First Minister’s Question Time – in the Scottish Parliament at on 15 January 2026.
Christine Grahame
Scottish National Party
The First Minister will be aware of the outbreaks of avian flu at Glenrath Farms in my Constituency, which is the largest egg producer in Scotland, producing 1 million eggs a day. Thousands of birds have been culled and all the Glenrath eggs on the shelves have been recalled.
I ask the First Minister for an update on the contamination security measures at the site. At the risk of reprising the infamous Edwina Currie egg panic, I also ask for an assurance that, given the recall, the eggs that are on shelves now are safe.
John Swinney
Scottish National Party
We are aware of a cluster of outbreaks of the highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 in the Scottish Borders.
Food safety is a matter for the Food Standards Agency. On the point that Christine Grahame asked me about, Public Health Scotland advises that the risk to public health from the virus is very low, and Food Standards Scotland advises that avian influenza poses a very low food safety risk to consumers. On the advice of Public Health Scotland, properly cooked poultry and poultry products, including eggs, are safe to eat.
I also assure Christine Grahame that rigorous safety measures are in place to monitor the condition of different sites, and those are what highlighted the issues that are being faced in the Borders.
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.
In a general election, each Constituency chooses an MP to represent them. MPs have a responsibility to represnt the views of the Constituency in the House of Commons. There are 650 Constituencies, and thus 650 MPs. A citizen of a Constituency is known as a Constituent
