Chamber and committees

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.

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Question reference: S6O-00666

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 January 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many people whose biological sex is male are currently in women’s prisons in Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-00515

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 December 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the resolution at the recent SNP conference reportedly calling on the Scottish Government and COSLA to work together “to ensure that the pay and conditions for councillors will significantly improve”.

Question reference: S6O-00409

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 November 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether members' annual reports can be delivered after 4 February 2022 and, if not, what the reasons are for its position on the matter.

Question reference: S6O-00383

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 November 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what role Passivhaus homes and off-site manufacturing have in the Glasgow Shettleston constituency in supporting its aim to achieve net zero by 2045.

Question reference: S6O-00327

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 October 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will give an assurance that Glasgow Kelvin and Clyde colleges will not be taken over by the City of Glasgow College in connection with the review of tertiary education.

Question reference: S6O-00275

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 October 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how its policies and actions across government will help support local authorities to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Question reference: S6O-00199

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 23 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the current basic annual salary of £18,604 for local councillors is fair when many are working full time in the role.

The Scottish Government is committed to fair income for our councillors, which is why we introduced a new mechanism in 2017 that ensures Councillors' pay is increased annually in line with the percentage increase in the median annual earnings of public sector workers in Scotland. However, I appreciate that the annual salary of an ordinary Councillor is seen as one of the main contributing factors to the lack of diversity among Councillors in Scotland, and I am open to discussing with COSLA and wider stakeholders how we might support them to address this issue.

Question reference: S6W-02102

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 6 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with ScotRail regarding the public release of the recent internal report that is reportedly recommending service cuts, ticket office closures and a reduction in the workforce.

Professor Iain Docherty’s report was commissioned by Abellio ScotRail to look at the future of rail across Scotland’s railway and the challenges and options facing the railway as the industry recovers from the pandemic. The Scottish Government was therefore not required to have any discussions regarding the public release of the report as this was a decision between Abellio ScotRail and Professor Iain Docherty.

Question reference: S6O-00043

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 June 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its plans to tackle violence against women, particularly in relation to prostitution and purchasers of sex.

Question reference: S5O-05134

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 March 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that Aggreko is to become another large-scale, Scotland-based listed company to lose its independence through a takeover.