Part of General Question Time – in the Scottish Parliament at on 2 June 2026.
Gillian Martin
Scottish National Party
I want to meet Mr McArthur to discuss not just this specific issue—in the previous session he fiercely represented his constituents on the particular issue of cable outages—but every single area of my portfolio that affects Orkney.
We have project gigabit procurement to further extend gigabit-capable broadband coverage to more than 13,000 eligible premises across Orkney and Shetland. I note that Mr McArthur had been trying to get the provider to do more, and I will certainly do what I can to augment his attempts to get better and quicker resolutions to some of the issues that he has found, if he wishes me to do so.
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.
