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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-32103

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 December 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 7 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-31765 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 10 December 2024, how many indefinite awards of Adult Disability Payments are currently ongoing (a) overall and (b) for mental health-related claims only.

Question reference: S6W-32104

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 December 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 7 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-31765 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 10 December 2024, how many indefinite awards of Adult Disability Payments have been introduced for people, in respect of mental health-related claims, in the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-32108

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 December 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 7 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-31765 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 10 December 2024, what steps it has taken to enable and assist people on indefinite Adult Disability Payments to return to the workforce to some degree.

Question reference: S6W-32107

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 December 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 7 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-31765 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 10 December 2024, whether it can expand upon its definition of a "light-touch" review.

Question reference: S6W-31765

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 10 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it has taken to ensure sufficient continuous evaluation of eligibility for ongoing recipients of disability benefits.

Social Security Scotland make awards on an on-going basis. This means that awards do not have a set end date after which the client must re-apply. Instead, we conduct light-touch reviews to ensure that the existing award continues to be right for the individual.

In most cases, a review date is set as part of a determination decision to ensure continuous evaluation of a client’s eligibility. Review dates are often set based on when a person’s circumstances are likely to change in the future.

Clients have a duty to notify Social Security Scotland when there is a change in circumstances, including a change in medical condition, which could impact their entitlement. This leads to a review of their existing award and a new decision on their entitlement. In house Health and Social Care practitioners are available to provide advice during the case review process.

For some people, even long review periods are inappropriate, and indefinite awards have been introduced for people who receive Adult Disability Payment or Pension Age Disability Payment whose needs are highly unlikely to change.

Question reference: S6W-31764

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 9 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has made any assessment of the potential impact of its policy of no compulsory redundancies in the public sector on public bodies’ ability to achieve efficiency through automation or other means.

The Scottish Government has maintained its commitment to No Compulsory Redundancy since 2007 and there is no change to the commitment set out in the multi-year 2024-25 Public Sector pay Policy published on 30 May 2024.

The 2025-26 Draft Budget has also set out a 10-year programme of Public Service Reform to Parliament, with a strong focus on the data, levers and workforce that will drive efficiency. To enable this work, we will deliver an Invest to Save fund in 2025-26, backed by up to £30 million of funding recognising the need to catalyse efficiency, effectiveness and productivity projects as part of the PSR programme.

Question reference: S6W-31766

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 9 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what the average percentage pay increase in (a) real and (b) nominal terms has been for public sector staff in each year since 2010-11.

The Scottish Government does not record the historic average percentage pay increase for public sector staff due to the complexities associated with calculating the impact of in year promotions, progression increments within pay scales and the large volume of new starts and leavers.

The pay metrics of the Scottish Government's public sector pay policy provides a reasonable basis for assessing the average nominal increase for public sector staff and those metrics are shown in the table below for the years requested.

There is no single way of calculating real terms increases in pay as there are numerous potential indices such as the Consumer Prices Index (CPI), Consumer Prices Index including Owner Occupiers’ Housing Costs (CPIH), and the Consumer expenditure deflator. Information on inflation indices can be found in the links below:

Inflation and price indices - Office for National Statistics

Final consumption expenditure deflator: SA - Office for National Statistics

Public Sector Pay Policy table

The public sector pay policy applies directly to the pay of the Scottish Government's core directorates and its associated departments, agencies, non-departmental public bodies, public corporations and NHS Scotland senior managers (grades A to C). Other parts of the devolved public sector such as NHS Agenda for Change, Police, Fire & Teachers are expected to use the pay policy metrics as a reference point for their pay negotiations.

Year	Public Sector Pay Policy Metrics
2010-11	1.00%
2011-12	0%; £250 underpin for lower paid
2012-13	0%; £250 underpin for lower paid
2013-14	1%; £250 underpin for lower paid
2014-15	1%; £300 underpin for lower paid
2015-16	1%; £300 underpin for lower paid
2016-17	1%; £400 underpin for lower paid
2017-18	1%; £400 underpin for lower paid
2018-19	3% up to £36,500; 2% between £36,500 & £80,000; £1,600 if above £80K
2019-20	3% up to £36,500; 2% between £36,500 & £80K; £1,600 if above £80K
2020-21	£750 if below £25K,; 3% up to £80K,; £2,000 if above £80K
2021-22	£800 if below £25K; 2% up to £40K: 1% above £40K: £800 if above £80K
2022-23	5%
2023-24	5% from 1 April plus 2% or 0.5% from 1 Jan
2024-25	£1,500 if below £30K; 2% if above £30K from 1 April plus further 1% from 1 Jan

Question reference: S6W-31507

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 5 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much extra money it is currently due to spend on public sector pay in 2024-25 compared to what it forecast when it set out its 2024-25 Budget in December 2023.

Question reference: S6O-04115

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 December 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the net zero secretary has had with ministerial colleagues on how to ensure the delivery of the workforce required to deliver its net zero targets, including through discussions with Skills Development Scotland and colleges.

Question reference: S6W-31763

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 4 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what the cost has been of its 10 most fiscally expensive measures or policies, that were not the devolved implementation of a UK-wide policy, in each of the last five years.

The Scottish Government’s published budgets for the last five years, including details of planned spending, are available online.

Scottish Budget: 2024 to 2025 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Scottish Budget: 2023 to 2024 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Scottish Budget 2022 to 2023 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Scottish Budget 2021 to 2022 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Scottish Budget 2020-2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)