currently defined in law. Provisions within the Housing (Scotland) Bill will create a legal definition of when a tenancy deposit can be considered unclaimed, ensuring there is consistency in all three schemes figures if the Bill is approved.

The tenancy deposit schemes have taken a number of active steps to reunite unclaimed deposits with former tenants and have recently shared best practises amongst each other. The Scottish Government intend to take forward additional changes to support tenants to reclaim their deposit at the end of the tenancy. This includes providing more information to tenants about unclaimed tenancy deposits to raise awareness of the issue and to be clear about what would happen if they don’t reclaim their deposit, as part of implementation of the measures in the Bill.

Question reference: S6W-33278

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 29 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government, as it may relate to Scotland, on introducing a permanent ban on prepayment energy meter installations.

Energy policy (including pre-payment meters) is mostly reserved to the UK Government, which means the Scottish Government has limited powers to intervene.

It is important that consumers are able to choose the most appropriate and manageable way of paying for their energy, and prepayment meters can, under certain circumstances, play an important part in providing flexibility and choice to households and businesses.

The Scottish Government has therefore not called for a permanent ban on the installation of prepayment meters – while strongly supporting the ban on forcibly installing meters for certain vulnerable customers.

We continue to call for more targeted support for vulnerable consumers, including those on prepayment meters, who are in greater risk of increased debt or self-disconnection.

Question reference: S6W-33276

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 29 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what support it currently offers to individuals who use prepayment energy meters and are at risk of disconnection.

Energy policy (including pre-payment meters) is mostly reserved to the UK Government, which unfortunately means that the Scottish Government has limited powers to intervene.

We continue to call for more targeted support for vulnerable consumers, including those on prepayment meters, who are in greater risk of increased debt or self-disconnection. This includes the urgent introduction of a social energy tariff mechanism as a much needed safety net for priority consumers.

The Scottish Government established a social tariff working group last November, bringing together stakeholders to co-design a deliverable social tariff policy, and we have committed to providing the outputs to the UK Government as soon as possible