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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: S6T-02237

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 December 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it had with the UK Government at the British Irish Council summit regarding ending the two-child benefit cap.

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-03618

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 December 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 December 2024

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-03620

Asked by: Lorna Slater, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 December 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 December 2024

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-03628

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 09 December 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 December 2024

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s response is to reported comments from the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland that “children are being let down” by an education system that needs “radical reform”.

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-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-31887

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 02 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 9 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the evidence given by the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands to the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee on 13 November 2024, what specific work it is undertaking in relation to reforming the current reporting system for salmon mortalities.

The Aquatic Animal Health (Scotland) Regulations 2009 already places a legal obligation on salmon producers to report increases in mortality levels to Scottish Ministers or a veterinarian. This applies to unexplained mortality, and there is a voluntary agreement in place with aquaculture production businesses for any instances of mortality above specified thresholds to be reported to Scottish Ministers as part of wider aquatic animal health surveillance. This agreement is a requirement of the Code of Good Practice for Scottish Finfish Aquaculture. Fish farm operators are also legally obliged to keep records of site mortality levels and these are periodically inspected by the Fish Health Inspectorate during their risk-based inspections.

Question reference: S6W-31897

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 9 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take to ensure that Police Scotland designs its Digital Evidence Sharing Capability to enable the public to upload journey-cam footage directly to the police rather than having to report the incident first.

The Scottish Government welcomes His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland (HMICS) highlighting the issue of journey-cam footage in its recent report, the thematic inspection of road policing in Scotland.

The Digital Evidence Sharing Capability (DESC) Programme, which is rolling out nationally, will help to enable the ability of a member of the public to submit digital evidence including CCTV, mobile device and computer footage as part of an investigation following a report to the police.

DESC represents an investment by the Scottish Government of £33 million over 10 years, and will deliver significant savings of time and cost in the way that evidence is managed and used.

How Police Scotland use and process the evidence submitted is a matter for the Chief Constable, but I fully expect swifter access to justice and the faster resolution of cases to result from the rollout which will take place across 2025.