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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-10758

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government which authority pays for the cost of providing a free internet connection for pupils.

£25m digital inclusion funding was made available by Scottish Government in 2020-21 for local authorities to use to support learners, in line with their own local needs. This funding supported the provision of 14,000 internet connections and 72,000 tablets or laptops for learners across all local authorities.

A number of local authorities have also invested their own funding in technology and have distributed connections and devices to learners in line with their own digital strategies.

We continue to work with local authorities on plans to ensure every school-aged child has access to a device and connectivity by the end of this parliamentary term.

Question reference: S6W-10741

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 8 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many visa applications under its Super Sponsor scheme have been rejected since the introduction of the scheme.

Question reference: S6W-10740

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 8 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on what documentation and proof of identity are required in order to be issued a visa under its Super Sponsor scheme.

Question reference: S6W-10754

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 8 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent to charter the ship MS Victoria to accommodate Ukrainian refugees for up to six months in Leith.

Question reference: S6W-10259

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 8 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) set-up and (b) running costs are for the newly-opened Scottish Government Copenhagen office, how many members of staff are employed by the Scottish Government in the office, and what the salary bands are for each of those members of staff.

The new Scottish Government International Office in Copenhagen operates from within the local British Embassy and is co-located with Scottish Development International.

It comprises three members of staff. Two are employed directly by the Scottish Government, while the third team member is locally employed via the British Embassy.

The two Scottish Government officials are on A-C pay bands. Due to the small number of staff members in this office, we are unable to disclose their specific pay bands as it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018.

The locally employed team member is not on the Scottish Government’s pay bandings and their salary is based on location.

The total budget for the Copenhagen office in Financial Year 2022-2023 is £598,000. This covers staffing, running costs and all activities of the Scottish Government’s office in Copenhagen including a programme of policy, trade and cultural events to promote investment and economic opportunities between Scotland and the Nordic countries.

Question reference: S6W-10260

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 8 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the projected cost is of the planned Scottish Government office in Warsaw, when it anticipates that the office will open, and what the process will be for hiring staff for the office.

The new Scottish Government Office in Warsaw will be opened within the lifetime of this Parliament.

The office will be staffed by Civil Servants and Country Based Staff. Civil Servants are appointed to represent Scotland in our international offices by a recruitment panel that includes the posts’ line manager. Appointees can be recruited from existing roles within the Scottish Government or from wider UK Government departments. The Country Based Staff are recruited using the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office recruitment processes in each country.

Costs and staffing levels for the office will be finalised under future Scottish Government Budgets, in line with our priorities and within our budgetary limits.

Question reference: S6O-01350

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the Scottish Police Authority about improving the accountability of policing in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-10526

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 1 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to ensure that teachers going through the Teacher Induction Scheme can access permanent roles.

Local councils are responsible for the recruitment and deployment of their staff. This includes providing a complement of teachers which best meets the needs of each of their schools and its pupils within the resources available.

During the pandemic, the Scottish Government provided an additional £240m to local authorities to support the recruitment of additional teachers and support staff.

We have since committed further permanent funding of £145.5m a year to support education staffing. This provides assurance of funding for councils, and removes any uncertainty as a barrier to employing staff on permanent contracts.

The Teacher Induction Scheme provides a one year probationary placement to allow teachers to meet the Standard for Full Registration. This does not, however, provide a guarantee of future employment with a particular local authority. Teaching posts should be advertised and filled in a fair and transparent manner by the local authority employer.

Question reference: S6O-01333

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6W-10080

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 July 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 16 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what concerns have been raised regarding removing the need to demonstrate a local connection when applying for local authority social housing; by whom any concerns have been raised, and how any such concerns have been responded to.

The Scottish Government is modifying homelessness legislation in September 2022 to suspend the power of Scottish local authorities to refer a person who is homeless or threatened with homelessness to another local authority in Scotland on the grounds of their local connection. This will not affect processes in place related to social housing. This change was recommended by the independent Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Action Group in 2018 and will give people in housing crisis more choice about where they live and access to the support they need.

Homelessness stakeholders support the principle of the suspension of local connection referrals. Some concerns have been raised by those local authorities with the highest volume of homelessness presentations. As the timing of the change was the primary concern, the Scottish Government delayed amending the legislation on three occasions, most recently in March 2022 due to the potential impact on homelessness services of the Ukrainian resettlement scheme.

The Scottish Government has put in place a robust monitoring and evaluation framework to measure any impact on local authorities’ homelessness and support services. The Ministerial Statement on Local Connection, published in March 2021, allows for appropriate action to be taken should the capacity of a local authority to meet its homelessness and housing duties be adversely affected by the legislative change.

The Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers and Scottish Women’s Aid have raised concerns about people who have restrictions on their movement, for example, people subject to multi-agency public protection agency (MAPPA) arrangements and convicted perpetrators of domestic abuse. The change to local connection legislation will not override existing protocols to manage these matters.

Any other concerns will be addressed as they arise through regular engagement with stakeholders. Appropriate mitigations and support will be put in place where there is evidence that this is needed.