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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-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-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-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.

Question reference: S6W-36199

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

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made with the implementation of the Female Genital Mutilation (Protection and Guidance) (Scotland) Act 2020.

The Minister for Housing and I wrote to the Convener of the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee on 11 March to provide an update on the implementation of the Female Genital Mutilation (Protection and Guidance) (Scotland) Act 2020 and our planned next steps: Letter from the Minister for Equalities, 11 March 2025.

As the letter outlines, since the start of this year, my officials have been engaging with the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service and the Scottish Civil Justice Council to understand the legal and technical changes that are required for implementation of the Act.

My officials have also set up a Working Group which includes representation from Health, Social Work, Education, Child Protection, Police Scotland and third sector organisations. Additionally, officials are considering what training and awareness raising materials are required to support the implementation of the Act.

We are aiming to implement the Act by Summer 2026 and are working closely with our partners to achieve this.

Question reference: S6W-36548

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 14 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government which sheriff courts have closed in each of the last 10 years.

Question reference: S6W-36259

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 31 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 14 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it will put in place to address the reported issues and delays regarding the pilot scheme that provides victims in rape and serious assault cases with access to court transcripts.

The pilot, facilitated by the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS), has received more than 80 applications up until the start of February this year. We are working closely with SCTS to address the issues that have been raised in a minority of these applications, including how we ensure applicants are kept fully informed of progress in producing their transcript and how that process could be quicker.

The extension of the current pilot for a further twelve months will enable lessons to be learnt as part of the wider evaluation of the programme, so it can achieve its aim of helping improve victims’ experience of the justice system. This includes the potential opportunity to develop and test emerging technology that may assist in producing transcripts and a better understanding of the most efficient and effective operation of servicing applications.

As part of the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill I am also exploring how greater access to free transcripts can be provided in the future.