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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-43194

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 3 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many men completed the Caledonian System programme in 2024-25.

Question reference: S6W-42905

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 21 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government which prisons are currently operating a restricted regime; when these regimes at each prison are planned to come to an end, and what activities have been (a) stopped permanently, (b) suspended and (c) reduced in each prison as a consequence of the restrictions.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

Regime restrictions can be applied by a Governor-in-Charge in order to maintain a safe and secure environment for those who live and work in our prisons. These are only ever used as a short-term response to establishment specific pressures. Due to the high prison population we are currently experiencing, we are having to implement local regime restrictions in restricted cases.

SPS recognise the impact that a regime restriction can have on those in our care, and that is why any restrictions are only applied by decision of the Governors in Charge and for as short a period as possible. Due to their often-spontaneous nature and short-term period of application, SPS do not routinely formally record their frequency, length or reason.

I can confirm that there has been no permanent removal of any scheduled activity and that all restrictions remain compliant with the Prison and Young Offenders Rules (Scotland) 2011.

Question reference: S6W-42904

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 21 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what activities have been (a) stopped permanently, (b) suspended and (c) reduced as part of the Focused Day initiative by the Scottish Prison Service.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

Following constructive and collaborative discussions with our partners, SPS have moved away from the national concept of a ‘Focused Day’ and instead have introduced a Regime and Roster Review which is designed to ensure that staff are available to an establishment when and where needed the most.

It is our intent that any changes adopted as part of this review, will not compromise a person’s time out of cell or access to purposeful activity, therefore no activities have been stopped or suspended. Changes are expected to create a more consistent and reliable regime for those in our care whilst protecting opportunities to maintain family contact either through in person visits or via in-cell telephones.

Question reference: S6W-42488

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 5 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the article in The Herald on 4 December 2025, So who is leading Scotland’s grooming-gang review?, whether it will confirm who will lead the review into grooming gangs.

Question reference: S6W-42487

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 5 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the comment by the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills on 3 December 2025 that “the national review [of group-based sexual harm] will provide a more accurate and focused picture of the scale of and response” to the issue, whether it will confirm who the members of the review will be; on what basis they will be selected, and when they will be in place.

The Independent National Review of Group-Based Sexual Abuse and Exploitation will be jointly undertaken by the Care Inspectorate, His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary in Scotland, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education, and Health Improvement Scotland. The four statutory Inspectorates are independent of government and the organisations which they scrutinise. They have powers to compel public authorities to provide information they request.

Professor Alexis Jay will provide expert advice on the Review’s design and at key stages of the process given her extensive knowledge and experience of group-based child sexual abuse and exploitation.

Question reference: S6O-05344

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 December 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the Centre for Social Justice's Lost Boys campaign, which aims to raise awareness of the issues that boys and young men are facing, including in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-42317

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 16 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many prisoners have been released from Scottish prisons in error over the last 10 years.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

A range of checks are carried out before the release of a prisoner is authorised including but not limited to, an identity check of the person, confirmation of liberation date and a check for any known outstanding warrants.

A liberation in error occurs when an individual is released from a Scottish Prison Service establishment without lawful authority. This situation typically arises due to an administrative or procedural mistake, such as incorrect interpretation of documentation, miscalculation of sentence dates or incorrect data sharing from other partners.

The following table provides the numbers of total liberations and the liberations in error since 2016-2017, up to and including 5 Dec 2025:

Year	Total Annual Liberations	Recorded Liberations in Error*	Liberations in Error as a percentage
2016-17	23372	4	0.02%
2017-18	21792	4	0.02%
2018-19	21354	5	0.02%
2019-20	21668	4	0.02%
2020-21	12933	3	0.02%
2021-22	13934	5	0.04%
2022-23	14769	8	0.05%
2023-24	15732	7	0.04%
2024-25	16387	9	0.05%
2025-26**	10751	5	0.05%
TOTAL	172692	54	0.03%

*All liberations in error are subject to review by the Warrants Administration Group (WAG), at which point the data may change depending on the outcome of the review.

**up to 5 December 2025

Question reference: S6W-42407

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 15 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much Police Scotland paid EY in total for the Your Leadership Matters training programme.

It is for the Chief Constable, under the scrutiny of the Scottish Police Authority (SPA), to determine Police Scotland's operational approach to policing in Scotland, this includes the allocation of resources to Police Officer and Staff training programmes. Details of costs can be found in the SPA board paper from 4 December 2025 at; item-3-4-bi-annual-joint-thematic-report-leadership-talent-and-learning-training-development.pdf

Question reference: S6W-42408

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 15 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it monitored and measured the value and impact of the Your Leadership Matters training programme for Police Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-42406

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 15 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many police officers have taken part in the Your Leadership Matters training programme.