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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-40505

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 September 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 30 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the planned sale of the Clydebridge Steelworks in Cambuslang by GFG Alliance.

Question reference: S6W-40510

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 15 September 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 29 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will lead the preparation of a plan and investment case for the development of Scotland's steel manufacturing, including the commissioning of a Direct Reduced Iron facility and Electric Arc Furnace to leverage part of the £2.5 billion allocated to the green steel fund from the UK Government’s National Wealth Fund and private sector investment.

Question reference: S6W-40507

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 15 September 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 29 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of the NHS Scotland budget has been spent on pharmaceuticals in each of the last 10 years.

Question reference: S6O-04943

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 September 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what work is being undertaken to improve the rehabilitation of people who are subject to short prison sentences.

Question reference: S6W-40286

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 10 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when the next round of the Investing in Communities Fund (ICF) will be announced.

Question reference: S6W-40187

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 10 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will review the Homeless Persons (Suspension of Referrals between Local Authorities) (Scotland) Order 2022, in light of the reported increased pressure on homelessness services in Glasgow that has arisen since the order was commenced.

The rules on local connection were changed in November 2022 to give homeless households – like other households – choice and control about where they settle. The SSI in November 2022 stopped referrals of homeless households between Scottish local authorities on the basis of their local connection. Referrals to England and Wales are still permitted and the SSI did not change local connection rules for refugee households. The rules covering refugee households who have just left asylum accommodation are set out in the Homelessness etc. (Scotland) Act 2003.

Homelessness statistics on local connection following changes to the legislation remain stable with 3% of households seeking homelessness support in an area where they do not have a local connection. The evidence to date shows that people are exercising choice about where they want to live as the legislation intended. We continue to monitor the flow of people moving in and out of each local authority area to inform our understanding of the impact of the legislative change.

The duties that local authorities owe to homeless refugee households were not affected by the November 2022 changes to local connection. It is section 7 of the Homelessness etc.(Scotland) Act 2003, passed by the last Labour / Liberal coalition which outlines that the time spent in Home Office asylum accommodation does not establish a local connection for newly recognised refugees, as the household has not had any choice about where they lived while accommodated by the Home Office. If a household receives a positive asylum decision while living in asylum accommodation in a Scottish local authority and presents as homeless, they cannot be referred to the local authority where they were accommodated by the Home Office on the basis of local connection.

Conversely, Section 199 (6) of the Housing Act 1996 states that a local connection is established if a person was at any time provided with accommodation in that district. This means that people granted refugee status in England and Wales are found to have established a local connection with the authority/authorities where they have resided in asylum accommodation – despite having no choice in where they were placed. This limits where they can make a homelessness application in England and Wales.

A decision by the UK Government in December 2022 to clear the backlog of legacy asylum claims resulted in an increased number of refugee households seeking support, with this increased pressure being most acute in Glasgow. More recently, the Home Office decision (27 August 2025) to end the temporary extension of the move-on period for single adults is likely to exacerbate the pressures being faced by local authorities. The Scottish Government supports the call from Glasgow City Council that the UK Government must provide adequate funding to allow local authorities to support newly recognised refugees and communities.

Scottish Ministers do not want to roll back the rights of homeless households and do not intend to make any further changes to local connection legislation at this time.

Question reference: S6W-39958

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 10 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-39238 by Richard Lochhead on 18 August 2025, whether it will seek consent from firms to publish the name of their businesses in future publications and rankings, such as Businesses in Scotland, to improve the quality of analysis, in a similar manner to the annual published list of the 300 highest income charities on the Scottish Charity Register.

The Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR), the source of the Businesses in Scotland publication, is not a public register. The IDBR is a statistical register, built from a range of survey return data, administrative data and estimated data.

The IDBR data are held by the Scottish Government on behalf of the United Kingdom Statistics Authority and are classified as ‘personal information’ according to the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007. The 2007 Act requires that the Scottish Government must not disclose the personal information, held on behalf of the United Kingdom Statistics Authority, unless directly authorised by the UK National Statistician. Authority will only be given in exceptional circumstances.

Asking businesses permission to publish the information they return on a named basis would very likely result in reduced overall response rates. Additionally it may affect the quality of the data response.

Information on businesses in Scotland is publicly available from the Companies House register. A downloadable snapshot containing basic data for live companies on the Companies House register is available at:

https://download.companieshouse.gov.uk/en_output.html

Question reference: S6W-40325

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 10 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it promotes a higher birth rate, in light of reports that the number of births in Scotland in 2024 dropped to its lowest number in 169 years.

Falling birth rates are a trend across many high-income countries, with significant implications for our economies, communities and public services. It is not for government to dictate or influence whether an individual should have children, which is rightly a matter for individuals and couples.

Our 2021 Population Strategy sets out our ambition that Scotland is the ideal place to raise a family, and that people are enabled to have the number of children they wish to. In December 2024, the Ministerial Population Taskforce considered potential lessons from family friendly policy interventions internationally, and officials are currently exploring next steps in the Scottish context, including scoping further research into the role of parental leave uptake on decisions to have children.

Question reference: S6W-40450

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 September 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 24 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the potential impact on Scotland's economy, whether it will engage with the UK Government and Serco regarding the reported award of the Defence Maritime Service Next Generation Vessel Replacement Project to the Netherlands-based Damen Shipyards Group and ask for consideration to be given to the subcontracting of the work to shipyards in Scotland under social value requirements, similar to how the new Mersey Ferry contract was awarded to the Damen Group and then subcontracted to APCL Cammell Laird at Birkenhead.

Question reference: S6W-40447

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 September 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 24 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason a stroke thrombectomy service is not currently available in Glasgow on a 24/7 basis.