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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-37112

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 7 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has conducted a full assessment of any administrative and financial risks associated with its plan to mitigate the two-child benefit cap, and, if so, whether it will publish that assessment.

Question reference: S6W-37130

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 7 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what recent analysis it has conducted of the amount of higher education funding per student in Scotland compared with other UK nations, and what steps it will take to close any identified gap.

Question reference: S6W-37116

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 7 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what specific support it is providing to lowland cattle and sheep farmers, in light of the 87% drop in average income in 2023-24.

Question reference: S6W-37113

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 7 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the reported assertion that its failure to deliver a sufficient number of affordable homes has directly contributed to rising homelessness and the breach of legal safeguards.

Question reference: S6W-37151

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 7 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of any parental disengagement from school behaviour policies on classroom discipline and teacher wellbeing.

Question reference: S6W-37097

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 7 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on Amazon Web Services in each of the last three years.

Question reference: S6W-37157

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 7 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any potential cost savings and efficiency gains that could result from merging Scotland’s NHS boards into regional structures.

Question reference: S6W-36593

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 23 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) subscription and (b) other associated costs it has paid in each of the last five years for the provision of (i) Microsoft Teams, (ii) Zoom and (iii) other videoconferencing software.

Scottish Government uses the Microsoft 365 product suite to support shared services across 21,000 users in 55 government sector organisations. Within that suite, Microsoft Teams is the component used for videoconferencing, but also supports an array of uses such as file sharing, messaging, telephony, calendar management, and mass corporate notification. As such, the costs provided here are for the total costs of Microsoft product tools as the components are not priced individually.

Streamlining product purchase and usage in this way has enabled Scottish Government to reduce or eliminate spend in other areas. The tool is highly resilient and supports Scottish Government in continuing to operate during disruptive events. It has also cut travel significantly during routine operating.

The following table shows the total amounts spent on Microsoft subscriptions over the past five years. There is a charge for Skype in 2020-2021, as we were transitioning from this service to Microsoft Teams.

Overall, the move to Microsoft cloud services has been driven by a focus on delivering value for money while building business resiliency. Any Microsoft procurement is managed through a government framework in order to ensure the best deal possible and safeguard the public purse.

Year	Software	FY Spend
2020-2021	Skype	£ 119,464.16
2020-2021	Microsoft Products	£ 3,999,359.64
2021-2022	Microsoft Products	£ 5,043,649.34
2022-2023	Microsoft Products	£ 5,879,085.73
2023-2024	Microsoft Products	£ 5,649,335.50
2024-2025	Microsoft Products	£ 6,300,240.60
Total:		£26,991,134.97

Question reference: S6W-36437

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

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with NHS boards and other public bodies to identify further opportunities for co-location, estate consolidation and hybrid working efficiencies.

The Scottish Government has regular discussions with NHS and public bodies on these matters as they are key stakeholders and governance members of the Single Scottish Estate (SSE), which supports a more efficient approach to public sector property management. This includes through co-location and sharing of on-site services.

Our ongoing and extensive engagement with these bodies, includes current SSE Location Based Reviews in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Perth, Aberdeen and Inverness. There have been discussions at the SSE governance meetings and Public Sector Property Forum, which all of these bodies are invited to attend.

NHS national bodies and other public bodies in Scotland are covered by the Scottish Public Finance Manual (SPFM) so are required to engage with, and submit business cases to, Scottish Government Property Controls for Ministerial decisions on their estate. There is usually early discussion with the Scottish Government on each proposal.

The Scottish Government attends the Scottish Property Advisory Group, which is led by the NHS, to consider their property matters. Recent NHS engagement has included with NHS National Services for Scotland and NHS Education on their Edinburgh office requirements. The Scottish Government also attends a number of public body groups as appropriate, such as recent attendance at the Delivery Bodies Group to discuss the SSE work.

Question reference: S6W-36562

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 23 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it will fund the projected increase in social security expenditure without raising taxes or making reductions to other public services.

The Scottish Government will continue to provide vital assistance to enable older people to heat their homes, to help disabled people live independent lives and will keep thousands of children out of poverty. The Scottish Fiscal Commission’s December 2024 forecasts show that our investment in Social Security over and above the money we get from the UK Government is projected to be less than 3.5% of the total Scottish Government Resource Budget by 2029-30.

As part of our Medium-Term Financial Strategy, we consider the medium to longer-term drivers of public spending and assess these against forecast funding. It is then for Ministers to prioritise expenditure, as part of the annual budget process and Spending Reviews, in line with the principles and policies on the use of borrowing and reserve powers.

The Fiscal Sustainability Delivery Plan which will publish alongside the Medium-Term Financial Strategy in May 2025 will set out the actions we’re taking to improve the sustainability of the public finances over the medium-term.