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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-37374

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 14 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what potential zonal boundaries for electricity pricing have been considered by its officials, and what criteria were used to define each such boundary.

Question reference: S6W-37352

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 14 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what economic objectives and targets it has adopted or discarded since 2015.

Question reference: S6W-37416

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 14 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will update the 2003 guidance, Local Authority Powers to Require Drivers to Switch Off Engines When Parked, to enable local authorities to more effectively enforce the ban on engine idling.

Question reference: S6W-36895

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 13 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any potential risk to taxpayers from any future liability that could arise from owning or operating the Grangemouth refinery.

Further to my answer to S6W-36894 on 13 May 2025, we understand that significant financial investment would be required to retain refinery operations at Grangemouth. Given the expansive fiscal levers at its disposal, the UK Government must utilise all routes to securing a sustainable future for the Refinery site.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Question reference: S6W-36897

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 13 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has engaged with the UK Government to explore joint ownership of Grangemouth refinery, and whether it has received any indication of support for such a proposal.

Scottish Ministers, including the First Minister, have urged UK Ministers on numerous occasions to take tangible and decisive action to secure the site’s long term and sustainable future. We have continued to assert that the Scottish Government stands ready to play its part but that we require the weight of the UK Government’s vast resources to be deployed.

The UK Government’s commitment of £200 million from the National Wealth Fund to support Grangemouth’s transition is welcome but it must be available now. I hope the member will join me in calling on UK Ministers to provide clarity as to how businesses at Grangemouth can access this money to ensure new employment opportunities are made available in the near future and not much further down the line.

Question reference: S6W-36553

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 13 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether any funds received by local authorities from the extended producer responsibility scheme will be used to reduce council tax bills and, if so, how this will be implemented.

Council tax is a local tax, set and administered by individual local authorities, who had full flexibility in setting rates for 2025-26. The Scottish Government’s policy towards local authorities’ spending is to allow local authorities the financial freedom to operate independently. It is for locally elected representatives to make local decisions on how best to deliver services to their local communities. There will be no reduction in the local government finance settlement as a result of extended producer responsibility for packaging payments in the first year of the scheme (2025-26).

Question reference: S6W-36894

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 13 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has undertaken any analysis, or cost-benefit study, into the viability of taking Grangemouth refinery into public ownership.

The Scottish Government has considered the Grangemouth Refinery’s historical financial performance and, from the information available, has concluded that the asset is loss-making with significant capital investment required to retain operations.

Noting the fiscal constraints within which Scottish Ministers are required to operate, such an intervention would require the UK Government to intervene.

I continue to call on UK Government to leave no stone unturned to ensure a long term and sustainable future is secured for those who work and live at Grangemouth.

Question reference: S6W-37467

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 13 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Trading Standards Scotland regarding the sale of single-use vapes.

The Scottish Government has engaged with Trading Standards throughout the drafting of The Environmental Protection (Single-use Vapes) (Scotland) Regulations 2024 (the Vapes Regulations).

Trading Standards responded to the two consultations held on the Vapes Regulations, and provided feedback regarding the definition of a single-use vape, enforcement powers and implementation. This was taken on board in the final draft. A request from Trading Standards for the power to issue fixed penalty notices for offences under the Vapes Regulations was introduced through The Environmental Protection (Injurious Articles) (Fixed Penalty Notices and Miscellaneous Amendments) (Scotland) Regulations 2025, along with further enforcement powers.

Officials have also met with Trading Standards on several occasions to discuss the drafting of the Regulations and associated guidance and will continue to engage up to and following the implementation of the ban on relevant issues associated with the regulations and their enforcement.

Question reference: S6W-37246

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 13 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many property factors have been removed from the property factor register as a result of contraventions of the Code of Conduct for Property Factors in each year since 2011.

Question reference: S6W-36884

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 13 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting universities in accessing and deploying technology capable of detecting AI-assisted plagiarism and misconduct.

Universities are autonomous institutions with responsibility for their own academic misconduct policies. The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) has statutory responsibility for quality assurance of provision by colleges and universities. With the support of the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), the SFC is continuing to work with universities to address the risks and opportunities presented by artificial intelligence, and its potential impact on assessments, academic integrity and standards.

This includes funding provided by the SFC to JISC, who offer specialist and expert advice and guidance to institutions on accessing useful and effective tools to detect and address AI-assisted plagiarism and misconduct.