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-04137

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 December 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it remains committed to rolling out universal entitlement to free school meals for all primary school children within the current parliamentary session.

Question reference: S6O-04114

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 December 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has a policy of a presumption against new oil and gas licences.

Question reference: S6W-31476

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 25 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what it estimates the additional cost will be to each NHS board in Scotland as a result of the UK Government’s Budget decision to increase employer national insurance contributions.

Scottish Government has estimated that for the directly employed public sector workforce in NHS boards, additional costs to NHS boards from the changes to employer National Insurance Contributions may be £191 million in the financial year 2025-26. The information requested for the costs for each NHS board is not held centrally. However the combined estimate for all NHS boards is published and available online at this web address: https://www.gov.scot/publications/national-insurance-contributions-public-sector-costs/

Question reference: S6W-31475

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 25 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what it estimates the additional cost will be to local authorities in Scotland as a result of the UK Government’s Budget decision to increase employer national insurance contributions.

The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) has estimated that for the directly employed public sector local authority workforce, additional costs to local authorities from the changes to employer National Insurance Contributions may be £265 million in the financial year 2025-26. This estimate is published and available online at this web address: https://www.gov.scot/publications/national-insurance-contributions-public-sector-costs/

Question reference: S6W-31478

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 25 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what it estimates the additional cost will be to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service as a result of the UK Government’s Budget decision to increase employer national insurance contributions.

Scottish Government has estimated that for the directly employed public sector workforce in the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, additional costs to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service from the changes to employer National Insurance Contributions may be £5 million in the financial year 2025-2026. This estimate is published and available online at this web address: https://www.gov.scot/publications/national-insurance-contributions-public-sector-costs/

Question reference: S6W-31477

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 25 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what it estimates the additional cost will be to Police Scotland as a result of the UK Government’s Budget decision to increase employer national insurance contributions.

Scottish Government has estimated that for the directly employed public sector workforce in Police Scotland, additional costs to Police Scotland from the changes to employer National Insurance Contributions may be £25 million in the financial year 2025-2026. This estimate is published and available online at this web address: https://www.gov.scot/publications/national-insurance-contributions-public-sector-costs/

Question reference: S6O-04009

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to ensure that critical rural food production economic activity is viable, sustainable and attractive to the next generation of farmers, crofters and fishers.

Question reference: S6W-28936

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 August 2024
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 20 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recently reported decision by the UK Government to retract the £800 million of support for the University of Edinburgh exascale supercomputer, and whether it has had any recent discussions with the UK Government regarding this matter.

This is a matter between the University and UK Government, and general UK Government budgeting is continuing to be reviewed. However, the Scottish Government recognises the University’s unique track record and further potential as the UK’s foremost supercomputing centre, and we will continue to work to influence UK Government public finance discussions to positively benefit our economy and key sectors, including computing and AI.

Question reference: S6W-30402

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 29 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its position that prostitution is a form of violence against women and girls, as stated in its Equally Safe strategy, what work it is doing to eradicate violence against women and girls in every sector of society.

The Scottish Government is progressing Equally Safe, Scotland's strategy to prevent and address all forms of violence against women and girls, specifically violence, abuse, and exploitation directed at them because of their gender.

The Equally Safe Delivery Plan underpins the wider strategy and outlines collaborative working between key partners across the public and third sectors. It sets out a wide range of deliverables and actions that reach across many areas, including education, health, and justice to ensure the aims of the Equally Safe strategy are achieved.

Question reference: S6W-30528

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 22 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the report, Prostitution and violence against women and girls - Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences, Reem Alsalem, whether it will commit to supporting the Nordic Model in the current parliamentary session, in order to tackle violence against women and girls and any commercial sexual exploitation of prostitution.

I met with the UN Special Rapporteur earlier this year and we welcome publication of the Report’s findings.

Our Strategic Approach to challenge and deter demand for prostitution and improve support for those with experience was published in February 2024. It recognises that prostitution cannot be considered in isolation, and sets out the Scottish Government’s collective approach, working with stakeholders across the wider public and third sector.

In common with the Nordic Model, the Strategy seeks to enable women to safely, and sustainably, exit from prostitution.

While we continue work with partners to develop a wider improved support pathway, we are now in a position to make progress with an initial phase of this work. Collaborating with Police Scotland, we will look to challenge demand and improve support for women with experience of commercial sexual exploitation.

I met with key stakeholders earlier this month to outline this collaboration, which includes:

A secondment from the Scottish Government’s Violence against Women and Girls team to ensure that strategic connections to wider relevant Scottish Government initiatives are made.
Supporting the further development of Operation Begonia (already operational in Aberdeen) to lead to a national and consistent policing approach.
Funding Police Scotland to gather intelligence to understand the full extent of demand for commercial sexual exploitation across Scotland, helping to better reach victims and strengthen the response to tackling perpetrators

This is a key stage in implementing our Strategic Approach, ensuring that we increase the opportunities for women to access support whilst at the same time ever limiting the opportunities for those carrying out exploitation.