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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.

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Question reference: S6W-36935

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 29 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of its civil servants are currently working remotely on a full-time basis.

The latest published workforce statistics show 9,349 Staff within SG Core as at December 2024 Scottish Government workforce information - gov.scot. 85 staff of the total 9,349 have a home working contract.

However, in a number of cases this may be because of a reasonable adjustment in accordance with equalities legislation, or for other role-related reasons. In either case, we do not record what proportion of time is spent working exclusively from home and in practice most staff with homeworking contracts will likely still attend an SG workplace from time to time or work with stakeholders in communities.

Question reference: S6W-36930

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 29 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the annual cost of its civil service has reportedly risen to almost £470 million, and what steps it is taking to address this.

This response relates to Scottish Government Core workforce.

Historically, a range of factors, including newly devolved responsibilities such as establishing Social Security, EU Exit, and our response to the COVID-19 pandemic, are behind the growth in the workforce. Like many organisations, the Scottish Government has also needed to respond to the cost of living crisis that has led to increases in pay across the labour market.

The Scottish Government is proactively addressing the need to control workforce size to remain fiscally sustainable.

The Scottish Government has reduced its total workforce by 4% from March 2022 to December 2024. It has achieved this through recruitment controls and prioritised the reduction of expensive contingent workers in making these reductions, in partnership with our Trade Unions. The number of contingent workers is now 46% lower than in March 2022.

Scottish Government workforce numbers are regularly and carefully reviewed to ensure efficient and effective delivery for the people of Scotland and recruitment controls remain in place. The Budget has set a commitment to continuing to reduce the workforce in this financial year.

Question reference: S6W-36934

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 29 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what measurable progress has been made towards a "reset" of the public sector, as referenced by the Deputy First Minister on 31 May 2022.

Improving public services and delivering a more efficient, effective and appropriately sized public sector workforce is a key priority for this government.

We published a detailed update to Finance and Public Administration Committee on 19 December 2023 setting out a public service reform plan. Further updates were provided on 23 September 2024 and 21 December 2024, and we are committed to providing the Committee with 6 monthly updates on the programme. We will shortly publish our Public Service Reform Strategy which will build upon our existing commitment and set out our priorities for reform. This will focus on how the Scottish Government will enable system change to drive the scale and pace of reform.

Changes to the shape and size of our public sector workforce will be done in partnership with employers and trade unions, based on our aims of providing high quality, sustainable public services for the people of Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-36936

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 29 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether the productivity of civil servants working remotely has been formally evaluated.

All Civil Servants working for Scottish Government follow annual performance management procedures, including regular evaluation of performance and feedback wherever they work.

As part of a recent review of hybrid working, officials noted that there are few independent research empirical studies about hybrid working of a sufficient academic standing. Of those studies that were of a high standard and have been conducted recently, findings indicate that some form of hybrid working can lead to improved or the same performance levels compared to office working only.

Question reference: S6W-37025

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 16 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 28 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to publish a detailed comparative analysis of any differences in post-S4 retention rates between Scotland and the rest of the UK.

Question reference: S6W-36929

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 28 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether schools that have been assessed as having “inadequate” means of escape and “intolerable” housekeeping standards should remain open to pupils.

Although, it is the statutory responsibility of local authorities to manage their school estate, we expect them to provide safe learning environments for all school users.

If there were concerns raised to Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) regarding perceived high levels of risk to life from fire, the SFRS would undertake an urgent audit and ultimately could, if necessary, prohibit the use, or parts, of a school until the situation was satisfactorily rectified.

Question reference: S6F-04139

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 May 2025

To ask the First Minister, in light of it being almost five years since the Scottish Government committed to spending £60 million to renew every play park in Scotland and of reports that less than half of the funding has been spent, what action the Scottish Government is taking to ensure that children do not miss out on renewed facilities.

Question reference: S6W-37085

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 27 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the reported ministerial pay rise of almost £20,000, whether it will publish the evidence base underpinning the reported comment by the Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport that “it won’t cost the public purse a penny extra”.

The Scottish Government has already published the estimated financial contribution made to public spending by the voluntary Ministerial pay freeze since it was established on 1 April 2009. Between 1 April 2009 and 31 March 2025, Ministers made an estimated £2.2 million available for public spending from their own pay packets. This is public funding that would not have been available had Ministers not voluntarily decided to return a proportion of their pay. In 2024-25, Ministerial pay was 30.4% below where it would otherwise have been. From 1 April 2025, the MSP element of the pay of all Ministers except the First Minister was equalised with that of all other MSPs, while the freeze on the Ministerial element of their pay continues for a seventeenth consecutive year. In 2025-26, Ministers will make an estimated £166,000 available for public spending from their own pay packets and, as such, public funds this year will again be higher than they would have been without the pay freeze. This is the point that the Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport was making.

Question reference: S6W-37641

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 27 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what urgent steps it is taking in light of reports that nearly one in five people abandoned their call to NHS 24 in 2024.

Calls to the 111 service can go unanswered for a variety of reasons, including callers choosing to end their call after being connected to the automated messaging service and hearing the options available to them – including an NHS 24 callback service during busier periods.

Other options include accessing self-care advice via the NHS Inform website or contacting another area of the health service which may be more appropriate to meet their needs.

We continue to support NHS 24’s ongoing work to help reduce unanswered calls, including recently revising NHS 24’s key performance indicators to better reflect and understand the current demands on the service.

This work allows the Service to capture any unmet demand, and any potential risks where callers have made multiple attempts to access 111 without success.

In addition, over the past two financial years NHS 24 has received additional funding of £28.3m to support their wider role in the re-design of unscheduled care. This has allowed the service to boost their staffing numbers with 22 WTE additional clinicians recruited this year and the Service now almost at desired capacity in terms of call handlers.

Question reference: S6W-37635

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 27 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported findings from a survey by Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce that more than two thirds of voters want the UK and Scottish governments to adopt a "pragmatic, domestic-first approach" to energy.

Offshore oil and gas licensing, as well as consenting and the associated fiscal regime, are all matters that are currently reserved to the UK Government.

The Scottish Government has been clear in our commitment to achieving net zero by 2045. Any further extraction and use of fossil fuels must be consistent with Scotland’s climate obligations and just transition commitments and we have advocated for a licencing approach that has a Climate Compatibility Checkpoint as well as taking energy security into account. It is vital that we take an evidence-based approach to the energy transition. At the heart of our approach is ensuring a just transition for Scotland’s valued and highly skilled oil and gas workforces whose skills will be critical to the success of Scotwind and other low carbon energy projects.