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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

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Question reference: S6W-36863

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 13 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to reduce the reported overreliance of universities on international student markets for financial stability.

Question reference: S6W-36812

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 13 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many of its civil servants earning above £50,000 are registered as taxpayers elsewhere in the UK.

Question reference: S6W-36862

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 13 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what contingency planning it has undertaken to mitigate the impact of any reduced international student recruitment on university finances.

Question reference: S6W-36872

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 13 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the reported warning from Scottish Care that half of all residential and nursing care homes could close within a year, and what urgent action it is taking in response.

Question reference: S6W-36482

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 13 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the right of academics and students to express gender-critical views without facing discrimination or censure.

Question reference: S6W-36884

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 13 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting universities in accessing and deploying technology capable of detecting AI-assisted plagiarism and misconduct.

Question reference: S6W-36458

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 15 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many STEM teacher vacancies currently exist in schools, broken down by (a) subject and (b) local authority area; what consideration it has given to targeted financial incentives to attract and retain STEM teachers in hard-to-fill subjects; what proportion of STEM probationer teachers secured permanent contracts in the last five years, and how this compares to non-STEM subjects.

Our Teaching Bursary Scheme provides £20,000 bursaries for career changers wishing to undertake a one year Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) in the hardest to fill teaching subjects. These subjects include: Physics, Maths, Technical Education, Computing Science, Chemistry and Home Economics.

Statistics on the employment of probationer teachers by subject and employment type are published in the post-probationer teacher employment dashboard, available through the Scottish Government website: https://www.gov.scot/publications/post-probationer-teacher-employment-dashboard/

Question reference: S6W-36206

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 15 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many schools have completed the LGBT Inclusive Education National Implementation and Evaluation Toolkit.

24 education settings have received certification for their work using the LGBT Inclusive Education National Implementation and Evaluation Toolkit.

The Toolkit is an optional additional support resource, on top of the national professional learning course. The focus of schools and education authorities is on supporting completion of the professional learning course as set out in the National Approach to LGBT Inclusive Education. The Toolkit is intended to support staff in settings where they feel they would benefit from a more structured pathway, additional to the professional learning. Certification is also optional and not necessary to use the Toolkit, staff can take what they need from the resource to support their own professional practice as and when required. Therefore, there will be schools using the Toolkit without seeking certification, for which there are no records held.

Question reference: S6W-36215

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 14 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many antisocial behaviour orders were issued in 2024, and how many of these orders resulted in imprisonment.

Antisocial Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) may be issued by either criminal or civil courts in Scotland. ASBOs do not carry a custodial sentence and a civil court cannot impose a custodial sentence. A criminal court may only impose a custodial sentence where a separate case is brought for a breach of an ASBO which results in a conviction.

Between January 2024 and September 2024, 71 charges prosecuted in Scottish criminal courts receiving a disposal of an ASBO.

Between January 2024 and December 2024, 76 Civil ASBOs were granted in Scottish sheriff courts.

It is not possible to identify how many of these ASBOs have been breached and resulted in imprisonment. The data that the Scottish Government holds does not allow linkage of a specific ASBO, whether civil or criminal, with a criminal charge of breach of ASBO and therefore a conviction resulting in a custodial sentence cannot be identified. Furthermore, any potential breach of a specific ASBO listed above may not yet have occurred, or if it has occurred, its’ associated case may not yet have been disposed in court.

Question reference: S6W-36698

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 14 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on extending the remit of Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service investigations into cases of death in custody where institutional failure is suspected.