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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: S6O-05220

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 November 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on any potential negative impacts for local communities when asylum seekers are housed in large-scale sites in Scotland.

Question reference: S6T-02762

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 November 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that its core operating costs have increased by £53 million between 2023-24 and 2024-25.

Question reference: S6W-41593

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 17 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its paper A Fresh Start with Independence and its proposed strategy for establishing a new currency in an independent Scotland, whether its policy for such a currency would include a formal convertibility guarantee to ensure that a Scottish pound would be exchanged at a fixed rate for sterling.

The Scottish Government’s proposals for the currency of an independent Scotland are highlighted in A Fresh Start with independence , and set out in detail in the Currency and fiscal policy section of Building a new Scotland: A Stronger economy with independence.

On independence, Scotland would continue to use the pound sterling for a period, before moving to the Scottish pound. The decision about when to do this would be taken by the Scottish Parliament, guided by transparent criteria and economic conditions, rather than a fixed timetable.

Decisions about the Scottish pound would also be made by the elected government and parliament at that time. Those would include the precise form of the currency regime for a Scottish pound including a fixed or floating exchange rate, informed by analysis and advice from the Scottish Central Bank.

Question reference: S6W-41824

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 November 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 25 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to the introduction of an age-related automatic system of regular screening for prostate cancer.

Question reference: S6W-41588

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 11 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Scottish Retail Consortium’s suggestion, in its Delivering Real Growth manifesto, that there should be no new levies or taxes on the retail industry.

Question reference: S6W-41585

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 6 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Scottish Retail Consortium’s suggestion, in its Delivering Real Growth manifesto, that retailers should benefit from a meaningfully more competitive business rate than in England.

The Scottish Government offers a competitive non-domestic rates regime delivering the lowest property rate in the UK for the seventh year in a row and ensuring that over 95% of non-domestic properties continue to be liable for a lower property tax rate than anywhere else in the UK. As part of our package of reliefs to support businesses and communities worth a forecast £733 million in 2025-26, the Small Business Bonus Scheme remains the most generous scheme of its kind in the UK. The retail sector remains the largest beneficiary of that scheme.

Tax policy decisions are made annually at budget in line with prevailing economic decisions and Government priorities.

Question reference: S6W-41587

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 6 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Scottish Retail Consortium’s suggestion, in its Delivering Real Growth manifesto, that local referenda should be held whenever a local authority proposes an excessive increase in council tax.

The Scottish Government encourages local authorities to carefully consider the impact of council tax increases on local residents and their household finances.

Engaging with council taxpayers on the levels of tax proposed is a matter for local authorities. The Scottish Government is aware that local authorities often do so with residents in their areas, including formal consultation as part of annual budget-setting processes.

The Scottish Government’s means-tested Council Tax Reduction scheme continues to provide vital support to eligible households, helping to mitigate the impact of council tax increases on household budgets.

The Scottish Government recognises how vital the retail sector is to Scotland’s economy. It is committed to supporting the industry and will continue to engage directly with the sector, monitor the evolving impacts of the ongoing cost crisis and work with the UK Government to support Scottish businesses.

Question reference: S6O-05144

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 November 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to increase income tax in the forthcoming Scottish Budget.

Question reference: S6W-41586

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 5 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Scottish Retail Consortium’s suggestion, in its Delivering Real Growth manifesto, that any further divergence towards higher income tax rates in Scotland compared to the rest of the UK should be avoided.

Question reference: S6W-41132

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 29 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Dumfries and Galloway Council and SWestrans regarding the impact of recent changes to bus services on communities.

Scottish Government officials met with Dumfries and Galloway Council and SWestrans earlier this year to obtain updates on changes to bus services in the area. However, the Scottish Government is not involved in decision making in relation to local bus services.

Under the Transport Act 1985, local authorities have a duty to identify where there is a social need for particular bus services and can subsidise these at their discretion. In this case, Dumfries and Galloway Council and SWestrans carried out a procurement exercise to award contracts to operate local authority subsidised bus services and school transport services.