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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: S6O-05709

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Independent
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 March 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that it is not currently on track to meet its target to reduce child poverty to less than 10% by 2031, what its response is to children’s charities stating that its child poverty plan is "timid" and does not go far enough.

Question reference: S6O-05679

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Independent
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 March 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to formally define "green" to ensure alignment with net zero targets in its designation of data centres as a "national priority".

Question reference: S6W-43577

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Independent
Date lodged: Monday, 16 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 26 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether any public body holds and is able to publish practice-level data on the total number of complaints made about individual dental practices that receive NHS General Dental Services payments, including complaints relating to private treatment provided by those practices in each of the last five years.

Complaints about dentists and dental practices can be made through a number of different mechanisms - directly with the practice; with the NHS Board in relation to NHS treatment; through Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) for private treatment; and through the General Dental Council (GDC) as the independent statutory regulator for members of the dental team.

As complaints can be made through one or more of these mechanisms, and each body is responsible for the data they hold, it is not possible for Scottish Government to publish practice-level data on the total number of complaints made, including those relating to private treatment, about individual practices that receive NHS General Dental Services (GDS) payments.

Question reference: S6O-05581

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Independent
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 February 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the report, Who Owns Scotland 2025.

Question reference: S6W-43698

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Independent
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 24 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it has decided to recalculate the baseline for funding the uplift to the real Living Wage in its draft Budget 2026-27, in light of it funding it in its entirety for nearly 10 years for adult social care workers, and concerns that social care employers will have a £19 million gap to cover.

The draft Budget 2026-27 set out a further £160 million investment to enable the payment of the Real Living Wage to adult social care workers in commissioned services in the next financial year.

The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government has subsequently announced that a further £20 million will be allocated to the Local Government Settlement for Social Care, which can be used towards funding the Real Living Wage for adult and childcare sectors.

This will take the total Scottish Government investment in adult social care pay to over £1.1 billion annually.

Question reference: S6W-43610

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Independent
Date lodged: Friday, 06 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 20 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what the response of the Scottish Funding Council Apprenticeship Committee is to the recommendations of the Commission on Race in Apprenticeships, including how it will implement these.

The Tertiary Education and Training (Funding and Governance) (Scotland) Bill made provision for the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) to establish an apprenticeship committee. The transfer of apprenticeship responsibilities to the Scottish Funding Council is planned to be in place by 1 April 2027, the apprenticeship committee will also be established by this date.

Work is already underway across the apprenticeship system to consider the Commission's findings and to integrate its recommendations into ongoing improvement activity.

Question reference: S6W-43611

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Independent
Date lodged: Friday, 06 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 17 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its work to reduce waiting lists for cardiology outpatient appointments.

We have allocated more than £135.5 million over 2025-26 to cut waits and the latest figures show our plan is delivering for the people of Scotland.

A further £20 million funding has been made available to support waiting times for the last quarter of the year, with the focus on Boards and specialities with long waits. This year’s funding includes over £500,000 for Cardiology services.

Our plan is working and delivering for the people of Scotland, and we are now seeing the tangible impact of our significant investment. The latest data shows NHS waiting lists have fallen and waits of more than a year have reduced for the seventh month in a row for New Outpatients.

The total list size for Cardiology New Outpatients has reduced by 12.5% from 31 July 2025- 31 December 2025 and waits over 52 weeks for Cardiology New Outpatients have reduced by 58.7% from 31 July 2025- 31 December 2025.

The Scottish Government will continue to work with Health Boards to maximise capacity and reduce the length of time people are waiting for appointments and treatment.

Question reference: S6W-42552

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Independent
Date lodged: Friday, 12 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 5 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a timetable for the review of statutory charges and vehicle recovery legislation for e-bikes and e-scooters that it has been discussing with Police Scotland, the Association of Vehicle Recovery Operators (AVRO) and wider stakeholders.

The Prescribed Sums and Charges etc (Scotland) Regulations 2019 and The Police (Retention and Disposal of Motor Vehicles) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2019 are the existing pieces of legislation governing the fees which vehicle recovery operators can charge Police Scotland for picking up abandoned vehicles from Scotland’s roads.

Key stakeholders and policing partners have highlighted the need to update this legislation to reflect increases in insurance premiums, recruitment and retention costs, vehicles, equipment, and training in addition to the additional costs associated with the removal, storage and disposal of alternatively fuelled vehicles.

Officials have engaged with key stakeholders including Police Scotland, Transport Scotland, and the Association of Vehicle Recovery Operators (AVRO) members to establish a Vehicle Recovery Working Group (VRWG) and will be coordinating stakeholders workshops early in the new year.

The feedback gained will help the working group develop a consultation document seeking views on the necessary legislative changes and associated updates to the charging matrix.

Question reference: S6W-42482

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Independent
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 29 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support the provision of bleed kits across Scotland.

The Scottish Government does not currently have any plans to make bleed kits available nationally across Scotland. We encourage the public to focus on calling the emergency services for assistance in the case of an emergency and encourage members of the public to learn the basic first aid skills which could be vital in saving a life.

During incidents where bleeding control is required, it is important that bystanders are given the best advice on how to provide direct pressure to a bleeding wound using readily available items such as dry towels or clothing. Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) call handlers are well trained to provide first aid advice to bystanders before an ambulance arrives.

SAS follows the position of the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives, which is supported by a number of UK organisations such as the London Ambulance Service and the NHS England London Violence Reduction Programme, in promoting bystander first aid but not the general role out of commercially available bleed kits.

The SAS major trauma team regularly reviews how best to treat patients experiencing significant bleeding, which includes reviewing and taking part in guidance and research.

Question reference: S6W-42491

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Independent
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 23 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how often ministers meet with local authorities and divisions of Police Scotland to assess the progress of antisocial behaviour strategies.

Ministers meet regularly with both Police Scotland and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, including to discuss antisocial behaviour. They do not, however, meet with individual local authorities or Police Scotland divisional commanders to assess the progress of each local antisocial behaviour strategy. This reflects that formal development, review, and revision of these strategies is carried out by each local authority and Police Scotland. This is as set out in section 1 of the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004.