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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-41049

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 15 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what adjustments have been made to the transport budget to finance the removal of peak rail fares.

Question reference: S6W-41050

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 15 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether the ability to finance the removal of peak rail fares is a consequence of an improved UK budget allocation.

Question reference: S6W-41052

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 15 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how it plans to fund and (b) what the expected cost will be of the removal of peak rail fares, in each of the next five years.

Question reference: S6W-41051

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 15 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it expects that modal shift or changes in passenger usage, resulting from the removal of peak rail fares, will allow the policy to be self-financing, and, if so, by when it expects the policy to be cost neutral.

Question reference: S6W-41305

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 October 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 11 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to monitor and respond to any implications of teachers' financial stress on recruitment, retention and educational outcomes, in light of the NASUWT’s October 2025 survey findings that 53% of teachers have increased their use of credit cards and 14% have taken a second job.

Question reference: S6W-41340

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 October 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 11 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the value is of new business secured as a direct result of actions taken by its space envoy.

Question reference: S6W-41303

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 October 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 11 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-41119 by Jim Fairlie on 9 October 2025, which stakeholders were invited and who attended the Wildfire Summit on 14 October 2025.

Question reference: S6W-41339

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 October 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 11 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its news release of 26 September 2024, Investing £100 million in mid-market rent, of the 2,800 mid-market rent homes that it pledged to support the construction of, how many have (a) been built and (b) received planning permission to be built.

Question reference: S6W-40872

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 14 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of recent reports of a 5.1% rise in food and drink prices in the year to August 2025, what its position is on whether Scotland is facing a cost of food crisis, and what action it can take to address food affordability.

The Scottish Government recognises the particular impact of food price inflation on low-income households in Scotland who are already grappling with cost-of-living pressures and are disproportionately affected by rising food prices. That is why the 2025-26 budget continues to allocate over £3 billion a year to policies which tackle poverty and the cost of living, including offering free school meals to all pupils in P1 to 5 and in special schools, saving families taking those meals around £450 per year per child. The Scottish Government is investing around £6.9 billion in our social security system this year, almost £1.3 billion more than the UK Government gives to the Scottish Government for Social Security. This includes investment of £649 million in our package of benefits and payments only available in Scotland. All action putting more money in people’s pockets to be able to afford the essentials, including food.

There are a range of global and domestic factors driving food price inflation and whilst the Scottish Government is seeking to support households and local food suppliers in Scotland, there are a number of challenges that lie specifically with the UK Government. Indeed, the Bank of England cite factors such as regulatory changes and rising labour costs, which have been exacerbated by the UK Government’s increase to Employer National Insurance Contributions in autumn last year, as creating an additional financial burden on businesses, households, and the public sector. While many of the levers to address these challenges lie with the UK Government and could be managed more effectively in an independent Scotland, the Scottish Government remains committed in the meantime to using the powers available to us to support people across our nation with the cost of living pressures.

Question reference: S6W-40839

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 29 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 14 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assistance it provides to people with diabetes on low incomes to afford podiatry treatments.

While the Scottish Government’s role is to set the strategic policy for the NHS in Scotland, it is NHS Boards that are responsible for delivering safe, effective, person-centred care at a local level.

To do this effectively, NHS Boards provide a tiered podiatry service, which includes offering support for self-management in order to promote foot health. No single medical condition is automatically deemed to require ongoing general NHS podiatry care and as such podiatry services assess and treat patients based on individual healthcare needs. Whilst routine nail cutting and personal footcare are considered part of daily hygiene, not a clinical service provided by NHS podiatry, advice is available to patients free of charge via their NHS Boards or as part of refreshed footcare guidance published by the Scottish Government in March this year.