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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-42093

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 1 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the suitability and operational performance of newly procured 4×4 and multi-role vehicles for wildfire and road traffic incidents response.

The process of procuring and designing Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) off-road vehicles is based on the established operational needs of the organisation while taking into account feedback from internal and external stakeholders. Operational performance of these assets is routinely evaluated through SFRS’s Operational Assurance process and via internal and external debriefs. These evaluations and feedback are integral in developing future policy and procedure, as well as influencing future procurement processes.

Given the procurement and the performance assessment of its vehicles are operational matters for SFRS, it would be inappropriate for the Scottish Government to offer comment on such matters.

Question reference: S6W-42094

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 26 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what 4×4 or multi-role vehicles the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has procured in the last three years, and, for each type of vehicle, what the (a) cost, (b) number ordered, (c) number delivered and (d) intended operational role is.

In the past three years, SFRS has procured the following 4x4 and multi-role vehicles:

10x Ford Ranger Wildfire Units for dedicated wildfire management @ £44,050 each (£440,500);
4x Iveco Daily Wildfire Support Units for supporting and providing additional equipment to Wildfire Units @ £95,394 each (£381,576);
10x Polaris Ranger 4x4 All-Terrain Vehicles for dedicated wildfire management @ £33,450 each (£334,500);
21x Ford Ranger Multi-Role Units for use in rural communities, adverse weather, towing, and off-road access as needed @ £35,402.93 each (£743,461.53); and
8x Ford Ranger Ultra-Light Pumping Units for wildfire management at volunteer stations, road traffic accidents, and other operational activities as needed @ £123,043.40 each (£984,347.20).

Question reference: S6W-42095

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 26 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many of the 4×4 or multi-role vehicles procured by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service in the last three years have entered operational service, and how many are currently awaiting deployment.

All vehicles listed in the answer to question S6W-42094 on 26 November 2025 have been deployed except for two of the Ford Ranger Multi-Role Units (which are at the final stage of commissioning work expected to be deployed by next month) and the Ford Ranger Ultra-Light Pumping Units. These units required additional configuration from the supplier. As present, five of eight are completed, and all eight units are expected to be deployed within the next few weeks. 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.

Question reference: S6W-42133

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 November 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 10 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether its Fire and Rescue Unit maintains a standalone divisional risk register, and, if so, when it was most recently updated.

Question reference: S6W-42130

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 November 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 10 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what governance structure it has in place to ensure oversight of major procurement decisions within fire and rescue policy, including vehicle procurement and operational equipment spending.

Question reference: S6W-42131

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 November 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 10 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether its Fire and Rescue Unit has any formal governance board, oversight group or programme board that is responsible for strategic oversight of fire and rescue policy, and, if it does not, what the reasons are for this.

Question reference: S6W-41871

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 25 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason no reconviction statistics have been published since the 2020-21 cohort, and what impact this delay has had on (a) the transparency of its approach to and (b) its monitoring of repeat offending.

The most recent reconviction statistics were published on 27 August 2025 and are for the 2021-22 cohort

Reconviction Rates in Scotland: 2021-22 Offender Cohort - gov.scot

A reconviction is defined in our statistics as someone who is reconvicted within 12 months of release from custody, or 12 months of being given a non-custodial sentence. Therefore, statistics on the 2021-22 cohort are people released from custody or given non-custodial sentences in 2021-22 who went on to be reconvicted in 2022-23. The most recent criminal proceedings data published is for 2022-23 so the 2021-22 cohort for reconvictions is the most up to date it can be.

Criminal proceedings data for 2023-24 will be published next month and after that, we can begin work on producing reconvictions statistics for the 2022-23 cohort.

Question reference: S6W-41649

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 17 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what recent engagement the Retail Industry Leadership Group has had with Retailers Against Crime regarding shoplifting and violence towards shopworkers.

Question reference: S6W-41648

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 17 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what recent direct engagement it has had with Retailers Against Crime regarding measures to reduce shoplifting and improve safety for retail staff.

The Scottish Government sits alongside Retailers Against Crime (RAC) in the Scottish Partnership Against Acquisitive Crime (SPAACE) and are working collectively with other agencies to deliver upon the SPAACE Strategy 2023-2028. To date there have been three meetings of the SPAACE steering group, chaired by Police Scotland, where retail crime has consistently been top of the agenda.

Police Scotland’s Retail Crime Task Force (RCTF) have been working closely with RAC as they jointly aim to reduce the impact of retail crime across Scotland. Part of the Scottish Government’s additional £3 million funding to tackle retail crime has been used to support local policing divisions to work closely with RAC, with numerous joint days of action taking place in locations across Scotland including Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Furthermore, some of the funding has been granted to RAC to allow them to increase their operational capacity which will support retailers and police to prevent and detect crimes, thus reducing the financial impact of retail crime while protecting workers from crimes of violence and abuse.

While RAC are not members of the Retail Industry Leadership Group (RILG), representatives of key industry groups such as the Scottish Grocer’s Federation (SGF) and Scottish Retail Consortium are members of both SPAACE and the RILG. Police Scotland has also given regular updates on its work to tackle retail crime, ensuring joined up working across a number of sectors.

The Scottish Government is grateful to its partners for the continued efforts to tackle retail crime across the country.

Question reference: S6O-05176

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 November 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce the number of repeat shoplifting offenders, in light of reports that 10 individuals have accumulated over 1,500 charges in the last four years.