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: S6W-31136

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 19 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding child contact hearings, what action it is taking to ensure that Scottish Family Court processes are streamlined so as to maximise the opportunity for fathers, where it is appropriate, to have meaningful contact with their children without any unnecessary and bureaucratic delays, including through reported delay tactics by defenders in such actions.

It is the Scottish Government’s view that delay in child contact proceedings will usually not be in the best interests of the child.

The Children (Scotland) Act 1995 (the 1995 Act) is the key legislation in relation to child contact and residence. In deciding whether to make a contact order under section 11 of the 1995 Act, the welfare of the child must be the court’s paramount consideration.

The Children (Scotland) Act 2020 will reform the 1995 Act and a key aim is to ensure that the child’s best interests are at the centre of any contact or residence case. Section 30(2), once in force, will require the court to have regard to any risk of prejudice to the child’s welfare that delay in proceedings would pose.

The Family Law Committee of the Scottish Civil Justice Council developed new case management rules: Act of Sederunt (Ordinary Cause Rules 1993 Amendment) (Case Management of Defended Family and Civil Partnership Actions) 2022 (scottishciviljusticecouncil.gov.uk) covering family actions in the sheriff court. The new rules came into effect on 25 September 2023 and are intended to help prevent undue delay in proceedings relating to the welfare of children.

Question reference: S6O-03989

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement Transport Scotland has with regional transport partnerships, such as SWestrans, regarding contractual requirements for key local public transport services, including the provision of rural buses.

Question reference: S6O-03894

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 October 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its work regarding the Social Isolation and Loneliness Strategy, particularly in relation to rural areas ahead of the winter months.

Question reference: S6O-03763

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 September 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the local government funding settlement, what discussions the finance secretary has had with ministerial colleagues regarding the potential revenue that local authorities could generate through Decriminalised Parking Enforcement regimes in their areas.

Question reference: S6F-03358

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 September 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 September 2024

To ask the First Minister what the implications are for public health in Scotland of the UK Government’s announcement that it plans to ban junk food advertising before 9.00 pm.

Question reference: S6O-03672

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 August 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met with Network Rail and ScotRail with regards to improving the Dumfries-Glasgow train service.

Question reference: S6W-28503

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 July 2024
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 19 July 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what the estimated cost has been to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service of call-outs to vacant, abandoned and derelict buildings in each year since 2016.

Question reference: S6W-28636

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 July 2024
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Kate Forbes on 18 July 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Chair of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry’s report on Module 1, covering pre-pandemic preparedness and resilience, which publishes on 18 July 2024.

We welcome the publication of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry’s Module 1 report on pre-pandemic preparedness and resilience. A copy of the report is available online at Module 1 Report - UK Covid-19 Inquiry (covid19.public-inquiry.uk) .

The Scottish Government will carefully consider the Module 1 report and provide detailed responses to its recommendations in due course, within the timescales set out by the Chair.

Families across the country lost loved ones to the Covid-19 pandemic, and we offer our deepest sympathies to all those who have experienced pain and grief as a result. It is with their loss in mind that we continue our efforts to make effective, practical and measurable improvements in pandemic planning and preparedness.

The implementation of recommendations will require collaborative action with our counterparts across the four nations, and the Scottish Government is committed to working together, at all levels, in a way which allows us to best prevent, prepare for and respond to future whole system civil emergencies.

In parallel to the UK and Scottish Covid inquires, we have sought to identify key actions needed for the future. For example, the Standing Committee on Pandemic Preparedness was commissioned to provide advice on threat intelligence, assessment and response, priorities for research, ways to strengthen response infrastructure and priorities in relation to the Pandemic UK Risk Assessment. The Standing Committee’s final report is due this year.

As a direct result of lessons learned during the pandemic, the Scottish Risk Assessment (SRA) now presents a more generic pandemic scenario, reflecting a broader range of possible manifestations than previous iterations. The purpose of the SRA, alongside the UK national risk assessment, is to help the resilience community, at all levels, to understand and plan for the possible civil contingencies risks which Scotland may face. This includes how we can prepare for, respond to and mitigate the potential impacts of these risks, and recover from these events.

We recognise however, as set out in the Inquiry’s report, that there is further work to be done. It is important that we work together with communities, households and businesses to understand how we can make Scotland more resilient and support the most vulnerable in our society.

Question reference: S6W-28497

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 July 2024
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Jenni Minto on 5 July 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when ministers will be in a position to provide an update to the Parliament on the work of the Chief Medical Officer’s office to review the recommendations of the Cass Review and its implications for Scotland.

Today, the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) has laid the multidisciplinary team's full report (SG/2024/132) in Parliament. The CMO is also writing to the Convener of the Health, Social Care and Sport committee to set out the findings of the multidisciplinary team. Given the significant interest, the full report and the CMO's letter will also be published on the Scottish Government website later today.

Pre-election guidance prevented this update from being provided in the run-up to the UK General Election, but a commitment was made to Parliament to provide this at the first opportunity after the restricted period ended.

The conclusions of the report will now be considered and used to improve gender identity healthcare for children and young people. The Scottish Government will update Parliament after recess.

Question reference: S6W-28139

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 25 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update regarding its current position in relation to potentially lifting the prohibition on fishing vessels landing berried hen lobsters from the (a) Solway Firth and (b) North Channel of the Irish Sea, in light of reported concerns from the fishing industry that the Marine Directorate research that underpins the prohibition is inadequate.

The situation in the Solway Firth and Northern Channel was unique, as those areas were not covered by our crab and lobster assessment areas. Therefore they did not benefit from the robust evidence base we have used to underpin our decision making.

After listening to concerns, officials met with fishers in that area over concerns of disproportionate impacts on their businesses. In response we adopted a co-management approach that put these fishers in the front seat of a bespoke scientific trial aimed at improving the evidence base and, longer term, developing a time series of data. Vessels participating in this initiative have now been issued with relevant permissions to continue to land, sell and consign berried lobsters.

Our prohibition on fishing vessels landing berried lobster hens from Scotland’s waters is a short-term measure designed to deliver benefits for stock health ahead of this fishing season, and that will be monitored and kept under review. This kind of prohibition is a common fisheries management tool that is already in place across England and the Shetland isles.