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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-37256

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 7 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether all retired police officers affected by the 2018 McCloud judgement received a remediable service statement by the 31 March 2025 deadline.

I have asked Stephen Pathirana, Chief Executive of the Scottish Public Pensions Agency, to respond. His response is as follows:

2,725 officers, over 50% of the retired police officers eligible for the McCloud remedy, were sent their remediable service statement by 31 March 2025. The Scottish Public Pensions Agency has published an extension to the deadlines and all officers will receive their statement by 31 July 2025. The information is available at: https://pensions.gov.scot/sites/default/files/2025-04/2025-04_Police_Circular_McCloud_Remedy_administration_%E2%80%93_Remediable_Service_Statements.pdf

Question reference: S6W-37214

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 7 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Young Lives vs Cancer research, The Cost of Waiting, which states that almost one in two households with a child or young person with cancer had to use their savings, and three in five borrowed money, following a diagnosis, what consideration it has given to how such outcomes align with its child poverty reduction targets.

Eradicating child poverty in Scotland is a national mission and Mr Swinney’s top priority as First Minister.

We fully appreciate how difficult a cancer diagnosis is for young people and their families. We are committed to making sure the necessary support is available to all who need it, when they need it.

Our Child Disability Payment is designed to mitigate some of the additional costs of caring for a disabled or terminally ill child or young person. It is available to children and young people from the ages of 3 months to 18 years old, who have care and/or mobility needs as a result of a disability.

The Child Disability Payment has paid out over £1 billion to families with disabled children to date.

Question reference: S6W-37203

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 25 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 7 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) knee and (b) hip replacement operations have taken place out-of-area for patients at the Golden Jubilee National Hospital in each year since 1999, broken down by in-area NHS board.

Question reference: S6W-36948

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 7 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has carried out with local authorities in the Highlands and Islands in the last year regarding wildfire preparedness.

The Scottish Wildfire Forum brings together a range of practitioners to tackle issues concerning wildfire preparedness. The Scottish Government is itself a member of the Forum, but membership includes NatureScot, Scottish Forestry, the Cairngorms National Park Authority and Highland Council.

When Scotland is at a high threat of wildfires, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) work in partnership with the Scottish Wildfire Forum, to alert the public and partners to the threat of wildfires by issuing “Wildfire Danger Assessments”.

SFRS issue alerts through their social media channels, their website and local media outlets, and request assistance from Local Authorities across Scotland to share safety messaging to seek engagement with as many members of the public as possible.

Question reference: S6W-36945

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 7 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what reasons have been given for the need to kill mountain hares in licence applications since 2012, and how many of these licensed activities took place on (a) public and (b) private land in each year.

In responding, I must advise that licence applications to lethally control mountain hare before March 2021 were required for the previous closed season, however following passage of the Animals and Wildlife Penalties, Protections and Powers Scotland Act mountain hares are now a protected species and licence applications are required year round.

Licences to lethally control mountain hare have been issued for the following purposes since 2012; “Preventing serious damage to growing timber”, “Conserving any area of natural habitat” and “Science, research and education”.

Information determining if the land applied to the application is public or private is not held centrally.

Question reference: S6W-36576

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 7 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many primary school pupils in each local authority area are currently not entitled to free school meals as a result of its decision not to roll out free school meal provision to all primary school pupils.

This information is not held centrally.

Local authorities have a statutory duty to promote school meals and to take all reasonable steps to ensure that all children and young people entitled to receive free school meals are given full support to access them.

As I confirmed to the Education, Children and Young People Committee on 2 April, we remain committed to the roll-out of universal free school meals in the longer term.

Question reference: S6W-37167

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 7 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish comparative data on senior pay levels across all publicly funded Scottish universities annually.

The Scottish Government does not hold comparative data on senior pay levels across publicly funded Scottish Universities and therefore has no plans to publish this information.

Universities are autonomous institutions with responsibility for their own pay and remuneration decisions.

However, the Scottish Government expects universities to exercise restraint in setting senior pay, including that senior pay packages are in step with the salary, terms and conditions offered to other university staff.

Universities are also required to comply with the terms of the Scottish Funding Council's Financial Memorandum as a condition of grant funding. This includes compliance with the principles of The Scottish Code of Good HE Governance which includes the expectation that universities' remuneration committees seek the views of student and staff representatives in relation to the remuneration packages of Principals and senior executive teams, as well as that they represent the public interest and avoid any inappropriate use of funds.

Question reference: S6T-02508

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that the number of new rape cases being reported to police has increased by more than a third since 2020-21.

Question reference: S6T-02503

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what immediate action it will take to address the reported failure by NHS boards to publish significant adverse event reviews related to mother and baby deaths in hospitals.

Question reference: S6F-04053

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 May 2025

Question to be taken in Chamber.