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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-03762

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 January 2025

To ask the First Minister whether he will join HM The King and other world leaders in commemorating the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz extermination camp and offer his reflections on the theme of this year's Holocaust Memorial Day, "For a Better Future".

Question reference: S6F-03751

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 27 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 January 2025

To ask the First Minister when the Cabinet will next meet.

Question reference: S6F-03745

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 January 2025

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-03746

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 27 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 January 2025

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-33779

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 27 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many arrests in relation to protests about their operation in each of the last five years have been made in the vicinity of defence-related companies operating in Scotland, and how many subsequent (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions there were.

Question reference: S6W-33782

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 27 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it monitors and evaluates incidents near defence-related companies that result in arrests in relation to protests about their operation, and what measures are taken to address any identified security risks.

Question reference: S6W-33686

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made on rolling out new technologies within community optometry services, and how any such technologies are being implemented in rural settings.

All referrals to the hospital eye service from community optometry are electronic and enable the attachment of retinal images and other examination results to aid the triaging of the patients. In addition, since the initial onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Scottish Government has facilitated the use of technology to support remote consultations under General Ophthalmic Services which is likely to be of particular benefit to patients living in rural areas. The cloud-based national Electronic Patient Record is also being used by community optometrists providing the Community Glaucoma Service - an important technological initiative supporting safe and high quality care.

Question reference: S6W-33695

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what measures are in place to provide affordable optometry services in low-income rural areas.

Question reference: S6W-33791

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 27 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many rural households (a) applied for and (b) received the additional £1,500 funding uplift available for (i) energy efficiency and (ii) clean heating under the Home Energy Scotland Grants and Loan Scheme, in 2024.

The Home Energy Scotland (HES) Grant and Loan Scheme offers a rural uplift to households in remote rural and island areas, as well off-gas accessible rural areas, in recognition of the higher installation costs often faced by these households. The uplift is automatically applied to qualifying applications at application stage, where the value of measures applied for is greater than standard grant amounts.

The following table shows the number of applications received where at least one measure qualified for the rural uplift, and how many applications were fully paid in the 2024 calendar year.

	Energy Efficiency (i)	Clean Heating (ii)
(a) Applications	122	1,635
(b) Fully Paid	66	1,212

If an application received the rural uplift for both the energy efficiency and clean heating grants, they will be counted once under each heading.

In addition, as applicants have 9 months to install the measures and claim their funding, the fully paid category is not a subset of the applications. Fully paid figures will include applications from 2024 and also preceding years. In contrast, some applications received in 2024 will not be paid out until 2025.

Question reference: S6W-33538

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 27 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of rural healthcare facilities are currently equipped with digital infrastructure for telehealth consultations.

Telemedicine can describe a range of different digital solutions to support consultations and engagement with the NHS. As a result, it is not possible for the Scottish Government to set out a conclusive percentage.

It is the responsibility of individual Health Boards to ensure appropriate digital infrastructure is in place. This is in line with commitments within Scotland’s Digital Health and Care Strategy to scale up and embed proven telehealth and remote digital solutions.