Seòmar agus comataidhean

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

Criathragan Hide all filters

Displaying 42391 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6W-34013

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB) on 20 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body how many of any flags that it owns have (a) gone missing and (b) been wilfully damaged in each of the last 15 years.

Question reference: S6W-34957

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 20 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-34287 by Neil Gray on 27 January 2025, regarding its commitment to increase access to GPs, whether this includes the commitment in the NHS Recovery Plan 2021-2026 to recruit 1,000 additional staff in primary care mental health, and whether that recruitment process has already begun.

While financial challenges have caused this programme to remain paused since 2022, we remain committed to delivering increased mental health and wellbeing workforce capacity in general practice, when budgets permit.

We have already prioritised significant investment to build mental health capacity in primary care through Action 15 of the Mental Health Strategy 2017-2027 and the Primary Care Improvement Fund (PCIF). As of March 2024, 182.5 WTE mental health workers had been recruited under PCIF and at March 2022, the action 15 commitment had seen an additional 356 WTE mental health workers recruited to general practice.

The Mental Health and Wellbeing Delivery Plan sets out a range of actions to achieve the ambition in the Strategy, including an action to work collaboratively to improve access to support, assessment and treatment in primary care mental health and wellbeing services; and to produce an initial report on progress by November 2024. The Mental Health in Primary and Community Care Report was published on 20 December 2024 detailing a range of actions to enhance access to mental health and wellbeing support in general practice and communities.

Question reference: S6W-34534

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 20 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish the minutes of each meeting of the Future Anti-Racism Observatory for Scotland: Design Advisory Group.

The Design Advisory Group (DAG) was working with Scottish Government to help develop plans for the Anti-Racism Observatory for Scotland. As the group was working independently, it took responsibility for minuting its own meetings.

We understand that due to some resourcing and capacity issues within the group, there has been a delay in finalising and publishing the minutes. However, the DAG, like the Scottish Government, is committed to transparency and accountability and will aim to publish the minutes by the end of March 2025.

Question reference: S6W-34175

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 20 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what reasons have been recorded by emergency services for calls having been hung up or terminated prematurely, and, on average, what percentage of cases each reason represents.

Question reference: S6W-34583

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 20 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to recent research published by the James Hutton Institute, in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh and Forest Research, examining the efficacy of tree planting on carbon capture.

Question reference: S6W-34584

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 20 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration has been given to the potential for soil carbon losses when increasing tree cover with the aim to capture carbon, through its tree planting targets.

Question reference: S6W-34174

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 20 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many calls to each emergency service have been recorded as being (a) hung up and (b) terminated before completion in each year since 2018; what proportion of calls this represents, and what information it has regarding the reasons given for calls ending in this matter.

Question reference: S6W-34585

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 20 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to revising the guidance on the Primary Care Improvement Plan reserves, with the aim of allowing for greater flexibility, including for the reserves to be allocated during the setting of annual budgets.

We are investing over £190 million annually in the implementation of primary care multidisciplinary teams through the Primary Care Improvement Fund (PCIF) as well as additional funding for annual pay uplifts. The utilisation of PCIF funding held in reserve from the previous year to support in-year PCIF objectives is an approach we have now taken for a number of years. It is prudent to reinvest these public funds given the challenging financial context.

Question reference: S6O-04365

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 February 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is, regarding any potential impact on the environment, to reports that Mowi Scotland, a multi-national fish farming company, has purchased Sanda Island in Argyll and Bute.

Question reference: S6O-04368

Asked by: Bob Doris, MSP for Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 February 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many new-build social and mid-market rental properties have been delivered in the Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn constituency in the last 10 years.