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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-32028

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB) on 19 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what its position is on the flag flying policy indoors and outdoors on the parliamentary estate with respect to how and by whom decisions are made on (a) which are flown, (b) for how long they should be flown and (c) what grounds the appropriateness of the presence of any flag is assessed.

The SPCB has a policy covering the flying of flags on the flagpoles outside Holyrood - Flag-flying | Scottish Parliament Website. The policy sets out which flags are flown and how exceptional requests can be made to the SPCB for approval.

During official visits by external dignitaries, a flag can be displayed inside the building, usually in a meeting room or event space, for the duration of their visit.

Question reference: S6W-32029

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB) on 19 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what discussions it has had with the City of Edinburgh Council regarding whether a pedestrian crossing might be appropriate outside the Canongate entrance to improve the safety of the public, MSPs and staff who cross at this location.

There is a pedestrian crossing directly outside the Parliament’s public access to facilitate safe travel. The SPCB has not been asked to consider whether a second pedestrian crossing would be appropriate. The current information provided by the City of Edinburgh council is that Canongate is being considered for redevelopment as part of a wider consultation through the Councils’ Street allocation framework ‘Our Future Streets’. We anticipate that the SPCB will be approached as part of the consultation process to assess and consider proposals by City of Edinburgh Council when developed and provide comment as appropriate.

Question reference: S6W-32091

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 18 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to tackle loneliness over the Christmas season.

The Scottish Government acknowledges that loneliness is a public health issue that can be keenly felt during the Christmas season but impacts people all year round. To support the delivery of our Social Isolation and Loneliness Delivery Plan, we implemented the Social Isolation and Loneliness Fund in March 2023. 53 projects are currently operational across Scotland, delivering projects within communities that provide opportunities for people to connect. At end of year one projects reached 11,293 individuals with a focus on priority groups most at risk of social isolation and loneliness. This funding will help organisations to create opportunities for people to connect with one another in our communities and are responding to local needs.

Question reference: S6W-31944

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 17 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is providing any assistance to Ferguson Marine to find a permanent chief executive officer (CEO), in light of evidence given by the interim CEO of the shipyard to the Scottish Parliament's Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee on 26 November 2024.

Question reference: S6W-31945

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 17 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects the MV Glen Sannox to enter service, in light of reports that the vessel requires repairs to its anchor system.

Question reference: S6W-31948

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 16 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its response to freedom of information request FOI/202400436576, which shows that it was notified of 16 cyber attacks on public bodies in 2024, whether it will provide an update on what steps it is taking to improve its cyber resilience.

Good cyber resilience is essential for delivering secure digital public services. Staying ahead of cyber criminals is an ongoing battle; as technologies evolve, so do their tactics. Public sector organisations are responsible for their own cyber resilience and security arrangements, and must continually adapt to these emerging threats. However, the Scottish Government does provide assistance to the public sector to strengthen their cyber resilience posture and address areas for improvement.

Through the implementation of The Strategic Framework for a Cyber Resilient Scotland and the Public Sector Cyber Resilience Framework, supported by the new central function of the Scottish Cyber Coordination Centre, the Scottish Government works with the public sector to help them to put in place robust security standards, controls and governance, maintain and regularly test incident response plans, train staff and learn lessons from past incidents.

Specifically, the Scottish Cyber Coordination Centre plays a key role in coordinating effective multi-agency response to incidents which impact on the public sector. In September 2024, the Scottish Government published the SC3 Strategic Plan which sets out the strategic objectives for the next three years. SC3 is working with the sector to progress towards these objectives:

1. Create a data-driven operation that can track and evaluate actionable security metrics for every public sector organisation in Scotland.

2. Ensure that public sector organisations remain informed regarding current and emerging risks and threats so that they are equipped and prepared to manage them.

3. Reduce the prevalence and remediation timescales of exposed and exploitable vulnerabilities across the public sector.

4. Increase the level of preparedness for cyber incidents across the public sector, such that all organisations have current and well tested response plans and that major national cyber incident response processes are robust and effective.

5. Ensure that appropriate standards and good practices for cyber and information security are defined, reviewed, adopted, and adhered to across the public sector.

Question reference: S6W-32283

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 December 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 10 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the remit is of the review of the penalties system that is being undertaken as part of the Future Fisheries Strategy body of work, as set out in its paper,The Allocation of Scottish Additional Quota from 2024 Outcome of Consultation Document; who is carrying out the review; which stakeholders will be consulted, and when it will (a) receive and (b) publish the results.

Question reference: S6W-32030

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 13 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how it will seek to reduce the number of homeless veterans, and what its position is on whether is making adequate and timely progress on this.

The number of homeless veterans in Scotland remains low and homeless veterans are a relatively small proportion (2%) of homeless households. Official statistics shows us that veterans are no more likely to be homeless than the rest of the population and that the reasons for veterans becoming homeless are broadly comparable with the rest of the population.

However, we are committed to reducing homelessness for all, including some veterans who are at risk of encountering housing problems at particular transition points in their lives.

The Housing (Scotland) Bill, currently progressing through the parliamentary process, will build on the existing strong rights for people who are homeless. While there are no specific provisions for veterans, the homelessness prevention measures outlined in the Bill are designed to meet the needs of specific groups, including some veterans, who are at greater risk of homelessness than others.

Question reference: S6W-31947

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 13 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to increase the number of nurses employed by the NHS, in light of the reported finding by the Royal College of Nursing that the number of nurses is currently stagnating, having grown by 0.1% in the last six months.

The Scottish Government continues to strive towards developing a sustainable healthcare workforce in NHS Scotland. This is why we have established a Nursing and Midwifery Taskforce (NMT), which works collaboratively with a range of stakeholders including the RCN. The NMT will publish its recommended actions early in the New Year.

It is worth noting that workforce statistics experience seasonal variation so looking at the data over the last 6 months will include figures from the end of the financial year where we expect to see a decline in the workforce as staff are more likely to retire at this time. This will be followed by an increase in the September release, as we have seen, following an influx of students joining the workforce.

Question reference: S6W-31946

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 12 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that Transport Scotland provided Sustrans, an active travel organisation based in Bristol, a grant of £97.9 million in 2024.

We have allocated over £66 million of funding to Sustrans this financial year. This includes funding and support to Local Authorities and others to deliver infrastructure to help people walk, wheel or cycle, as well as support to upgrade and expand the National Cycle Network throughout Scotland. This is delivered by Sustrans’ Scotland based staff from their office in Edinburgh.

As part of our transformation of active travel delivery, the funding of the main Transport Scotland infrastructure programme, Places for Everyone, managed by Sustrans, winds down to December 2025.

The new Active Travel Infrastructure Fund which will see Transport Scotland directly award funding to Local Authorities, Regional Transport Partnerships and National Park Authorities.