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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-42916

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 January 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 23 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what the outturn spend on physical path infrastructure work has been for each of the four statutorily designated long distance routes in Scotland, broken down by (a) routine repair and maintenance and (b) capital works on restoration and improvement, in each financial year from 2022-23 to 2024-25, and what the corresponding allocated budget is for 2025-26.

Question reference: S6W-42858

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 January 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 22 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what meetings have taken place, in the current parliamentary session, between any government minister and/or civil servant and any salmon farming company and/or their umbrella body, Salmon Scotland, and whether the issue of (a) health and safety and (b) workers' rights and trade union recognition in the salmon industry was raised.

Question reference: S6W-42862

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 January 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 22 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Fair Work agenda, what its position is on whether bargaining agreements are important to help improve pay and working conditions, such as health and safety, and whether the salmon industry should enter into collective bargaining agreements to help make improvements to health and safety.

Question reference: S6W-42605

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 8 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that all schools in Lanarkshire can deliver Bikeability training, and whether any additional resources will be provided to local authorities to support this.

The Scottish Government is providing £2.5 million to Cycling Scotland to deliver the Bikeability programme in 2025-26.

Record levels of participation in Bikeability were maintained during the 2023-24 academic year (the latest period for which statistics are available).

Additional resources for local authorities are available on request via Cycling Scotland Bikeability Plus funding. Furthermore, local authorities can utilise Local Authority Direct Award (LADA) funding and People and Place funding via Regional Transport Partnerships to deliver Bikeability training or fund delivery capacity.

Question reference: S6W-42614

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 15 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 8 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what advice it gives to schools regarding pupils using e-bikes and e-scooters to travel to and from school, and how it ensures their safety.

Road Safety Scotland (RSS) believes road safety is a lifelong-learning skill and good attitudes and behaviours must be nurtured from an early age, through both the availability of high-quality resources, and good example from others. To this end, RSS has developed a full suite of learning resources for 3-18 year-olds, linked to Curriculum for Excellence.

These include: Go Safe with Ziggy (early years); Road Stars (primary school); the Junior Road Safety Officer scheme (peer resource for upper primary); Your Call (lower secondary) and Crash Magnets (upper secondary). These resources are regularly reviewed and developed or renewed as appropriate. RSS is currently reviewing the suitability of its resources for children and young people with mild-to-moderate Additional Support Needs, and developing a new resource for children and young people with complex Additional Support Needs. In addition, the secondary resources (Your Call and Crash Magnets) are currently being renewed and will be replace by one single resource in Spring 2026. All RSS resources are hosted on the RSS website which can be accessed via Home - Road Safety Scotland.

Each school will have instructions and messaging unique to their local area within their school travel plans, which will include messaging around e-bikes and e-scooters.

Question reference: S6W-42607

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 8 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how it monitors the effectiveness of Safe Routes to School programmes in Lanarkshire, and what improvements are planned for 2026.

The Scottish Government is committed to making it safer and easier for people of all ages and abilities to choose active and sustainable travel.

The focus of active travel delivery at a local level is a matter for each Local Authority, but funding from the Scottish Government comes with a requirement to demonstrate delivery against the First Minister’s priorities.

Through a variety of programmes, including Tier 1 and Tier 2 of the Active Travel Infrastructure Fund, the People and Place Programme and Bikeability, Transport Scotland provides access to funding for Local Authorities that to support safer journeys to and from school.

The effectiveness of these programmes are monitored through individual project monitoring and evaluation at a national level through publications such as the Children’s Walking and Cycling Index, and the Hands up Scotland Survey, that since 2008 has presented information on how pupils across Scotland travel to school and nursery. Earlier this year, Cycling Scotland also published a three year independent evaluation of Bikeability.

Subject to the budget receiving parliamentary approval, in 2026-27 we will continue to work in partnership with Local Authorities and Regional Transport Partnerships to deliver active travel investments in our communities, including through the Active Travel Infrastructure Fund to improve infrastructure, and through our regional People and Place behaviour change programme and Bikeability to provide the skills and knowledge for school pupils to make safe journeys to and from school.

Question reference: S6W-42613

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 15 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 8 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to raise public awareness about the safe use of e-bikes and e-scooters, including speed limits, helmet use and restrictions on pavement riding.

Prior to Christmas, and working with the NHS, Police Scotland published advice warning parents against gifting e-scooters - Scots parents warned against gifting e-scooters after spate of serious injuries | STV News.

This builds on advice published last year on e-bikes that provided clarity on the standards required to be permitted to ride on public roads and remains relevant today.

Members of the public who are seeking clarity on the standards required to ride on public roads can visit Riding an electric bike: the rules - GOV.UK.

Given the increasing prevalence of illegal e-scooters on our roads, and as part of our policy development work, Transport Scotland plans to investigate the potential for a public awareness campaign in 2026.

Question reference: S6W-42612

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 15 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 8 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of e-bike and e-scooter use on pedestrian safety, particularly for older people and those with disabilities.

I refer the member to answer to question S6W-32672 on 9 January 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

Transport Scotland is also undertaking policy development work on e-scooters, part of which will involve stakeholder engagement and public consultation which will include assessment of their impact on the perceived safety to older people and those with disabilities.

Question reference: S6W-42659

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 8 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address Scotland’s reported shortage of planners, including investment in the planning skills pipeline, the expansion of the Future Planners Programme and greater support for mid-career re-training, in line with the commitments set out in the Autumn Statement by the UK Government.

Our approach to addressing the shortage of planners is tailored to the Scottish context and pre-dates the Autumn Statement. We are directly investing £850,000 in new talent.

We have secured a path into planning for 48 new student planners through our award winning Future Planners Programme and an additional 30 students are being supported by our bursary scheme as they undertake professionally accredited planning degrees.

In addition, the National Planning Hub is directly supporting planning authorities in the short term to increase capacity. It is providing surge support, expert brokerage and sharing learning and knowledge to bridge any skills gaps. The approach is agile, and designed to be responsive to issues identified by authorities. The National Planning Improvement Champion is also supporting authorities on planning performance.

We will continue to work in partnership with planning authorities and other stakeholders to deliver innovative solutions to increase the capacity and resilience of the Scottish planning service.

Question reference: S6W-42609

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 8 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of active travel investment on reducing road accidents involving cyclists in Lanarkshire.

Our funding for active travel infrastructure does not have as a specific condition the requirement to evaluate the impact of reducing accidents involving cycling, and so it is not possible to provide figures related to the full active travel investment in North Lanarkshire and South Lanarkshire.

There were 395 pedal cycle casualties in 2024, 10 less than the previous year. The number of seriously injured pedal cycle casualties in 2024 was 158. There were 3 pedal cycle fatalities in 2024, 4 less than 2023. Since 2014 there has been a 56% decrease in all pedal cycle casualties.

However, since 2023-24, Local Authorities have received funding from Transport Scotland through the Road Safety Improvement Fund (RSIF) for targeted road safety schemes to reduce road-related risks and casualties. £2m of the funding (provided from the Sustainable and Active Travel budget) is dedicated to promoting safe active travel journeys on the local road network.

This is the third year of the RSIF and the amounts allocated to both North and South Lanarkshire can be found in the following table:

Year	Local Authority	Amount
2025-26	North Lanarkshire	£750,173
	South Lanarkshire	£737,456
2024-25	North Lanarkshire	£518,137
	South Lanarkshire	£496,642
2023-24	North Lanarkshire	£501,244
	South Lanarkshire	£474,939

All schemes will be evaluated one and three years after they are delivered to assess the impact they have had on casualty and risk reduction. The evaluation of schemes from 2023-24 are still to be published.