- Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 13 February 2026
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 24 February 2026
To ask the Scottish Government whether the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care 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.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6O-05505 on 12 February 2026. All answers to Oral Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at Meeting of the Parliament: 12/02/2026 | Scottish Parliament Website
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2026
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 24 February 2026
To ask the Scottish Government how many police stations have (a) closed and (b) reduced their public counter hours since 2015.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of police stations closed since 2015. The management of the Police Scotland estate is an operational matter, and is the responsibility of the Chief Constable under the scrutiny of the Scottish Police Authority.
The Scottish Government does not hold information on public-facing Police Scotland counters. Decisions on the opening hours of public counters are also operational matters for the Chief Constable.
Community policing remains a priority for Police Scotland, and police officers will continue to be embedded in communities across the country.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2026
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 24 February 2026
To ask the Scottish Government how many retail workers have been threatened with weapons, including knives or machetes, in each of the last three years.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not have the information requested as the data we receive from Police Scotland is a simple count of the number and type of crimes and offences recorded. While we do hold data on Threatening and abusive behaviour of a retail worker, we do not hold further details as to whether any of these crimes involved a weapon, including knives or machetes.
The number of recorded crimes of Threatening and abusive behaviour of a retail worker in the last three years, from the most recent data available, is provided in the following table.
Police recorded crimes of threatening and abusive behaviour of a retail worker, year ending September 2023 to 2025, Scotland.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 February 2026
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 24 February 2026
To ask the Scottish Government, further to its publication, Our Health and Social Care App: MyCare.scot - National Rollout High-Level Summary, what the total annual estimated cost is of building and operating the MyCare.scot app in each financial year from 2025-26 to 2029-30.
Answer
The Full Business Case for the Digital Front Door (DFD) programme has been approved and includes a range of financial projections over the five-year period, and delivery options. The wider DFD programme includes the delivery of the MyCare.scot app and all associated non-digital support that is required.
The DFD programme represents a significant, long-term investment in Scotland’s digital health and care infrastructure, spanning build and operation phases over a ten-year horizon. DFD’s purpose is to transform how people across Scotland access and interact with health and social care services, through development and delivery of digital channels including MyCare.scot
DFD encompasses more than the MyCare.scot app alone. It includes the design, build and operation of the underlying common and reusable platform infrastructure, organisational readiness across all implementing organisations, digital inclusion, equality and accessibility work, staff costs and ongoing service development in response to user needs.
The business case brings together capital and revenue needs for the whole programme and has been developed in line with best practice guidance for major IT and digital programmes.
Funding has been allocated to a number of delivery partners to support implementation of the wider programme. A total of £17.650 million has been allocated to NHS Education for Scotland (NES), including £12 million confirmed for financial year 2025-26. Funding beyond 2025-2026 remains subject to future budget approval through the normal Scottish Budget process. A detailed breakdown of expenditure to date is set out in the answer to question S6W-39294 on 29 July 2025.
The costs of MyCare.scot cannot be isolated from the wider DFD programme costs without misrepresenting the programmes overall scope. These figures therefore reflect the full DFD programme, of which MyCare.scot is the central delivery:
2026-27 - Capital £10.4m, Revenue £28.3m
2027-28 - Capital £9.7m, Revenue £31.2m
2028-29 - Capital £3.2m, Revenue £28.5m
2029-30 - Capital £3.2m, Revenue £21.1m
These estimated figures exclude optimism bias, which has been considered as part of the Business Case process, in line with best practice guidance.
The Digital Front Door programme is aligned with the Scottish Government Service Reform agenda and supports delivery of the Operational Improvement Plan, the Population Health Framework, and the Health and Social Care Service Reform Framework. It contributes to improving access to services, strengthening workforce capability and supporting sustainable reform across health and social care.
- Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2026
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 24 February 2026
To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to the potential role of a
respiratory Modern Service Framework, as introduced in England, in reducing winter pressures on NHS
services in Scotland by simultaneously improving outcomes for long-term
respiratory conditions and short-term respiratory illnesses such as the flu.
Answer
The Scottish Government is aware of calls from respiratory stakeholders in England for a Modern Service Framework focused on respiratory care. To clarify, the UK Government has not introduced such a framework. Modern Service Frameworks are being developed for major conditions such as cardiovascular disease and dementia, but respiratory conditions are not currently included.
In Scotland, we continue to monitor emerging approaches from across the UK while taking forward our own long term, evidence informed approach.
The Scottish Governments strategic direction for respiratory care is currently set through the Respiratory Care Action Plan for Scotland. This work supports resilience across the health system throughout the year, including during periods of increased pressure. Prioritising prevention, early detection and effective long term management helps reduce avoidable exacerbations which often drive urgent and unscheduled demand during winter.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2026
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 24 February 2026
To ask the Scottish Government how many prosecutions have been brought under the Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-restricted Goods and Services) (Scotland) Act 2021 in each year since its enactment.
Answer
The following table provides data on proceedings under the Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-restricted Goods and Services) (Scotland) Act 2021.
The most recent information on proceedings and convictions is available for the financial year 2023-24.
Number of people prosecuted in Scottish courts under the Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-restricted Goods and Services) (Scotland) Act 2021, where main charge, 2021-22 to 2023-24.
| | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 |
Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-restricted Goods and Services) (Scotland) Act 2021 | 28 | 173 | 429 |
Source: Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings database.
Please note: data for 2021-22 and 2022-23 are affected by the pandemic, subsequent court closures, reduced court capacity due to physical distancing measures and delays to cases where key participants were forced to self-isolate after testing positive for COVID-19, and the subsequent court recovery from the pandemic and may not be considered indicative of long term trends.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2026
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 24 February 2026
To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of Police Scotland officer time is currently spent on non-crime-related activity.
Answer
This information is not held by the Scottish Government as the deployment of officers is a matter for the Chief Constable.
The Scottish Government recognises the hard work and valuable contribution that officers make daily to protecting our communities and is committed to reducing wider demands on policing. We are doing this by supporting initiatives such as Digital Evidence Sharing Capability and Summary Case Management, which has helped reduce the number of police officers having to attend court to give evidence. We have also continued with our delivery on Programme for Government commitments since 2023 to reducing mental health demands on police officers through improved frontline multi-agency responses.
- Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Independent
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2026
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom Arthur on 24 February 2026
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it has decided to recalculate the baseline for funding the uplift to the real Living Wage in its draft Budget 2026-27, in light of it funding it in its entirety for nearly 10 years for adult social care workers, and concerns that social care employers will have a £19 million gap to cover.
Answer
The draft Budget 2026-27 set out a further £160 million investment to enable the payment of the Real Living Wage to adult social care workers in commissioned services in the next financial year.
The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government has subsequently announced that a further £20 million will be allocated to the Local Government Settlement for Social Care, which can be used towards funding the Real Living Wage for adult and childcare sectors.
This will take the total Scottish Government investment in adult social care pay to over £1.1 billion annually.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2026
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 24 February 2026
To ask the Scottish Government what legal advice it has received regarding pupils' rights to opt out of religious observance in schools.
Answer
Scottish Government does not disclose the content of legal advice it receives. This is in accordance with longstanding practice and the principle of legal professional privilege and ensures that Ministers can receive full and frank advice on all relevant matters.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2026
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 24 February 2026
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to address any shortages of qualified language teachers.
Answer
Local authorities are responsible for recruitment and retention of teachers in each council area.
The Scottish Government is taking a range of additional steps such as £186.5 million provided to local authorities in 2025-26 to protect and restore teachers numbers, including in hard to fill subjects like modern languages. These steps also include the launch in January 2026 of a new teacher recruitment campaign to encourage more students to take up a career in teaching in remote and rural areas and our £15,000 teaching bursary scheme to encourage career changers to become teachers.
