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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-04759

Asked by: Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it is working with universities and placement schools to support the mental health and wellbeing of student teachers.

Question reference: S6O-04713

Asked by: Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the Edinburgh Integration Joint Board, NHS Lothian, the City of Edinburgh Council and any other relevant organisations regarding any impact on patients, communities and statutory services of reported reductions to preventative initiatives and services.

Question reference: S6O-04701

Asked by: Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it is working with partners to support the Port of Leith's contribution to Scotland's net zero ambitions.

Question reference: S6W-37650

Asked by: Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 May 2025
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Angus Robertson on 14 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made on the Festivals Strategic Partnership since it began in August 2024.

In August, I launched a Strategic Partnership for Scotland’s arts festivals through an open letter to boost their support and promotion. I’m pleased to announce a new open letter has been published on the Scottish Government website.

This letter, developed with arts festivals and other key partners, reflects conversations across the sector and work undertaken to date. It outlines how the partnership will be pragmatic and solutions focused, drawing upon the expertise across the sector and beyond, ensuring it can be in place for the long term.

The first step of delivery was the Scottish Government’s 2025-26 Budget which delivered the biggest increase in culture spending in the history of this Parliament, after Covid recovery support. For Scotland’s arts festivals specifically, the Budget provides £4 million of additional support to develop and deliver work under this Strategic Partnership.

Question reference: S6O-04559

Asked by: Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 23 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it is working with partners to tackle gang-related crime.

Disrupting organised crime groups, diverting individuals away from organised crime and reducing the harm caused by organised crime to individuals, communities and organisations remains a priority for the Scottish Government and its partners.

Partnership working is a crucial part of the approach to organised crime, as set out in Scotland’s Serious Organised Crime Strategy. The Serious Organised Crime Taskforce, which I chair, brings together law enforcement partners, and representatives from the public, private and third sectors.

The Scottish Crime Campus at Gartcosh enhances collaboration between key partner organisations in detecting and disrupting serious organised crime and terrorism. This includes the Police Scotland-chaired Multi-Agency Tasking and Delivery Board which comprises representatives from a number of bodies with investigative remits to share intelligence, identify emerging and current threats and collaborate on operational approach.

Question reference: S6W-34325

Asked by: Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 27 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider introducing a statutory duty of care for higher education institutions.

The Scottish Government has no plans to introduce a statutory duty of care for higher education institutions, however we do expect them to put in place measures to protect and support student wellbeing, as well as to comply with existing legal duties, such as the Equality Act 2010 and Online Safety Act 2023.

The Scottish Government will continue to engage closely with universities on student mental health support, in line with our Student Mental Health Action Plan, and work to ensure that universities are places where students can live, study and research free from gender-based violence, through the Equally Safe in Colleges and Universities Core Leadership Group.

Question reference: S6O-04383

Asked by: Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 February 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting Edinburgh’s economy.

Question reference: S6W-34502

Asked by: Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 25 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-32043 by Jenni Minto on 17 December 2024, whether consideration is being given to creating a clinical and third sector stakeholder group to help inform the implementation of the NICE guideline on myalgic encephalomyelitis/ chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), to be delivered by Healthcare Improvement Scotland.

The Budget includes a new investment of £4.5 million to deliver specialist support for ME/CFS, Long Covid and other similar conditions. We are exploring whether bringing clinical and third sector stakeholders together to seek further consensus and clarity around the status and implementation of the NICE guidelines on ME/CFS would help deliver this specialist support and, if so, consideration will be given to whether Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS), or another organisation, is well placed to facilitate this work.

Question reference: S6O-04288

Asked by: Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the economy secretary has had with ministerial colleagues regarding establishing a standalone postgraduate business school to help create more companies, attract talent and boost innovation.

Question reference: S6W-33312

Asked by: Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 23 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how it is addressing youth violence, in light of its Youth Violence Summit on 13 January 2025.

The Scottish Government is grateful for the bravery shown by the young people and their families who shared their experiences at the summit. It was extremely important to hear directly from those with lived experience on their views about possible solutions to address violence amongst young people.

We will publish a report of the summit that will highlight the key areas the participants raised.

A commitment has been made to hold a further meeting involving cross-party MSPs to discuss youth violence and the issues raised at the summit.

Over the last two years, we have invested more than £4 million to implement the actions set out in the Violence Prevention Framework, including tackling youth violence. This has included work to extend the support of the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit, to reach more individuals and communities across Scotland, extending the Medics Against Violence Hospital Navigator Programme in two Children’s Hospitals in Aberdeen and Glasgow and training teachers in schools to provide young people with key messages on violence.

The Scottish Government is also investing up to £20 million through our CashBack for Communities programme phase 6, which is funding 29 partners over 3 years to deliver early intervention and prevention projects targeted at working with and supporting young people at risk of being drawn into antisocial behaviour, offending or reoffending. This programme aims to reach a minimum of 33,976 children and young people between April 2023 and March 2026.