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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-29417

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 12 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what data it holds on how many job vacancies there have been in the hospitality sector in each of the last 10 years.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on the number of job vacancies by sector.

However, the Scottish Government monitors vacancies in the hospitality sector using data and intelligence from a number of sources including the Business Insights and Conditions Survey, the Employer Skills Survey and Sectoral Skills Assessments.

The latest data from the Business Insights and Conditions Survey, published by the Scottish Government, shows that 29% of businesses in the Accommodation and Food Services sector were experiencing recruitment difficulties in July 2024 and 23% were experiencing worker shortages in August 2024. The latest data is available at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/bics-weighted-scotland-estimates-data-to-wave-114/documents/.

The latest data from the Employer Skills Survey, published by the Scottish Government, shows that in 2022, 30% of businesses in the Hotels and Restaurants sector had at least one vacancy and 13% had at least one skills-shortage vacancy. The latest data is available at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/uk-employer-skills-survey-2022-scotland-report/documents/.

Sectoral Skills Assessments, published by Skills Development Scotland, provide data on the number of online job postings in the wider tourism sector, sourced from Lightcast. The latest data indicates that between January-June 2023, there were 5,000 online job postings for chefs and cooks and 2,300 job postings for waiters and waitresses. The latest sectoral skills assessment for the tourism sector can be found at: https://www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk/media/l55d3jqy/sectoral-skills-assessment-tourism.pdf.

The Scottish Government is taking measures within our powers to address labour and skills shortage issues. These include providing a range of employability support to help people enter the workforce alongside funding for the development of modern apprenticeships, via Skills Development Scotland, to meet the needs of the tourism and hospitality sector.

We are also working to explore solutions to staff shortages in collaboration with the sector, through our Tourism and Hospitality Industry Leadership Group and our Tourism and Hospitality Skills Group.

Question reference: S6W-29415

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 12 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what the gross value added (GVA) by the hospitality sector to the economy has been in each of the last 10 years.

Question reference: S6W-29418

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 12 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of what the median hourly pay in the hospitality sector has been in each of the last 10 years.

The Scottish Government monitors pay in the hospitality sector using data from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (table 5.6a) published by the Office for National Statistics. This data is available at https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/regionbyindustry2digitsicashetable5.

The latest available data shows that median gross hourly pay (excluding overtime) for all employees in the Accommodation and Food Services sector was estimated to be £10.89 in 2023. This was the lowest median hourly pay across all industrial sectors in Scotland for which data are published by ONS. The median gross hourly pay in the Accommodation and Food Service sector for the last 10 years is shown in the following table.

Table 1: Median gross hourly pay (excluding overtime) in the accommodation and food services sector, 2014-2023

YEAR	MEDIAN GROSS HOURLY PAY (EXCLUDING OVERTIME)
2014	£6.63
2015	£7.00
2016	£7.44
2017	£7.69
2018	£8.01
2019	£8.52
2020	£8.72
2021	£8.90
2022	£10.00
2023	£10.89

Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, ONS

The Fair Work Convention considered pay, including information on median hourly pay, in the hospitality sector as part of its recent inquiry into fair work in the hospitality industry in Scotland. The Fair Work Convention Hospitality Inquiry Report will be published on 24 September 2024.

Fair work is at the heart of our national Tourism Strategy, Scotland Outlook 2030, which commits to support and enable the adoption of fair work practices in Scotland’s tourism and hospitality sector. We continue to promote fair work measures in the sector which will help businesses attract and retain staff and will carefully consider recommendations from the Fair Work Convention’s hospitality inquiry and take forward as appropriate.

Question reference: S6W-29419

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 12 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what data it holds in relation to the gender pay gap within the hospitality sector.

Estimates of the gender pay gap for full-time employees in the accommodation and food services sector in Scotland are published in Table 2.5 of the Scottish Government’s summary of earnings statistics from the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings: Annual survey of hours and earnings: 2023 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The gender pay gap estimates included in Table 2.5 measure the difference between median hourly earnings (excluding overtime) of men and women as a proportion of men's median hourly earnings (excluding overtime).

Question reference: S6W-29420

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 10 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much revenue has been received through non-domestic rates from the hospitality sector in each year since 1999.

Non-domestic rates are administered by local councils, and the Scottish Government does not routinely hold information on the amounts actually paid by individual businesses or properties. However, we are able to estimate the amounts some property types would have been liable for in some years where individual property level relief data has been collected nationally.

Table 1 presents estimated historic rateable values and estimates of net non-domestic rates income for hotels, public houses, and restaurants. Property level reliefs data, and therefore net income estimates, for years before 2012-13, and for 2014-2015, 2017-2018, and 2023-2024 are not available, and are not yet available for 2024-2025.

Hospitality premises are identified by property classes “public houses and restaurants” and “hotels”. Property class is a classification used by Scottish Assessors to describe the type of property, and does not necessarily accurately reflect the use of a property. There may be properties within those classes which are not actually used for hospitality, and properties within other classes which are used for hospitality. Rateable values are as at 1 April in each financial year, and do not take into account any subsequent changes, even if backdated. A revaluation occurred in 2017-2018, and in 2023-2024. Reliefs information is derived from councils’ billing data, as at end April 2012, 1 October 2013, 8 October 2015, 5 October 2016, 1 June 2018, 31 May 2019, 1 July 2020, 1 June 2021, and 1 July 2022. The relief percentages reported in these billing data snapshots are applied to the gross income estimates based on rateable values on 1 April in each year to derive the net estimates. Net income in 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 was affected by the Retail, Hospitality, and Leisure (RHL) relief introduced in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. RHL relief awarded in 2022-2023 is not included, as this relief was not reported on the 2022 billing snapshot. Figures are rounded to the nearest £100,000.

Table 1: Total rateable value and estimated net NDR income related to hotels, public houses, and restaurants

Financial year	Rateable value	Net income
2012-2013	296,200,000	123,600,000
2013-2014	292,100,000	126,100,000
2014-2015	289,700,000	[not available]
2015-2016	296,200,000	133,300,000
2016-2017	299,800,000	138,500,000
2017-2018	402,500,000	[not available]
2018-2019	410,200,000	185,100,000
2019-2020	413,500,000	185,000,000
2020-2021	404,200,000	8,100,000
2021-2022	395,800,000	38,300,000
2022-2023	399,600,000	182,600,000

Question reference: S6W-28938

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 August 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 9 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the scope of the role of Transport Scotland, including any duplication of (a) responsibility and (b) funding in the period (i) before and (ii) after the new structures were put in place regarding the nationalisation of ScotRail.

Question reference: S6O-03685

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 September 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what the return has been on any anticipated community, biodiversity and environmental outcomes resulting from the £17.6 million public purchase of Glen Prosen by Forestry and Land Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-28810

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 August 2024
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 3 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) will be granted taught degree awarding power through secondary legislation, and, if so, within what timeframe.

Question reference: S6W-28811

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 August 2024
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 3 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will grant Scotland’s Rural College taught degree awarding powers through secondary legislation for its veterinary training programme, and, if so, when.

Question reference: S6O-03662

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 August 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has allocated to local authorities whose housing stock and former housing stock requires demolition and rebuilding due to the presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete.