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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-41105

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 October 2025
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Neil Gray on 9 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when it will provide an update on the NHS Grampian escalation to Stage 4 for Finance, Leadership and Governance.

The Scottish Government has established an Assurance Board, which has now met six times. The purpose of the Assurance Board is to provide oversight, scrutiny, and support to NHS Grampian as it develops and implements its improvement plans. The Assurance Board has engaged directly with NHS Grampian’s leadership team, including the Chair and Non-Executive members of the NHS Grampian Board. To ensure transparency the minutes of meetings and supporting documentation of the Assurance Board are published on the Scottish Government website.

The new Chief Executive and Accountable Officer for NHS Grampian, Laura Skaife-Knight is now in post, and her appointment will help to provide stability to the board.

As part of the £85 million investment to support improvement in hospital flow and A&E waiting times, NHS Grampian will receive £5.97 million in additional funding to support improvements in A&E performance, focusing on initiatives that will shift the balance of care and reduce hospital occupancy including Hospital at Home, Frailty, and Discharge without Delay.

A diagnostic report provided by KPMG at the request of the Scottish Government has now been published. The report identifies key challenges within NHS Grampian, including issues around leadership stability, governance structures, and financial sustainability.

Both the Scottish Government and NHS Grampian welcome the report. The rapid diagnostic review has provided fresh perspectives on potential areas for improvement, which NHS Grampian will now consider as they develop their improvement plans. This will be supported and scrutinised by the Assurance Board to ensure swift and effective progress.

Prioritisation of the improvement actions which NHS Grampian include in their plans will be critical in focussing capacity on the areas which will make the most impact and drive real sustainable change.

I will commit to updating Parliament on the improvement plans and the work of the Assurance Board as they develop.

Question reference: S6O-05041

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 October 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what actions Police Scotland is taking to deal with problem street drinkers.

Question reference: S6W-39617

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 27 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the policy brief by the Rowett Institute, Hemp Cake As A Feed Source For Scotland.

The Scottish Government welcomes the policy brief produced by the Rowett Institute on the potential use of hemp cake as an animal feed source in Scotland. We recognise the value of academic research in exploring sustainable and innovative approaches that can support Scottish agriculture to reduce emissions, improve resilience, and make greater use of home-grown feed alternatives. The findings of this research will help to build the evidence base that industry can draw upon as it considers opportunities for alternative livestock feeding strategies. I look forward to discussing this work further when I visit the Rowett Institute later this year.

Question reference: S6W-39623

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 26 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to ensure that voices of lived experience are represented on Integration Joint Boards.

The Scottish Government are committed to supporting the role of lived experience on IJBs, to help amplify those voices and improve integration of those insights. We will review the statutory guidance and the approval of integration schemes to ensure the voice of lived experience is heard and to increase accountability. Engaging with service users, unpaid carers, and representatives from the third sector and IJBs will help make the guidance more relevant and responsive to community needs.

Question reference: S6W-39626

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 26 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has carried out an analysis of the outcomes of the Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act 2014.

Question reference: S6W-39624

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 26 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to review how Integration Joint Boards are funded.

Question reference: S6W-39619

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 19 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the utilisation of hemp cake for animal feed as a home-grown alternative to imported soya cake.

Question reference: S6W-39618

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 19 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to mitigate the reported over-reliance on imported soya for animal feed.

Trade policy is reserved to the UK Government. The UK Environment Act 2021 enables the introduction of controls on palm oil, cocoa, beef, leather and soy in an effort to ensure that are not linked to illegal deforestation. Similar provisions have been introduced in the European Union. Through the ENRA (Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture) research programme, the Scottish Government is directly funding work to develop sustainable feeding strategies that reduce reliance on imported soya.

Question reference: S6W-39622

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 14 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to review the number of NHS boards.

The Scottish Government does not have any current plans to review the number of NHS Boards.

In the NHS Scotland Service Renewal Plan, we have already committed to the creation of a new single body called ‘NHS Delivery’, which will bring together the existing functions of NHS National Services Scotland and NHS Education for Scotland, and will allow us to review and consolidate other crosscutting delivery functions.

We will continue to strengthen collaboration across NHS Bodies to ensure a more strategic, population-based approach to planning and keep governance arrangements under review to ensure they support the needs of Scotland's population and deliver best value for public services.

Question reference: S6W-39621

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 14 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has considered introducing a regional level of government in Scotland, including elected provosts and mayors.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting stronger regional working. In the Programme for Government we provided that we would:

Work with regional and local partners to identify how best to formally devolve further elements of decision-making and delivery to Regional Economic Partnerships (REPs), and present options before the end of this Parliament.

Officials undertaking this work are engaging with a range of partners across the public, private and third sectors, as well as further and higher education partners, the UK and Welsh governments, and regional groupings elsewhere in the UK in order to understand how best to empower regional partners.

The Scottish Government is also working with COSLA on the Local Governance Review to consider how power and resources should be shared between national and local government and with communities. From the extensive engagement to date, there has been no specific proposals to introduce elected mayors or provosts.

The views of Local Government would inform any future changes to Local Government’s structure or governance arrangements. This is in line with the Scottish Government’s commitment to respecting Local Government’s democratic mandate as part of the Verity House Agreement.