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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-37648

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 18 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will assess any impact that the closure of Axis Studios and the reported loss of 160 jobs has had on the animation studio sector in Glasgow, and what information it holds on how many people who lost their jobs as a result of the closure have gained new employment with local digital and technology companies, in light of recent reports that Halon Entertainment plans to open a new animation studio in Glasgow and create up to 250 jobs in the next three years.

The Scottish Government is very interested in the development of the screen industry as a whole including the animation sector. The animation sector is monitored through the Economic Value in Screen Report published by Screen Scotland, the report is published retrospectively and the closure of Axis Studios will be reflected in future reports.

A range of support was offered to staff at Axis Studios including, PACE Introduction to Redundancy Support Webinar, sourcing vacancies suitable for former Axis Studios and a Webinar on Skilled Worker Visas. We hold no information on if the people effected in the closure gained new employment with local digital and technology companies.

Halon’s investment in Scotland marks a major boost for the digital tech, film, TV, and games industries, reinforcing Scotland’s position as a global hub for creative technology.

Question reference: S6W-38441

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 06 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 18 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether extra resources have been provided to Healthcare Improvement Scotland, in light of reports of an increased number of dentists choosing to register their practices as independent clinics.

The regulation of independent health care, including dentists registered as independent clinics, is funded through fees paid to Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) by its regulated independent health care services. These fees fund HIS’ regulation activities. All independent health care services must register with HIS, and pay registration annual continuation fees to legally operate in Scotland.

In addition to the fees, the Scottish Government has provided £260,000 per year to HIS for regulation of independent healthcare services since 2022-23.

Question reference: S6W-38440

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 06 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 18 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many dental practices registered with Healthcare Improvement Scotland as independent clinics in 2024-25, and, of those, how many had previously been providers of general dental services with their local NHS boards.

Question reference: S6W-38756

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 June 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 15 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-38261 by Angela Constance on 17 June 2025, what the change in budget in real terms is for 2025-26 once inflation has been taken into account.

Question reference: S6W-38491

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 09 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to increase business research and development (R&D) spending in Scotland, in light of reported research by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) that shows that Scotland's business enterprise R&D intensity in 2022 was only 1.45% of GDP, while it was 2% in the UK overall and more than 2.6% in Sweden.

The Scottish Government recognises that while Scotland is ranked among the top OECD countries and top performing UK regions in Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) spend as a percentage of GDP, Scotland’s Business Enterprise Research and Development (BERD) spend as a share of GDP is below the OECD average. While Scotland outperforms the EU27 average, the Scottish Government published its National Innovation Strategy in 2023 to increase innovation levels across Scotland, including business R&D spending.

The ten year strategy sets out actions to make Scotland one of the most innovative small nations in the world and will use innovation as a productivity driver to grow the economy and create jobs in areas of strength such as: energy transition; health and life sciences; advanced manufacturing; and the application of data and digital technologies. Specifically, the strategy’s commercialisation programme will support our world-class universities to consistently and effectively convert cutting edge research and technologies into scaling companies.

Question reference: S6W-38490

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 09 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to (a) businesses and (b) public institutions to develop ideas and products through NASA's Technological Readiness Levels 4 to 6, commonly referred to within innovation circles as the "valley of death" due to the complexities of developing a product from the research stage to the development stage.

Scotland’s Innovation Strategy sets out actions to make Scotland one of the most innovative small nations in the world. We will use innovation as a productivity driver to grow the economy and create jobs in areas of strength.

Scotland’s Enterprise agencies; Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and South of Scotland Enterprise, support Scotland’s businesses to innovate and develop new products and services through several programmes including SMART:SCOTLAND grants.

Additionally, the Scottish Government has recently launched a competitive £2.9 million proof of concept fund to support researchers from Scotland’s universities develop innovative ideas into new products and services.

Question reference: S6W-38261

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it can confirm whether the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit's budget has been reduced by 3%, or just over £30,000.

Funding for the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit for 2025-26 has not been reduced. The Scottish Government grant to the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit has been increased from £1.17 million in 2024-25 to just over
£1.2 million for 2025-26. This represents an increase of £47000 (4%) on the Unit’s grant allocation in 2024-25, and is a £82000 (7%) increase on the Unit’s indicative grant allocation for 2025-26.

Question reference: S6W-37652

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is undertaking any ongoing survey of local residents to capture their views regarding any changes in the community in relation to (a) drug-related litter, (b) instances of drug dealing and (c) street smoking or injecting, within the vicinity of the Thistle safer drug consumption facility.

The Thistle will undergo a comprehensive, independent evaluation, funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research and led by a collaboration of academic institutions, including the University of Glasgow, Glasgow Caledonian University, and other expert research partners.

The evaluation includes a specific focus on the impact of the Thistle on the wider community, this will be assessed using repeated community surveys to examine trends in community cohesion, wellbeing, and perceptions of safety/crime compared to control areas. Repeated focus groups with the local community will also explore how perceptions evolve as the intervention becomes embedded.

Ongoing engagement with local residents, businesses, and stakeholder forms an integral part of the pilot’s delivery. Capturing lived experience and local perceptions is essential to assessing the effectiveness of the facility and ensuring future policy and service development are informed by those most affected by this.

Question reference: S6W-38439

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 06 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) pharmacists and (b) pharmacy technicians have registered with Healthcare Improvement Scotland as independent clinics since the coming into force of the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978 (Independent Health Care) Modification Order 2024 on 19 June 2024.

This information is not held by the Scottish Government however Health Improvement Scotland (HIS) have advised that since pharmacists and pharmacy technicians were added to the definition of an independent clinic on 19 June 2024, four pharmacists led independent clinics are now registered with HIS and five are in the process of registration. There are no pharmacy technician led independent clinics registered or in the process of registration.

Question reference: S6W-38726

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 June 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 14 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the number of buses ordered to date under the second phase of the Scottish Zero Emission Bus Challenge Fund (ScotZEB 2) by (a) manufacturer and (b) place of manufacture.