- Asked by: Maggie Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 January 2026
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Current Status:
Answer expected on 12 February 2026
To ask the Scottish Government whether it is aware of recent media reporting, including in The Herald, The Times and The Guardian, regarding the involvement of Scotland-based shipping companies in the transport of liquefied natural gas from Russia, including reports regarding Seapeak, and what assessment it has made of any potential reputational, economic or security implications for Scotland.
Answer
Answer expected on 12 February 2026
- Asked by: Maggie Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 January 2026
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Current Status:
Answer expected on 12 February 2026
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has assessed any potential reputational, economic or security risks associated with Scotland-based companies being involved in the transport of Russian liquefied natural gas following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including vessels operated or managed by Seapeak, and, in light of any potential impact on Scotland's economy, what engagement it has had with the UK Government on the enforcement of sanctions and services prohibitions relating to Russia’s energy sector.
Answer
Answer expected on 12 February 2026
- Asked by: Maggie Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2026
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Current Status:
Due to be taken in the Chamber on 5 February 2026
To ask the Scottish Government how it is ensuring that the local authorities involved with the RAAC Housing Leadership Group are engaging appropriately and are including residents and RAAC campaigners in their activities.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 5 February 2026
- Asked by: Maggie Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 January 2026
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 28 January 2026
To ask the Scottish Government how the Ending Homelessness Together Fund will be monitored to ensure that it delivers systemic change, including targeted resourcing to lay any essential groundwork for the "ask and act" duties with non-housing services.
Answer
The largest part of the ending homelessness together fund goes to local authorities to support the transition to rapid rehousing, including the roll out of housing first. The Scottish Government carries out monitoring to understand from local authorities how that investment is helping them to prioritise settled housing and reduce the use of temporary accommodation. We report to parliament annually on progress against actions in our homelessness strategy – most recently in December 2025 - and this captures the impact of our continued investment in prevention, rapid rehousing and housing first and other initiatives.
The Scottish Government is committed to full and successful implementation of the new homelessness prevention duties. The Housing (Scotland) Act 2025 includes a provision that Part 5 (homelessness prevention, including ask and act) should be commenced no later than three years from Royal Assent (given November 2025). However, we are clear that relevant bodies named in the Act do not have to wait for the duties to come into force to adopt the ask and act approach.
We provided targeted funding of £4 million this financial year for 15 homelessness prevention pilots, which will run until December 2026. Learning from the pilots will help inform the development of guidance and secondary legislation on ask and act and support smooth implementation of the new duties.
A further £4 million is included in the 2026-27 homelessness budget and we are working with stakeholders to identify the most effective use of this funding.
- Asked by: Maggie Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 January 2026
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Current Status:
Answered by Siobhian Brown on 28 January 2026
To ask the Scottish Government what it can do to help tackle the use of sexually inappropriate AI-generated images.
Answer
Our Equally Safe strategy recognises that, just as violence against women and girls takes place in all communities and places, the same applies to all online spaces. Action is therefore required across Government, the wider public, third sector, industry, and wider society to respond to the added risks this may pose to women, children and young people.
Whilst regulation of AI is a reserved matter, we continue to engage with the UK Government on this issue. We understand that the UK Government is introducing new legislation related to AI, and we will continue to work closely with them to ensure that Scotland’s interests are represented.
The Scottish Government welcomes Ofcom’s formal investigation into X under the UK’s Online Safety Act.
Furthermore, the Scottish Government will shortly publish a consultation to seek views on a number of issues relating to how the criminal law protects women and girls. This will include seeking views on online harms, including proposals to criminalise the non-consensual creation of intimate images, including through the use of AI image generation tools.
- Asked by: Maggie Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 January 2026
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Current Status:
Answer expected on 10 February 2026
To ask the Scottish Government whether the review of the legislative landscape of Scotland's care system, which is being led by Professor Kenneth Norrie, will explicitly include unaccompanied asylum seeking children and young people, including whether it will consider the specific legal and immigration related processes that affect their care, protection and long-term outcomes.
Answer
Answer expected on 10 February 2026
- Asked by: Maggie Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 January 2026
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Fairlie on 27 January 2026
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the requirement to provide evidence of the qualifying benefit award that is dated within the last 18 months, regardless of the length of the award, is a barrier to applying and renewing a disabled person’s bus pass.
Answer
The Older and Disabled Persons’ National Concessionary Travel Scheme is administered locally by Local Authorities and the National Entitlement Card Programme Office (NECPO) on behalf of Transport Scotland.
As part of the verification process, applicants for disabled concessionary travel are asked to provide proof of eligibility dated within the last 18 months. This requirement helps ensure that an individual’s qualifying benefit and personal details are up-to-date at the point of application or renewal.
The Scottish Government does not consider this requirement to be a barrier to applying for or renewing a disabled person’s bus pass. Local authorities also have access to the Social Security Scotland Data Sharing Portal, which allows them to confirm an applicant’s qualifying benefit even where evidence is incomplete or out-of-date, reducing the need for applicants to provide further documentation.
These measures are intended to support a smooth and timely application or renewal process, while ensuring that the correct entitlement is awarded.
- Asked by: Maggie Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 15 January 2026
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 26 January 2026
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to ensure that relevant law in Scotland is brought into line with that in England and Wales regarding sexually inappropriate AI-generated images.
Answer
As set out during the debate in Parliament on Motion S6M-19504 on Non-fatal Strangulation Laws and Intimate Partner Homicides on 8 January 2026, the Scottish Government will shortly publish a consultation to seek views on a number of issues relating to how the criminal law protects women and girls. This will include seeking views on online harms, including proposals to criminalise the non-consensual creation of intimate images, including through the use of AI image generation tools.
The existing law concerning intimate images makes it an offence for a person to disclose or threaten to disclose an intimate image of another person where they either intend to cause that person fear, alarm or distress or else are reckless as to whether the disclosure or threatened disclosure would be likely to cause the person to suffer fear, alarm or distress. The definition of an intimate image includes images that appear to show a person in an intimate situation and as such, images generated using a software programme that appear to be photographs are covered by the offence where the image is shown or made available to anyone other than the person featured in the image.
- Asked by: Maggie Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 16 January 2026
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 26 January 2026
To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to Adult Disability Payment determinations and redeterminations that have been appealed to the First-tier Tribunal (Social Security Chamber), for what reason it has had its decision overturned 2,545 times (53% of all appeals), and what it is doing to meet its aim of “right first time” regarding decision making.
Answer
Social Security Scotland is committed to making the right decision first time by ensuring it has the information needed to make robust, person-centred decisions, based on a thorough understanding of how an individual’s disability or long-term health condition affects their daily life.
Latest statistics show that, by 31 October 2025, 53% of Adult Disability Payment appeals decided by the First-tier Tribunal were upheld in favour of the client. This compares with 66% of Personal Independence Payment appeals over the past five years, rising to 74% when including lapsed appeals where the DWP changed its decision prior to a tribunal hearing.
The Scottish social security system has been co-designed with people who have lived experience, ensuring that processes for challenging decisions are accessible and support clients to engage confidently. During the appeal process, people can provide further information directly to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland.
Social Security Scotland continuously evaluates decision-making quality across all benefits. A tribunal reaching a different conclusion reflects the evidence available at the time of the hearing, rather than necessarily the quality of the original decision. Tribunal decisions are reviewed to identify any errors of law and to inform continuous improvement.
- Asked by: Maggie Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 15 January 2026
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 23 January 2026
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will introduce a robust, audited, single public dataset covering the use of site-level veterinary-medicines, with a quarterly publication and a clear timetable for implementation, by Scotland’s salmon industry across the freshwater and marine stages.
Answer
Regulation of veterinary medicines is a reserved matter for the UK Government. The Veterinary Medicines Directorate is responsible for enforcing Veterinary Medicines Regulations and undertaking appropriate monitoring in fulfilment of their regulatory duties. Therefore, the Scottish Government does not have plans to implement a dedicated single public dataset covering site-level use of veterinary-medicines across all production phases.
Information required by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) on monthly medicinal treatment usage by site is already made publicly available on Scotland’s Aquaculture Website on a quarterly basis. Sea lice medicine, Hydrogen Peroxide and antibiotic use are available datasets.
