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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 109 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S7W-04057

Asked by: Lorna Slater, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 4 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding its paper Compulsory Purchase Reform in Scotland: The Way Forward, what further work it is undertaking to explore Compulsory Lease Orders and the potential impacts of leasing a property without its owner's consent, and when it expects this work to be completed.

Question reference: S7W-04058

Asked by: Lorna Slater, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 4 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of questions regarding the compatibility of compulsory sales orders and compulsory purchase orders with the European Convention on Human Rights, whether it will introduce legislation to enable local authorities to use Compulsory Lease Orders to bring empty homes back into use more easily.

Question reference: S7W-04102

Asked by: Lorna Slater, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 4 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what arrangements it will put in place to ensure that community councils can participate meaningfully in the three-month consultation on local governance reform, which is due to end in early December.

Question reference: S7W-03896

Asked by: Lorna Slater, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 29 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that Edinburgh Food Project provided 2,896 food parcels in the Edinburgh Central constituency between September 2025 and September 2026, whether it remains committed to ending the need for food banks in Scotland and, if so, what action it is taking to deliver this commitment.

Question reference: S7W-03898

Asked by: Lorna Slater, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 29 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government in light of reports that 8,870 of the 26,160 crisis grant decisions made in the City of Edinburgh resulted in refusals last year, representing 34% of all decisions, and that the average award was £125, whether it considers the level of crisis grant provision to be sufficient to meet applicants' needs.

Question reference: S7W-03897

Asked by: Lorna Slater, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 29 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the publication by the Scottish Government and COSLA of the renewed delivery plan, Ending Destitution Together, what action it is taking to address food insecurity and reliance on food banks among people with no recourse to public funds.

Question reference: S7W-03899

Asked by: Lorna Slater, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 29 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that 35% of crisis grant applications resulted in refusals in 2025-26, what assessment it has made of whether crisis grant eligibility rules contribute to reliance on food banks.

Question reference: S7W-03900

Asked by: Lorna Slater, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 29 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the reported rise in homelessness applications in Edinburgh, what action it is taking to ensure that people experiencing homelessness or living in temporary accommodation can access nutritious food.

Question reference: S7W-03403

Asked by: Lorna Slater, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 1 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made in the delivery of the Veterans Mental Health and Wellbeing Pathway, and what barriers remain.

The Veterans Mental Health and Wellbeing Framework was published in March 2026 and sets out the vision, values, and principles of high quality veterans’ mental health support. A procurement exercise to establish a service provider for the Veterans Mental Health and Wellbeing Pathway has now concluded. The new service provider will be announced imminently and the Pathway is expected to start to become operational on a phased basis from October 2026.

To support delivery of the Pathway, a full governance structure is being established to provide appropriate oversight, coordination and stakeholder engagement across national and local partners during the implementation phase. These arrangements will help ensure that any impacts arising from planned NHS reform are identified and managed appropriately, enabling progress towards delivery of the Pathway's key aims and outcomes.

A guiding principle is that the new national Pathway should continually evolve, supported by regular evaluation and feedback from key stakeholders.

Question reference: S7W-03401

Asked by: Lorna Slater, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 1 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with the veteran community about the delayed implementation of its Veterans Mental Health and Wellbeing Pathway.

The veteran community has been central to the development of the Veterans Mental Health and Wellbeing Pathway, with representation on the Pathway Advisory Group, and its associated sub-groups. This Advisory Group oversaw the development of the Veterans Mental Health and Wellbeing Framework, and included representation from the veteran community, the third sector, and statutory services which support veterans and their families. The Framework, published in March 2026, sets the strategic direction to ensure that veterans have equitable access to mental health services. The voices and experiences of the veteran community have informed the work from the outset.

We continue to work closely with veterans, as well as the wider service delivery landscape, ahead of the phased launch of the national Pathway from October 2026. This will to ensure that future mental health and wellbeing services for veterans remain informed by lived experience and are responsive to their needs.