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: S6W-42563

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 December 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 9 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of recent increases in pre-employment vetting failures within the Scottish Prison Service, whether it will provide a breakdown of the reasons for every vetting failure, including (a) criminal history, (b) financial vulnerabilities, (c) undisclosed associations, (d) intelligence suggesting links to organised crime, (e) failure to provide required documentation and (f) any other identified grounds, in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-42564

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 December 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 9 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-42124 by Angela Constance on 9 December 2025, whether it will provide a breakdown of the specific grounds that led to Scottish Prison Service staff being removed, dismissed, or blocked from taking up employment due to security concerns, including how many cases involved (a) known or suspected links to organised crime, (b) intelligence provided by Police Scotland, (c) corruption or integrity risks, (d) involvement in contraband-related activity and (e) association with serving prisoners, in each of the last three years.

Question reference: S6W-42455

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 December 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 5 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether Police Scotland's record-keeping practices, including the absence of a list of governance groups attended, comply with the requirements of the Public Records (Scotland) Act 2011.

Question reference: S6W-42456

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 December 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 5 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of recent freedom of information correspondence in which Police Scotland states that it does not hold a list of the meetings staff attend, whether it will publish a list of all governance groups, boards and oversight forums that Police Scotland participates in.

Question reference: S6W-42457

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 December 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 5 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that Police Scotland keeps accurate and accessible records of the governance groups and policy boards it participates in.

Question reference: S6W-42133

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 3 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether its Fire and Rescue Unit maintains a standalone divisional risk register, and, if so, when it was most recently updated.

Question reference: S6W-42130

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 3 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what governance structure it has in place to ensure oversight of major procurement decisions within fire and rescue policy, including vehicle procurement and operational equipment spending.

Question reference: S6W-42131

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 3 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether its Fire and Rescue Unit has any formal governance board, oversight group or programme board that is responsible for strategic oversight of fire and rescue policy, and, if it does not, what the reasons are for this.

Question reference: S6W-42093

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 1 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the suitability and operational performance of newly procured 4×4 and multi-role vehicles for wildfire and road traffic incidents response.

The process of procuring and designing Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) off-road vehicles is based on the established operational needs of the organisation while taking into account feedback from internal and external stakeholders. Operational performance of these assets is routinely evaluated through SFRS’s Operational Assurance process and via internal and external debriefs. These evaluations and feedback are integral in developing future policy and procedure, as well as influencing future procurement processes.

Given the procurement and the performance assessment of its vehicles are operational matters for SFRS, it would be inappropriate for the Scottish Government to offer comment on such matters.

Question reference: S6W-42095

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 26 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many of the 4×4 or multi-role vehicles procured by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service in the last three years have entered operational service, and how many are currently awaiting deployment.

All vehicles listed in the answer to question S6W-42094 on 26 November 2025 have been deployed except for two of the Ford Ranger Multi-Role Units (which are at the final stage of commissioning work expected to be deployed by next month) and the Ford Ranger Ultra-Light Pumping Units. These units required additional configuration from the supplier. As present, five of eight are completed, and all eight units are expected to be deployed within the next few weeks. 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.