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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-38182

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Scottish Water following its reported policy change requiring waste treatment sites to be staffed during waste emptying, in light of reports that not all sites are staffed 24 hours a day and that Scottish Water has indicated that it lacks the resources to hire additional personnel for this role, leaving constituents on Mull unable to get their septic tanks emptied.

The Scottish Government has not had any recent discussions of this specific human resources issue with Scottish Water, as this is an operational matter for them to determine. However, I have asked Scottish Water to provide a response and I understand that there have been no changes to its policies – private companies operating on Mull are being asked to adhere to well-established, existing protocols.

Question reference: S6W-38176

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the current staffing headcount is for civil servants working on the Care Reform (Scotland) Bill.

Question reference: S6W-35411

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
Current Status: Holding Answer by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much public money has been spent to date on defending legal challenges related to its policies on gender self-identification.

Question reference: S6W-38223

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many place of safety orders were made in 2024-25.

Question reference: S6W-35412

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service regarding the number of police officers cited for court but not required to give evidence.

The citation of witnesses is a matter for the independent Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. The Scottish Government is, however, supporting justice partners to drive reforms to improve our criminal justice system to make it more efficient and ensure that it works better for everyone.

That will include reducing the number of police witnesses who are required to attend court and reducing the length of time that cases take. It will also mean enabling more cases to be concluded earlier, and fewer victims and civil witnesses needing to come to court.

Two key programmes being rolled out across Scotland are the judicially led summary case management programme, which provides a new approach to summary criminal cases, and the digital evidence sharing capability programme, which allows digital evidence to be shared at the earliest opportunity including the evidence from Body Worn Video technology which is being rolled out by Police Scotland this year. It is anticipated that combined these will deliver benefits for both civil and professional witnesses.

Question reference: S6W-38187

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to business travel to island communities, and whether the Air Discount Scheme review will give consideration to necessary travel for apprentices to access learning and the reintroduction of business travel to support island economies.

Ministers have no plans to consider business travel under the Air Discount Scheme, as this would be in breach of current State Aid compliance.

Ministers are currently considering the scope and structure of the Air Discount Scheme review, including how the views of stakeholders can best be taken into account.

A key priority for the Scottish Government is to encourage apprenticeship delivery in island and rural communities to support inclusive growth. Through Skills Development Scotland we introduced a rural uplift for Modern Apprenticeship delivery which is an increased payment to training providers to encourage provision in island and rural areas.

Travel and Subsistence (including accommodation) funding is also available to support Apprentices who must attend structured and formal off-the-job training (outwith normal daily travel requirements) where this is required by the Modern Apprenticeship Framework.

Question reference: S6W-38197

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the rights of people to access collective advocacy.

Section 259 of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 gives people with a mental illness, learning disability, dementia and related conditions a right of access to independent advocacy. It confers a duty on each relevant local authority and relevant health board to secure the availability of independent advocacy services and to take appropriate steps to ensure that those persons have the opportunity of making use of those services.

The Code of Practice Volume 1 for the 2003 Act states that independent advocacy organisations may provide individual or collective advocacy, but notes the Act is not specific about the type or types of independent advocacy services to which an individual should have a right of access. It goes on to acknowledge that any or all of the various types of independent advocacy may be appropriate depending on the circumstances and personal preferences of the individual concerned.

Question reference: S6W-38207

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the total cost has been of work towards developing misogyny law in the current parliamentary session.

The total cost of work considering and progressing misogyny legislation by the Scottish Government was £143,668.13. This includes:

The fee paid to Baroness Helena Kennedy KC in her role as Chair of the Independent Working Group on Misogyny and Criminal Justice in Scotland;
Costs associated with Working Group;
Publication of the Scottish Government consultation paper on draft legislation to implement the Working Group’s recommendations;
Analysis of the responses received to the consultation; and
Publication of consultation analysis.

This does not include the cost of time spent by Scottish Government civil servants as the work was carried out by staff working on a range of different areas including but not limited to misogyny legislative policy. As such, it is not possible to quantify the cost of staff time involved.

Question reference: S6W-38104

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-37624 by Kate Forbes on 22 May 2025, and in light of the detailed Project Willow report by EY-Parthenon, what its position is on whether Regional Growth Deals are necessary to enable the delivery of the nine projects identified in the Project Willow report, and for what reason it has "no current plans for any future growth deals".

Project Willow sets out a truly transformative future for Grangemouth and will be possible if the public and private sectors work together. The current 10 year Deal was signed in November 2024, so our focus is on delivering the Growth Deal, which commits £50 million of Scottish Government funding over ten years to projects in the area. The Deal will complement the aims of Project Willow and we will work with partners to progress both the Deal and Project Willow. As previously stated, there are no plans for a further Deal.

Question reference: S6W-38161

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to recently reported research, which suggests that hundreds of lives could be saved every year with extra cancer scans for women with very dense breasts.

The Scottish Government, along with the other UK nations, relies on advice about screening programmes from the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), an independent expert advisory group.

We welcome research on the further improvements that can be made to our screening programmes. The UK National Screening Committee is reviewing this evidence as it becomes available. Should a recommendation be made to introduce changes to the screening programme, the organisations that oversee screening will advise Scottish Ministers on how to take that recommendation forward.