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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-39151

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 24 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on prisoners being allowed to watch 18 certificate films while in prison.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

As the Agency Accountable Officer, I am accountable to the Scottish Ministers for the day-to-day operations of SPS, this includes, but is not limited to, legal compliance with the Prison and Young Offenders Rules (Scotland) 2011.

As defined in these rules, the Governor in Charge (GiC) must establish a System of Privileges, taking into consideration numerous factors, including security.

SPS remains committed to prepare those in our care for a return to their communities and, for some, this includes accessing personal items through various forms of media. However, access to watching DVDs is at the Governor's discretion and remains a privilege, not a right.

There are currently no plans to review this practice.

Question reference: S6W-39156

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 24 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many jobs in Scotland are reliant on the naval shipbuilding programme.

Question reference: S6W-39159

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 24 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will accelerate the roll-out of at-home cervical cancer testing in order to reduce any health inequalities.

Question reference: S6W-39154

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 24 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the appropriateness of it providing a grant to the Edinburgh International Book Festival shortly after the appointment of the former Chief of Staff to the First Minister as a festival director.

Question reference: S6W-39160

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 24 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what immediate action it will take to address the reported 52% increase in police officer mental health absences over the last three years.

Officer wellbeing is an operational matter for Police Scotland. I refer the member to my response to S6W-35420 on 17 March 2025 and S6W-37984 on 9 June 2025.

The Chief Constable has stated to the Criminal Justice Committee that the wellbeing of police officers and staff is one of her main priorities. Police Scotland has made a £17 million investment in workforce wellbeing, which includes a 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme and enhanced occupational health services, to support officers and staff wellbeing.

Police Scotland has provided reassurance that they have a healthy recruitment pipeline and has recruited around 1,370 officers since the start of 2024.

Question reference: S6W-39190

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 24 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what consultation it held with auction markets before implementing the bluetongue virus (BTV-3) movement restrictions.

The Scottish Government has hosted regular meetings with representatives of livestock markets and other key stakeholders since the first cases of Bluetongue Serotype 3 (BTV-3) were identified in England in autumn 2024. This is in addition to attending regular meetings with industry stakeholders hosted by Defra at least twice a week, which includes market representatives. Scottish market representatives were also invited to meetings to directly feed into reports conducted by the Scottish Government’s centre of Expertise on Animal Disease Outbreaks (EPIC), which analyse the levels and value of cross border trade and the impacts on Scottish livestock movements in response to an extended all England- restricted zone. The Scottish Government continue to closely with markets, particularly those on the Scotland-England border, to seek innovative solutions to the disruptions from BTV-3 restrictions.

Question reference: S6W-39132

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 23 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that nearly half of the people in Scotland who have paid for private healthcare did so because they could not access timely NHS treatment.

While a patient has the right, at any time, to exercise choice and seek private treatment, we recognise that excessively long waits for NHS treatment are not acceptable.

We’re determined to reduce patient waits in the year ahead and our investment of £106 million additional funding will help us to deliver more than 150,000 extra appointments and procedures in 2025-26. The funding has been assigned to specialty areas for the year ahead where it can have the greatest impact against the longest waits – this includes £25 million for trauma and orthopaedics, £21 million for imaging, more than £12 million for ophthalmology, over £9 million for Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) and over £8.8 million for Gynaecology.

This funding is just part of our record investment of £21.7 billion for health and social care this year.

Question reference: S6W-39142

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 23 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many compulsory redundancies it anticipates there will be within its workforce by the end of 2025.

In support of the Budget and wider Public Service Reform agenda, the Scottish Government is proactively addressing the need to control workforce size.

From March 2022 to March 2025, the total workforce in the Scottish Government has reduced by 5%. This reduction has been achieved through prioritising reductions in contingent workers, natural attrition and enhanced recruitment controls. There are currently no plans for redundancies for this financial year.

As the Public Service Reform Strategy is taken forward we will establish how this will shape the future workforce plan for the Scottish Government organisation and the wider Civil Service.

Question reference: S6W-39143

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 23 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the total anticipated cost is of any severance, redundancy and pension liabilities resulting from its planned reductions to its workforce.

Question reference: S6W-38933

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 22 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding Scotland’s participation in the nuclear energy programme, which was announced in the UK Spending Review 2025.