Questions and answers

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 ��˿�� 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-04802

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 June 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the rural affairs secretary has had with agricultural organisations regarding any increases in production costs as a result of new transmission infrastructure.

Question reference: S6W-38052

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 9 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many secondary schools are currently running the Equally Safe at School programme, broken down by local authority area.

Our Equally Safe at School (ESAS), developed by Rape Crisis Scotland and Zero Tolerance, applies a whole school approach to inequality and gender-based violence in schools. Please see a breakdown in the following table of how many secondary schools are currently signed up to ESAS, broken down by local authority area.

Aberdeen City Council	5
Aberdeenshire Council	2
Angus Council	9
Argyll and Bute Council	2
City of Edinburgh Council	21
Clackmannanshire Council	3
Dumfries and Galloway Council	4
Dundee City Council	2
East Ayrshire Council	5
East Dunbartonshire Council	4
East Lothian Council	4
East Renfrewshire Council	5
Falkirk Council	5
Fife Council	5
Glasgow City Council	9
Highland Council	13
Inverclyde Council	1
Midlothian Council	3
Moray Council	8
North Ayrshire Council	4
North Lanarkshire Council	5
Orkney Islands Council	4
Perth and Kinross Council	5
Renfrewshire Council	13
Scottish Borders Council	4
South Ayrshire Council	1
South Lanarkshire Council	6
Stirling Council	5
West Dunbartonshire Council	2
West Lothian Council	5

Question reference: S6W-38053

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 9 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what (a) it is doing to combat coastal erosion at Montrose, with reference to dredging and (b) its position is following the 2021 publication of the Dynamic Coast report, Adaptation and Resilience Options for Montrose Bay.

The Scottish Government continues to support Angus Council to address the erosion issues affecting the sand dunes in Montrose through the Coastal Change Adaptation Fund.

Dredging license applications from Montrose Port Authority have been carefully considered by the Scottish Government ensuring that most dredged material is deposited within Montrose Bay and the dredged material remains in the same coastal circulation cell.

We continue to progress our Dynamic Coast project and between 2022-23 and 2025-26 Angus Council have received almost £730,000 from Scottish Government’s Coastal Change Adaptation Fund: £290,000 in direct distribution and £440,000 to fund a case study to improve the flood resilience of sand dunes at Montrose.

Question reference: S6W-38051

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 9 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it is working with Police Scotland to ensure that staff networks advocating for sex-based rights, such as Police SEEN, receive recognition and the opportunity to review and inform internal policies, in light of the Supreme Court ruling in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers.

Operational matters and internal policies are the responsibility of the Chief Constable, who is committed to ensuring all staff voices are heard. The Scottish Government expects Police Scotland to support a diverse and inclusive workplace where all staff networks are treated with respect. Police Scotland continues to engage with staff associations and networks to consider the impact of the recent Supreme Court ruling on its internal policies.

Question reference: S6W-37822

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 5 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when the Mother and Baby Unit options appraisal report from NHS National Services Scotland will be published.

Question reference: S6T-02523

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the announcement that NHS Grampian has been escalated to stage 4 of NHS Scotland's National Performance Framework for finance, leadership and governance.

Question reference: S6W-36754

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 8 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to review the "stirring up hatred" provisions of the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 to include "sex" as a characteristic.

As set out in the answer to question S6W-37425 on 2 May 2025, the Scottish Government will lay before the Scottish Parliament in September a proposed draft of an SSI to add the characteristic of “sex” to the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at /chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Question reference: S6W-36755

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 8 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-35645 by Natalie Don-Innes on 26 March 2025, when it expects the findings and evaluation of the early adopter community work to be published, and whether an expansion of early learning and childcare will take place before the end of the current parliamentary session.

It is our aim to publish final outputs from the evaluation of the early adopter community (EAC) work in the second half of 2026.

As outlined in our previous answer, due to the significant financial challenges facing the Scottish Government as a result of budget choices made at Westminster, Ministers have had to make tough decisions for the current parliamentary session to protect our existing investment in childcare. This includes almost £1 billion a year for local authorities to deliver our current offer of 1140 hours of high quality, funded early learning and childcare. We are working with local authorities to maximise uptake of our existing offer for eligible 2 year olds to ensure that as many children as possible benefit from the offer and investing up to £16 million over 2024-25 and 2025-26 in the six council areas participating in the EAC work.

Question reference: S6W-36806

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 8 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the work that it is carrying out to introduce a criminal law in respect of non-fatal strangulation.

Question reference: S6O-04643

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will undertake a review of Historic Environment Scotland before the end of the current parliamentary session.