Chamber and committees

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: S6T-01164

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 February 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what steps it is taking to bring the strike action by teachers to an end.

Question reference: S6W-14346

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 3 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how it is using the planned rocket launch in Shetland in autumn 2023 to encourage the uptake of STEM subjects.

The Scottish Government has identified the space sector as a key priority in our National Strategy for Economic Transformation and Inward Investment Plan. We recognise its potential to support regional economic development across Scotland. We are supportive of all spaceport projects that will support the realisation of our overall ambition to capture £4 billion of the global space market and 20,000 jobs in the sector by 2030.

The STEM Strategy advocates for connection between schools and industry, and space has demonstrated a remarkable power to inspire widespread interest in STEM subjects. This launch represents an opportunity to promote science and technology learning and space related careers. Scotland’s curriculum is a general framework rather than a prescribed curriculum, and it is a matter for individual schools to determine the curriculum most appropriate to their learners.

In the coming months, Education Scotland will engage with spaceport company SaxaVord’s Education Strategy and support local authorities, schools and other partners to raise awareness of the launch and explore opportunities for partnership working around this and similar events. This is a core part of work to provide our young people with a range of exciting learning opportunities, encouraging them to have in interest in STEM careers and jobs.

Question reference: S6W-14347

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 3 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is encouraging (a) local authorities and (b) schools to raise awareness of the planned rocket launch in Shetland in autumn 2023.

Question reference: S6O-01873

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 February 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to propose time for a debate in the Parliament on parliamentary reform.

Question reference: S6W-14342

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 2 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what guidelines it has given to local authorities regarding the welcoming of Ukrainian refugees into their housing services.

Question reference: S6W-14341

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 2 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what guidelines it has given to GPs regarding the welcoming of Ukrainian refugees into their services.

Question reference: S6W-13941

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 30 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it has ceased publication of monthly reports on its expenditure over £25,000, since the last publication date of December 2021.

Question reference: S6F-01716

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 January 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 January 2023

To ask the First Minister what steps the Scottish Government has taken to bring the strike action by teachers to an end.

Question reference: S6W-13209

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 10 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on the (a) provision and (b) maintenance and servicing of free bikes, since the 2021 election.

Provision, maintenance and servicing of bikes comes from our budget to support Active Travel in 2021-2022, that amounted to £115.5m in total, and in 2022-2023 that amounted to £150m.

Specifically we have three programmes which focus on the provision, service and repair of a bike. They are the Free Bikes Commitment, Access Bikes run by Cycling UK and Scotland’s Cycle Repair Scheme (SCRS) run by Cycling UK. Their financials since May 2021 are below:

Free Bikes Commitment - £4,495,106.72
Access Bikes - £594,583
SCRS - £3,215,123

Question reference: S6T-01078

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 January 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to mitigate the impact of recent teacher strikes on children's education.