Seòmar agus comataidhean

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

Criathragan Hide all filters

Displaying 664 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6W-36660

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 24 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has considered reforms to the fitness test for new firefighters.

Question reference: S6W-36661

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 24 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has had any discussions with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service about providing extra funding for the purchase of new equipment to fight wildfires, and, if so, what the outcome of any such discussions was.

The Scottish Government’s budget for 2025-26 includes £412.2 million for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) which is an increase of £18.8 million. This will enable SFRS to continue to deliver the high standard of services required to keep communities safe. This includes an increase from £43 million to £47 million in capital funding which will allow the service to invest more in property, fleet and equipment. The allocation of resources is a matter for the SFRS Board.

The Scottish Government is committed to working with SFRS to ensure continuing priority is given to the implementation of its wildfire strategy. The Service’s planned spend is circa £1.6 million over the course of the 3 year roll-out of its strategy. New equipment, vehicles and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) continues to be rolled out and SFRS will fully implement its wildfire strategy during the course of 2025. As part of its strategy SFRS is adopting ‘burn suppression’ techniques such as those in use in the new Mediterranean-style specialist wildfire units. Due to extensive training and the use of new techniques, SFRS’s ability to tackle wildfires has never been so advanced.

Question reference: S6W-36659

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 24 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many meetings the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs has had with the (a) Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, (b) Fire Brigades Union and (c) Fire and Rescue Services Association since 29 March 2023, and what was discussed.

Question reference: S6W-36662

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 24 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service requires new equipment to fight wildfires.

Question reference: S6W-36663

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 24 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to recruit more (a) on-call and (b) full-time firefighters.

Question reference: S6W-36658

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 24 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has had any discussions with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service regarding the condition of fire stations, and, if so, what the outcome of any such discussions was.

The Minister for Victims and Community Safety regularly meets with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) Chief Officer and Board Chair where a wide range of issues are discussed, including the capital budget allocation and the SFRS estate. The Scottish Government is aware of the condition of fire stations and has increased the capital funding for SFRS from £32.5m in 2023-24 to £43m in 2024-25 and to £47m in 2025-26. The allocation of resources is a matter for the SFRS Board.

Question reference: S6O-04601

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to improve public transport connectivity in south west Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-36420

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 22 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-35953 by Natalie Don-Innes on 27 March 2025, whether it will publish the minutes of these meetings, and those of any subsequent meetings that the National Bairns’ Hoose Governance Group has held since July 2024.

Question reference: S6W-36618

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 16 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-34588 by Siobhian Brown on 27 February 2025, when the report on key issues raised at the cross-party summit on violence among young people will be published.

Question reference: S6W-36200

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 15 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made with the implementation of the Children (Scotland) Act 2020.

The Scottish Government wrote to the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee on 11 March 2025 to provide an update on commencement and implementation of the Children (Scotland) Act 2020:

Letter from the Minister for Victims and Community Safety

The Act is a wide-ranging piece of legislation, and while some provisions are already in force, we have had to prioritise certain areas of implementation work, such as the regulation of child contact services. We plan to lay secondary legislation this summer to bring child contact services within the regulatory remit of the Care Inspectorate. We will then turn our focus to other key areas, such as the register of child welfare reporters.

We also plan to make further commencement regulations this year. A short set of provisions will be commenced before summer recess and a second set of commencement regulations will be made later in 2025. There will be a lead-in period of around 12 months before the second set of provisions come into force due to the operational and court rules implications.