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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-41674

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Independent
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 November 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 20 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any lessons learned, that may be relevant to Scotland, regarding the Australian Government's approval in 2023 for psychiatrists to prescribe MDMA for post-traumatic stress disorder, and psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression.

Question reference: S6W-41675

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Independent
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 November 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 20 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding its potential use in Scotland, whether it will assess the reasons for three states in the USA legalising psilocybin for the treatment of major treatment-resistant depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance-use disorders and in end-of-life care, and what lessons can be learned to support its potential use in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-41678

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Independent
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 November 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 20 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the potential treatment of certain mental health conditions, what its position is on the current scheduling of psilocybin as a class A drug, which means it is illegal to possess, supply or produce it, and whether the current scheduling presents any problems in relation to the NHS conducting clinical trials in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-41677

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Independent
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 November 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 20 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has consulted the National Drugs Mission Clinical Advisory Group regarding its position on the potential impact of the reclassification of psilocybin on the treatment of people in Scotland with substance abuse disorders.

Question reference: S6W-41676

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Independent
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 November 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 20 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the work undertaken by the NHS Research Scotland Mental Health Network, sponsored by Compass Pathways, in relation to a trial that commenced in Edinburgh in 2024 as part of a Scottish phase of a worldwide clinical study into the safety and effectiveness of an investigational psilocybin treatment for patients with treatment-resistant depression.

Question reference: S6W-41165

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 5 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding what progress has been made in assigning a share of VAT revenues raised in Scotland to the Scottish Parliament, in light of the provisions set aside at section16 of the Scotland Act 2016 to allow this.

VAT Assignment was most recently discussed with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury at a meeting of the Joint Exchequer Committee on 17 October 2025.

The Scottish Government has noted the comments from the House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee and the Scottish Parliament Finance and Public Administration Committee on the risks and challenges regarding the implementation of VAT Assignment and the governments will have further discussions on this matter.

Question reference: S6W-41166

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 5 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that a number of local authorities are considering increases of around 10% to council tax in 2026-27, whether it will fund a council tax freeze or a cost of living cap.

Council Tax is a local tax, set and administered by individual local authorities. Future local government finance settlements, including any decisions on council tax, will be set out in the usual way as part of the annual Scottish Budget.

The Scottish Government continues to support a national Council Tax Reduction scheme to protect those most in need. Over 450,000 households receive some level of Council Tax Reduction, saving recipients on average over £850 a year.

Question reference: S6W-41312

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Independent
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 4 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding who has the ownership of the Musselburgh seawall; what responsibility Scottish Power has under the Musselburgh Agreement regarding it carrying out any repairs required to the wall; what its response is to concerns that Scottish Power might ask for public funds to be allocated to carry out such work and, in light of the ongoing Musselburgh Flood Protection Scheme application process, how it will ensure that applications are thoroughly reviewed in response to any concerns regarding any potential misuse of such repair funds.

Local authorities are responsible for the development, design, consultation and delivery of flood protection schemes within their jurisdiction. This includes full assessment of all technical, environmental, financial and ownership-related considerations.

The Musselburgh Flood Protection Scheme was formally notified to the Scottish Ministers by East Lothian Council on 24 October 2025 under Schedule 2, paragraph 5(5) of the Flood Risk Management Act. It would therefore be inappropriate to comment on the merits of specific aspects of the Scheme at this stage or pre-empting Scottish government decisions.

Question reference: S6W-41167

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 4 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will put in place funding to complete the roll-out of free school meals to all primary school children.

The Scottish Government remains committed to the universal provision of free school meals in primary schools. Current financial constraints mean that we are prioritising investment to reach those pupils most in need.

Currently over 230,000 pupils across Scotland, all primary school pupils in primaries one to five, all children in special schools, and eligible pupils in Primary 6 through to Secondary 6 can already benefit from free school meals during term-time in Scotland and we are expanding this provision to target those pupils whose families are in receipt of the Scottish Child Payment in Primaries 6 and 7. This phase began in February of this year. It is expected that once this phase is completed 84% of all primary children will benefit from the opportunity to take a free school meal.

In addition, we are taking forward a test of change policy for those in receipt of Scottish Child Payment in Secondary 1 to 3 in 60 schools across 8 local authorities which started in August 2025 and will run to July 2026. This will benefit around an additional 6,100 pupils.

Question reference: S6W-41169

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 4 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many GPs there are, and what the recruitment target is for additional GPs in each of the next five years.

NHS Education of Scotland are responsible for the publication of GP workforce data. GP Headcount data is now published on a bi-annually basis with reference points relating to March and September. While the Scottish Government do not set annual recruitment targets, we do measure our progress against our commitment to increase GP numbers by 800 by the end of 2027 against the September data. The latest figures show an increase of 360 GPs since 2017 against this commitment. The latest data can be found here NHS Scotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence.