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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: S6F-03621

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 December 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 December 2024

To ask the First Minister what discussions the Scottish Government has had with local authorities regarding the reported impending closure of library facilities across Scotland.

Question reference: S6F-03622

Asked by: Michelle Thomson, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 December 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 December 2024

To ask the First Minister what plans the Scottish Government has to bring forward legislation to criminalise non-fatal strangulation.

Question reference: S6F-03619

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 09 December 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 December 2024

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-31962

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 9 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many of its employees have been offered voluntary redundancy packages and rejected them, but remain employed with the Scottish Government in 2024-25.

Under the terms of the Civil Service Compensation Scheme, which the Scottish Government is entitled to follow, there are three categories of early departure: voluntary exit, voluntary redundancy, and compulsory redundancy. No voluntary redundancy schemes have been run in 2024-25, and therefore the number of employees in Scottish Government who have been offered voluntary redundancy packages and rejected them, but remained employed with the Scottish Government is nil.

Question reference: S6W-31671

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 02 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 9 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Minister for Public Finance on 12 November 2024 that more than 164,000 homes have planning permission but have not yet been built, what the difference is, for each local authority area, between the number of such homes and the area's Minimum All Tenure Housing Land Requirement figure.

The Minimum All Tenure Housing Land Requirement (MATHLR) for each planning authority in Scotland is set out in Annex E of National Planning Framework 4.

The table below provides the difference between the MATHLR and the figures that contribute to the 164,000 units.

Authority	Remaining capacity (units of housing) of land included in Housing Land Audits with planning consent	MATHLR (as set out in National Planning Framework 4, Annex E)	Difference
City of Edinburgh	20,593	36,750	-16,157
Glasgow City	20,388	21,350	-962
North Lanarkshire	14,859	7,350	7,509
Fife	13,181	7,300	5,881
West Lothian	12,298	9,850	2,448
Aberdeen City	11,406	7,000	4,406
Aberdeenshire	10,822	7,550	3,272
Perth & Kinross	9,724	8,500	1,224
South Lanarkshire	9,005	7,850	1,155
East Lothian	7,019	6,500	519
Midlothian	6,886	8,850	-1,964
Renfrewshire	6,569	4,900	1,669
Stirling	5,562	3,500	2,062
Dumfries & Galloway	2,499	4,550	-2,051
Dundee City	2,154	4,300	-2,146
Falkirk	2,090	5,250	-3,160
West Dunbartonshire	1,896	2,100	-204
Argyll & Bute	1,683	2,150	-467
Angus	1,527	2,550	-1,023
Clackmannanshire	1,461	1,500	-39
East Renfrewshire	1,036	2,800	-1.764
Inverclyde	1,015	1,500	-485
East Dunbartonshire	711	2,500	-1,789
Total	164,384	166,450	-2,066

The 164,000 homes is a broad estimate of the remaining capacity across Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-31676

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 02 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 9 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Minister for Public Finance on 12 November 2024 that more than 164,000 homes have planning permission but have not yet been built, how many of these homes are part of developments containing four homes or fewer.

Question reference: S6W-31801

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 9 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how it is working to improve the outcomes for the treatment of drug addiction co-dependency.

We are working to improve outcomes for people receiving drug treatment by recognising family members can play an important role in a loved one’s recovery. MAT Standard 2 ‘Choice’ and MAT Standard 8 ‘Independent Advocacy’ states individuals should be entitled to choice of treatment and who accompanies them.

We also recognise that families affected by substance use must be supported in their own right, as well as being involved in their loved one’s treatment and recovery.

We have provided ADPs with £3.5 million per year over the life of the Parliament for local implementation of our framework Drug and alcohol services - improving holistic family support - gov.scot (www.gov.scot), to improve holistic support for families affected by drugs and alcohol by taking a whole family approach and using family inclusive practice.

We are providing £138,876 over three years (2023-2026) to Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol and Drugs to develop, test and deliver a national Family Inclusive Practice Development Programme. This programme will focus on supporting practice implementation of Family Inclusive Practice through continued work with existing areas and expansion into other localities.

Question reference: S6W-31794

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 9 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects to announce proposals for future governance arrangements for Hebrides and Clyde ferry services, and whether these will be subject to consultation.

Scottish Ministers have been clear on the need to improve delivery of the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services (CHFS), to ensure the requirements of our ferry dependent communities are met. No immediate decisions are being made on the subject of reform of the ferries sector, including whether any proposals would be subject to public consultation. At present, the focus is on bringing in new vessels and putting arrangements in place for the direct award of the new CHFS contract next year.

Question reference: S6W-31787

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 9 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what financial support is being provided for buildings with known cladding issues.

The Scottish Government is providing financial support for buildings with known cladding issues through the Cladding Remediation Programme.

The Housing (Cladding Remediation) (Scotland) Act 2024 addresses the risks posed by unsafe cladding on residential buildings. This legislation gives Scottish Ministers the power to assess and remediate buildings with unsafe cladding, establish a Cladding Assurance Register, and create schemes requiring developers to contribute to remediation costs. The Act is expected to be commenced in early 2025.

The Scottish Government’s Cladding Remediation Programme Pilot utilised a self-nomination process to identify buildings, of different tenures, that are potentially affected by unsafe cladding. For the Pilot, the Scottish Government funded Pilot Single Building Assessments to test the concept and deliverability of the Assessment. Following the introduction of the Act we have introduced Single Building Assessments (SBA).

The Scottish Government will continue to fund assessment and remediation where no linked developer can be identified. The level of financial support that will be needed is determined by the comprehensive SBA assessment. We continue to publish spend information for the programme which can be accessed here

Single Building Assessment programme: spending information (gov.scot)

Question reference: S6W-31800

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 9 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has undertaken of any impact of ticket office closures on rail passenger numbers, and what measures it has put in place to mitigate any accessibility problems caused by closures.

There will be no ticket office closures or job losses further to the adjustments to the ticket office opening hours proposed by ScotRail and Scottish Rail Holdings.

The purpose of these adjustments is to enable ScotRail to provide assistance to passengers, where it is most required, thus enhancing passenger experience.

The Scottish Government’s acceptance to these proposals is predicated on some conditions, including that the arrangements for disabled passengers will not be affected.