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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: S6F-04576

Asked by: Gillian Mackay, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 January 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 January 2026

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-42616

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 19 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 12 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-42078 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 9 December 2025, by what date the review of facilities across its estate will be completed.

The review of facilities across the Scottish Government core estate is progressing at pace, though it is important that this work is completed thoroughly. While no fixed end date has been set, physical building surveys are complete and contractor reporting is expected to conclude by the end of March 2026. The next steps include will include reviewing outputs against EHRC guidance, undertaking an Equalities Impact Assessment, consulting with stakeholders, clarifying policy positions, and agreeing recommended actions with an implementation plan.

Question reference: S6W-42709

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 12 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish a full winter resilience plan for NHS Scotland, including staffing, bed capacity and infection control plans, and, if so, when.

As set out by me in the statement to Parliament on 13 November on winter preparedness and national planning, winter resilience planning is best undertaken by those delivering the services themselves. The Scottish Government supports this via the nationally agreed priorities and principles set out in the document “National Planning Priorities and Principles for Surge and Winter Preparedness in Health and Social Care” which was published on 13 November 2025.

Question reference: S6W-42663

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 12 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether any of its ministers have met with Offshore Solutions Group Limited in each year since 2021, and, if so, whether it will provide details of such meetings.

Question reference: S6W-42708

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 12 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many patients have waited on trolleys for more than 12 hours in A&E departments in the last three months.

We do not collect national data on patients waiting on trolleys in A&E. Our focus is on addressing the underlying causes of this practice, such as high hospital occupancy and poor patient flow.

We want to drive improvements and are working closely with health boards to ensure they have the support in place to cope with peaks in demand. Through the NHS Scotland Operational Improvement Plan, we are investing £220 million to reduce waiting times, improve hospital flow, and minimise delayed discharges.

Question reference: S6W-42637

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 12 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with SEPA over its adoption of Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5, in which a global temperature rise of 4.3 degrees centigrade is anticipated, as set out in the document, Climate change allowances for flood risk assessment in land use planning Version 6, and what its position is on whether the principal environmental regulator has chosen to use an overly precautionary emissions scenario, when COP30 projections had a maximum temperature increase of 2.8 degrees centigrade.

SEPA has a statutory duty to reduce overall flood risk and will provide advice accordingly to planning authorities in its role as a statutory consultee on development proposals. SEPA’s guidance has been taken forward with an approach consistent with advice from the Climate Change Committee.

NPF4 policy aims to strengthen flood resilience and reduce the vulnerability of existing and future development to flooding. The planning system requires decision makers to weigh up all relevant policies, for example, flood risk, quality homes, brownfield development and town centre living, in applying balanced planning judgement.

Question reference: S6W-42638

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 12 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it can provide an estimate of the (a) highest, (b) lowest and (c) average cost of flood insurance for existing residential properties in circumstances where SEPA's high emissions scenario has placed the homes in an area that is deemed to be at a high risk of flooding.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the specific costs of flood insurance for residential properties. Insurance premiums are set by individual insurers who use commercial risk maps, developed by a number of providers, for pricing purposes.

SEPA’s flood risk maps are produced to inform public awareness, planning, and flood risk management. They are not commercial risk maps and are not developed for insurers to use to set premiums.

The Scottish Government continues to work in co-operation with the UK Government and the other devolved administrations to ensure flood insurance remains widely available and affordable. This includes engaging with the UK Flood Re scheme. Every insurer that offers home insurance in the UK must pay into the Flood Re scheme, raising £160m annually that is used to cover flood risks in home insurance policies for properties that might otherwise find it difficult to get insurance. Over 22,000 properties in Scotland were part of the scheme in 2025.

While insurance regulation is a reserved matter, the Scottish Government continues to engage with the UK Government and industry partners to ensure that the needs of households in Scotland are fully considered.

Question reference: S6W-42590

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 12 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many men in Scotland have received prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S6W-42512

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 12 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any potential impact on rural and island communities in Scotland of any reduction in digital terrestrial television coverage.

Broadcasting is a reserved issue, and the Scottish Government has long been clear that it should be devolved, so that services can meet the needs of Scottish audiences. We join the public service broadcasters and other stakeholders in urging the UK Government to ensure that the future of digital terrestrial television is considered carefully, and any future switch-off of services is managed inclusively, and does not unfairly impact vulnerable people, including those in rural communities and from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that everyone in Scotland has the skills, confidence, and access they need to participate fully in the digital world. In addition to digital inclusion programme delivery, the Scottish Government has commissioned and published research on a Minimum Digital Living Standard for Scotland, which will inform our future digital inclusion policy.

Question reference: S6W-42322

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 12 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the alleged lack of crucial detail in the UK Warm Homes Plan and the impact on the Scottish Government's plans to introduce a Heat in Buildings Bill, what discussions it has had with UK Government ministers on this matter, and whether it will publish any related correspondence.

I met with the UK Minister for Energy Consumers most recently on 3 December during which the Warm Homes Plan was discussed.

In its advice to the Scottish Government on Scotland’s Carbon Budgets, the Climate Change Committee noted that “Making electricity cheaper, through rebalancing prices to remove policy levies from electricity bills, is a key recommendation the Committee have made to the UK Government and will be essential to delivering Scotland’s targets, in tandem with action by the Scottish Government.”

It is therefore legitimate that the Scottish Parliament should be able to consider the Heat in Buildings Bill in the context of the Warm Homes Plan and any UK-wide action that may be taken to make electricity cheaper. We will therefore continue to press the UK Government to share more information on the timing and content of the Plan in order to bring forward legislation whilst ensuring the transition to clean heat is affordable and deliverable.