– in the Scottish Parliament at on 23 January 2025.
John Swinney
Scottish National Party
I am grateful to the Presiding Officer for the opportunity to make my remarks to the Parliament before First Minister’s Question Time.
This morning, the Met Office issued a very rare red weather warning for storm Éowyn tomorrow. The warning covers parts of Dumfries and Galloway and of the Scottish Borders, all of Strathclyde and Lothian and Borders, the Forth Valley and southern parts of Fife. The red weather warning is expected to begin at 10 am tomorrow and to last until 5 pm tomorrow, while a wider amber warning for high winds across the whole country and a yellow warning for snow in some parts of Scotland still remain in place. The storm could bring winds of up to 100 mph.
The Met Office’s advice is clear that the potential impacts include danger to life, structural damage to property, and transport and power disruptions. We have to be clear that people should not travel, and Police Scotland will issue a formal do not travel advisory notice shortly. Councils will make decisions today about school closures.
The Government is ready to respond. Our resilience and emergency system—the Scottish Government resilience room or SGORR—was activated this morning to co-ordinate help and to support Scotland’s front-line responders, including the police, fire services and the ambulance service. I will chair a meeting of the resilience room shortly after First Minister’s questions, and further advice will be issued to the public.
Red weather warnings such as this are very rare. Our message is simple: please follow the advice from the Met Office and the police, take this seriously, and stay safe.
Question Time is an opportunity for MPs and Members of the House of Lords to ask Government Ministers questions. These questions are asked in the Chamber itself and are known as Oral Questions. Members may also put down Written Questions. In the House of Commons, Question Time takes place for an hour on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays after Prayers. The different Government Departments answer questions according to a rota and the questions asked must relate to the responsibilities of the Government Department concerned. In the House of Lords up to four questions may be asked of the Government at the beginning of each day's business. They are known as 'starred questions' because they are marked with a star on the Order Paper. Questions may also be asked at the end of each day's business and these may include a short debate. They are known as 'unstarred questions' and are less frequent. Questions in both Houses must be written down in advance and put on the agenda and both Houses have methods for selecting the questions that will be asked. Further information can be obtained from factsheet P1 at the UK Parliament site.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
