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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-43712

Asked by: Gillian Mackay, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 26 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to support GP surgeries to (a) improve energy efficiency and (b) reduce their carbon footprint.

It is for individual NHS Boards to develop and implement plans to decarbonise their estates, including GP surgeries. The Scottish Government is contributing funding to support boards with this work.

The Scottish Government established the NHS Scotland Sustainability Action Programme to provide strategic oversight and support NHS Scotland to achieve their target of achieving net zero emissions by 2040 and aims for a net zero supply chain by 2045.

Question reference: S6W-43673

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 26 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will allocate any of the £50 million committed to whole family support in its draft Budget 2026-27 to organisations that provide expert, joined-up support to families from pregnancy through to age two.

Question reference: S6W-43691

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 26 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many modern language teachers have left the profession in each of the last five years.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on whether teachers have left the profession; only whether they were teaching in a Scottish, publicly-funded school on census day in a particular year.

Changes in the full-time equivalent (FTE) of teachers by main or other subject taught over successive years can be found in the teacher census supplementary statistics table 3.9, here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/teacher-census-supplementary-statistics/

Data on subject taught from the 2025 school teacher census will be published in March 2026.

Question reference: S6W-43704

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 26 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on solar PV installations between 2021 and 2025 and its rate of deployment, and whether it plans to publish this information.

Data on the number of solar PV installations is available from the “Energy Trends” publication, produced by the UK Government Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, as reported in the tables on the number of renewable electricity generating sites by region and technology.

According to the latest data, the total number of solar PV installations in Scotland has increased from 89,639 at the end of 2020 to 187,580 at the end of 2024. This is equivalent to a total of 97,941 installations across this period, and an average number of installations of 24,485 per year.

Data for 2025 will be made available in September 2026.

Question reference: S6W-43941

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 February 2026
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Richard Lochhead on 26 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on social impact activity connected to Scotland hosting the 2027 Tour de France Grand Départ.

Bringing the 2027 Tour de France Grand Départ to Edinburgh is a once in a generation opportunity. We are delighted that Scotland is co-hosting the biggest free spectator event in the world alongside our partners in England and Wales. We have the honour of hosting the opening stage, which will start in Edinburgh on Friday 2 July 2027, before heading south through Midlothian, the Scottish Borders and Dumfries and Galloway, finishing in Carlisle.

At the heart of the 2027 Grand Départ is Joy, a social impact programme that aims to tackle inactivity and improve mental wellbeing, support communities to thrive, and to make us more productive and prosperous.

With that long-term impact in mind, the Scottish Government has chosen to allocate £1 million of its overall £9.25 million of investment in the event to boost the social impact programme in Scotland. Scottish Cycling, Scotland’s national governing body for the sport of cycling, has been appointed to lead the delivery of the social impact programme in Scotland. Scottish Cycling will work closely with the Scottish Government, local authorities, national agencies, community-based organisations and national cycling partners to co-design and deliver activity that delivers lasting change across Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-43577

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Independent
Date lodged: Monday, 16 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 26 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether any public body holds and is able to publish practice-level data on the total number of complaints made about individual dental practices that receive NHS General Dental Services payments, including complaints relating to private treatment provided by those practices in each of the last five years.

Complaints about dentists and dental practices can be made through a number of different mechanisms - directly with the practice; with the NHS Board in relation to NHS treatment; through Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) for private treatment; and through the General Dental Council (GDC) as the independent statutory regulator for members of the dental team.

As complaints can be made through one or more of these mechanisms, and each body is responsible for the data they hold, it is not possible for Scottish Government to publish practice-level data on the total number of complaints made, including those relating to private treatment, about individual practices that receive NHS General Dental Services (GDS) payments.

Question reference: S6W-43841

Asked by: Annabelle Ewing, MSP for Cowdenbeath, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 26 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what additional funding would require to be made available to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to implement the expansion of the firefighter role.

Question reference: S6W-43731

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 26 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government is ashamed that the written case for Scottish ministers and the Lord Advocate in the judicial review of the Scottish Prison Service policy for the management of transgender people in custody did not include a single mention of women’s rights.

Question reference: S6O-05598

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 February 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that Highlands and Islands Airports Limited airports are as accessible as possible to all residents and users.

Question reference: S6O-05597

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 February 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what additional support it will provide to local authorities to address ageing infrastructure, including bridges.