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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-37987

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 9 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to close the reported (a) funding gap faced by Integration Joint Boards and (b) £560 million NHS-related deficit.

We sympathise with the pressure the social care sector is facing and that is one of the reasons that the 2025-26 budget includes almost £2.2 billion for social care and integration – exceeding our commitment to increase funding by 25% by almost £350 million. At £21.7 billion, the overall financial envelope for Health and Social Care also reached record levels.

However it is important to note that while the Scottish Government has overall responsibility for health and social care support policy in Scotland, it is for local authorities and health boards to work with the Health and Social Care Partnerships (HSCPs) to ensure that social care support services are in place to provide people with the appropriate support.

While agreeing budgets is the responsibility of partnerships, The Scottish Government will continue to work closely with the health and social care sector to understand key pressures and opportunities to ensure we achieve best value of money and improve the outcomes of our population.

Question reference: S6W-37990

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 9 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take to reduce the number of police officers assigned to non-criminal complaints investigations, in light of reported concerns that police resources are being diverted to investigate “hurt feelings”.

The operation of Police Scotland, including the deployment of officers, is for the Chief Constable. The latest official statistics show there were 16,553 FTE police officers in Scotland on 31 March 2025. The Scottish Government supports the Chief Constable in having the flexibility to develop and utilise her workforce in a way that responds to the challenges she faces by ensuring she has the right workforce in place. In 2025-26, we are increasing investment in policing by £90 million to a record £1.64 billion to support police capacity and capability.

Question reference: S6W-38076

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 9 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reported concerns that it has not published a clear and costed plan for supporting oil and gas workers into alternative employment, for what reason it has reportedly not done so.

The judgements and issues in the Scottish Government’s Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan are informed and influenced by ongoing developments in the UK Government’s energy policy and recent court decisions. We are taking sufficient time to analyse and reflect on those developments and their impact on Scotland.

Scotland’s valued and highly skilled offshore oil and gas workforce must be at the heart of a just transition, therefore the Scottish Government is not awaiting a final policy position from the UK Government to take action. We have been supporting workers with the powers available to us, and will continue to do so. We are working with industry partners on an Energy Skills Passport, and with UK Government to develop a Regional Skills Pilot scheme for Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire. Through our Just Transition Fund for the North East and Moray we have invested £9.7 million on skills interventions, including the Skills Passport, a Digital Innovation Lab, and an Energy Skills Transition Hub which will open later this year.

Question reference: S6W-38107

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 9 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the detailed Project Willow report by EY-Parthenon and in relation to Project 4, how it plans to increase the production of Scottish softwood from approximately 6.2 Mtpa in 2023 to approximately 10.1 Mtpa by 2040, as set out at page 88 of the report.

Forest Research publishes production forecasts every 5 years for softwood availability in Scotland and the UK. The most recent forecast, published in 2022, estimates that over 8 million cubic metres (m3) of softwood is currently available annually in Scotland. The current the average annual harvest is 6.82 million m3.

The volume forecast to be available annually by 2040 is expected to rise to over 12 million m3. This means that if demand increased to 10 million m3 by 2040, approximately 2 million m3 of surplus timber would still be available.

Project Willow predicts a requirement of 2.1 million m3 of feedstock by 2040 under their growth case scenario. This is just over half the predicted increase in timber availability over that period.

Question reference: S6W-38180

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 9 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the tourism sector regarding any alternatives to the current model of the Visitor Levy (Scotland) Act 2024.

Question reference: S6W-38078

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 6 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what accountability mechanisms are in place to monitor the delivery and impact of its Just Transition plans on energy workers.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of accountability in relation to our plans for a just transition. This is why we established the Just Transition Commission in 2019 to advise on and scrutinise our journey to net zero.

The Commission has published a number of reports which consider our approach to delivering a just transition for energy workers. These include the July 2024 publication ‘A Just Transition for Grangemouth’, which has informed the development of our Grangemouth Just Transition Plan; and its most recent report, ‘A Just Transition for Aberdeen and the North East’. The Scottish Government accepts in principle the headline recommendations in the latter report, but will take time to consider them in detail, before providing a full response.

Question reference: S6W-38360

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 June 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 19 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason £85,000 was provided to Sikh Sanjog between 2017-18 and 2020-21 as part of the Promoting Equality and Cohesion Fund; what this funding was used for, and what the outcomes were of the Open Door Project.

Question reference: S6W-37792

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 5 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of the number of non-UK nationals in receipt of payments from Social Security Scotland in each of the last three years.

Social Security Scotland does not publish statistics on the number of non-UK nationals in receipt of payments.

Social Security Scotland only captures the nationality of clients where we require that information to progress an application. It will not capture this information when clients are eligible for a benefit because they are in receipt of a qualifying benefit.

Social Security Scotland will continue to review and prioritise any new statistics produced and will take account of users’ needs when developing future publications, in line with Code of Practice for Statistics.

Question reference: S6W-37075

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 5 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what immediate action it will take to ensure that all public bodies comply fully and without qualification with the Supreme Court’s ruling that the term “woman” in the Equality Act 2010 refers to biological sex and not gender identity.

The Scottish Government has issued a note to public bodies regarding the UK Supreme Court ruling on the meaning of sex in the Equality Act 2010.

It informs stakeholders of the work we are doing within government and encourages them to engage with the EHRC's consultation on proposed changes to its Code of Practice.

The Scottish Government has already begun work on implementation. We have established a Short Life Working Group to ensure support and consistency across Government. This work will position us towards a state of readiness to take all necessary steps when the EHRC’s Code of Practice and updated guidance are published.

Question reference: S6W-37849

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 5 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has considered the emergency procurement of private sector dental capacity to ease any paediatric dental waiting lists.