Seòmar agus comataidhean

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

Criathragan Hide all filters

Displaying 46952 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6W-42819

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Independent
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 January 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 20 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of the (a) revenue and (b) capital cost of extending universal free school meal entitlement to all primary school children.

Question reference: S6W-42673

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 19 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 6 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its response to the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee 1st Report 2025, Follow-up inquiry into salmon farming in Scotland (SP Paper 720), what specific "burden" it considers would arise from implementing the recommendation that all fish mortality data be made public; which Scottish Government directorate, agency or public body would bear that burden; what additional tasks or functions would be required to implement the recommendation; what assessment has been made of the associated costs, resource implications or operational impacts, and what analysis or evidence was used to reach the conclusion that publication of this data would constitute a "burden".

All mortality data collected by the Scottish Government and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency in relation to Scottish salmon farming is already made public on Scottish Government and Scotland’s Aquaculture websites, resulting in a high level of transparency and more data being available for salmon farming in Scotland in comparison to other farming sectors.

A formal assessment of impacts of data collection has not been undertaken. However, additional data is not required for regulation and its provision would generate data collection, handing and processing by producers at both a site and company level, as well as by the Scottish Government’s Fish Health Inspectorate, and this is disproportionate to the regulatory need.

Question reference: S6W-42756

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 19 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 6 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many Pension Age Winter Heating Payments it expects will remain to be paid by 31 December 2025.

Pension Age Winter Heating Payment will support at least 880,000 pensioners with their heating bills this winter.

Payments started in November and Social Security Scotland expects the vast majority of payments to be issued by the end of December. Work will continue throughout the rest of the winter to finalise any remaining payments.

As of 14 December 2025, more than 568,000 Pension Age Winter Heating Payments had been made. Updated figures will be published in the next management information release on 4 February 2026.

Further details are available on Social Security Scotland’s website at: Winter Benefits management information release to 14 December 2025.

Question reference: S6W-42758

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 19 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 6 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many Pension Age Winter Heating Payments (a) had been and (b) were still to be paid, by 19 December 2025.

Pension Age Winter Heating Payment will support at least 880,000 pensioners with their heating bills this winter.

As of 14 December 2025, more than 568,000 Pension Age Winter Heating Payments had been made.

A release of Official Statistics on Pension Age Winter Heating Payment will be published on 19 May 2026 which will include payments made each month.

Further details are available on Social Security Scotland’s website at: Winter Benefits management information release to 14 December 2025.

Question reference: S6W-42698

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 6 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with any midwives who have raised concerns that the reported plans to downgrade neonatal intensive care units will endanger mothers and babies, and how it is responding to any such concerns.

Modelling maternity capacity is essential to the development of the new model of neonatal care. The RSM report has outlined the maternity modelling in relation to data captured.

The principles underpinning the changes to neonatal intensive care are supported by Scottish Executive Nurse Directors (SEND) and the Midwifery Directors of Scotland (MiDS).

To mitigate any concerns raised about the implications of the change for maternity services, SEND, in support of the MiDS, recommended that the Scottish Government undertake a national-level data collection to better understand the impact of the neonatal care remodelling on maternity services.

This data collection report has now been completed and the additional data and evidence gathered required for maternity services will inform maternity capacity implementation planning.

Question reference: S6W-42742

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 6 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of Scotland’s housing entitlements on the number of immigrants relocating to Glasgow and other urban areas.

The Scottish Government is proud of its strong housing and homelessness rights. We want to ensure everyone in Scotland has access to a safe, warm and affordable home, whether they are homeowners or tenants in the private or social rented sectors.

People relocate for diverse reasons, including moving closer to relatives, seeking job opportunities and/or escaping difficult situations. Our official statistics capture whether homelessness applications come from households who live in the local area; have a local connection with another area of Scotland; or have no known connection to any authority in Scotland. Of the 34,067 households that were assessed as homeless in 2024-25, the overwhelming majority (94 per cent) already had a connection to the local area or to Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-42781

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 19 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 6 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what further action it is taking to address the problematic use of fireworks.

The Scottish Government continues to work with partners throughout the year in addressing the misuse of fireworks. I welcome that Police Scotland reported a more peaceful and safe Bonfire Night period in comparison to recent years and that they recorded an almost 37 per cent reduction in calls relating to fireworks offences compared to the previous year. I commend the important preparatory and preventative work of Police Scotland, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, and local authorities, including the introduction of firework control zones, which all contributed to a safer Bonfire Night.

We continue to keep the operation of the legislation under review. As the sale of fireworks is a reserved matter, I also continue to engage with UK Ministers to ensure that the Scottish Government is kept closely updated on the UK Government’s plans in relation to fireworks, including on its consideration of a Private Members’ Fireworks Bill which calls for stricter rules for fireworks sellers and a reduced noise limit from fireworks.

Question reference: S6W-42697

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 6 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what additional ambulance capacity has been allocated to support longer transfers of premature babies between neonatal services under its plans for the reconfiguration of neonatal intensive care units.

The expectation is that the mothers in threatened extreme preterm labour, or those whose babies are identified antenatally as requiring specialist care (for example neonatal surgery), will be transferred antenatally and will birth in the maternity unit alongside the NICU. The Perinatal Network has been leading some work, and recently published guidance on identification and obstetric transfer in these circumstances.

Where babies have to be moved our specialist neonatal transport service ScotSTAR has 20+ years of experience of moving babies in specialised ambulances with incubators and neonatal staff.

ScotSTAR and the wider Scottish Ambulance Service are working to ensure that capacity is aligned to the future demands related to the new model of neonatal care and will be feeding into the Task and Finish group around the resources required to do so.

In addition, the Scottish Government contracted healthcare planning support from RSM UK to undertake the detailed modelling and capacity planning work, to inform local implementation plans. The approach to this work has included data collection and modelling alongside engagement with both operational and strategic stakeholders, to validate data, generate and test planning assumptions.

Activity and capacity data was collected from each of the eight units included within the model scope, as well as Public Health Scotland (PHS) and, Scottish Specialist Transport and Retrieval (ScotSTAR) / Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS). The report was published in May 2024.

Question reference: S6W-42743

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 6 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what modelling it has carried out to estimate future inflows of immigrants relocating from other parts of the UK because of Scotland’s differing housing policies.

Question reference: S6W-42718

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 6 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish updated forecasts for winter hardship payments and related support schemes.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission will publish its latest economic and fiscal forecasts alongside the Scottish Budget on 13 January 2026.

We are providing a package of support that ensures the people of Scotland will receive more help with heating costs this winter, than anywhere else in the UK. Based on the SFC’s forecasts from summer 2025, we are investing around £227 million in winter heating benefits in 2025-26, providing vital assistance to those who need it most during the coldest months of the year, with more than 837,000 payments already made to help households with heating costs this winter.