- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 December 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 16 December 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-42087 by Ivan McKee on 2 December 2025, for what reason carbon savings were not measured for the Climate Change Saltire Fellowships and Scotland Lights up Malawi projects funded from the Scottish Government carbon levy; what assessment it has made of the impact of these projects on carbon emissions, including any qualitative or quantitative evidence it holds on emissions reductions achieved, and what plans it has to ensure that robust carbon saving data is collected for projects supported by the levy in future.
Answer
The Climate Change Saltire Fellowship and Light up Malawi projects were carried out in 2009 and 2014 respectively. There is no information available relating to the reasons for not measuring the carbon impact of these projects. At the time there was a focus on supporting Climate Justice by increasing vulnerable communities' resilience to the impacts of climate change. No assessment has been made of the impact of these projects on carbon emissions as there is insufficient data available from the time.
Future projects will be assessed based on their estimated carbon savings, biodiversity improvement score or ability to change behaviours, resulting in direct and indirect carbon savings.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 December 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 16 December 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that members of the public, particularly older people who are not confident using digital channels, can reliably contact the Scottish Public Pensions Agency (SPPA) by telephone.
Answer
SPPA's telephone lines are open from 9am to 5pm Monday to Thursday, and 9am to 1.30pm on Friday. SPPA has handled over 70,000 calls in 2025, with the average call lasting seven minutes. This reflects the service SPPA is committed to giving scheme members.
Whilst the introduction of new digital channels is improving SPPA's customer service model, this will not limit accessibility for those who prefer to contact SPPA by telephone.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 December 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 16 December 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-41888 by Gillian Martin on 1 December 2025, what information it has on the total cost to it of the Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy’s travel to attend the COP30 UN climate summit in Belem, Brazil, broken down by (a) travel, (b) accommodation, (c) subsistence and (d) any other associated costs.
Answer
Details of all Ministerial engagements and expenses are proactively published by the Scottish Government, including the costs of travel and accommodation. The proactive release covering November 2025 will be published in due course.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Independent
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 December 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 16 December 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the decision taken in the UK Budget to provide a permanent business rate discount for retail and hospitality in England from April 2026, what discussions it has had with its Retail Industry Leadership Group regarding the possible implications of this for retail investment in Scotland.
Answer
The final Retail Industry Leadership Group meeting of this year took place on the morning of 26 November, prior to the announcement of the UK budget, so no discussions took place at that time. However, we anticipate this will be a topic of discussion at the next ILG meeting, taking place in the first quarter of 2026.
- Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 16 December 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6M-41590 by Gillian Martin on 11 November 2025, in relation to the 10 schemes that are in progress, whether it will provide a breakdown of (a) the number of properties protected, (b) the estimated completion date, (c) the reason why the 2021 timeframe has not been achieved and (c) what the (i) initial forecast, (ii) current cost and (iii) expected final cost is, and how much was spent on each of the nine schemes that were removed from the programme because they were no longer required.
Answer
Local authorities are responsible for developing and delivering flood protection schemes, supported by Scottish Government funding.
The 2015 Flood Risk Management Plans contained 42 flood protection schemes. 40 were initially eligible for funding. 9 were removed because they were no longer required, subject to alternative arrangements or failed to meet progress deadlines.
The total grant funding provided to these 9 schemes is £28.31m. This includes £22.973m provided to Falkirk Council for Grangemouth Flood Protection Scheme. GFPS remains under development, but subject to alternative funding arrangements.
Flood protection schemes can have impacts on individuals, communities and the environment, and require careful and thorough planning. Like all infrastructure projects, it can take many years for flood schemes to progress from option appraisal to completion.
Please see table for 10 schemes that are in progress below;
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Port Glasgow - Bouverie Burn | | | | | |
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Newton Stewart/ River Cree | | | | | |
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- Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Fairlie on 16 December 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Islands Connectivity Plan’s Community
Needs Assessment methodology recognising the importance of workforce issues, including
crewing levels, seafarers hours of work, seafarer certification, seafarer
accommodation, operating conditions, vessel type and vessel design, in the
route specific provision of lifeline ferry services, what formal role (a) ferry
staff and (b) recognised trade unions will have in the Community Needs
Assessment of lifeline ferry services envisaged in the plan.
Answer
The Community Needs Assessment (CNA) methodology recognises how crewing levels, working hours and crew location influence service design. For each assessment, the relevant operator will be asked to check that crewing information used to inform an understanding of current service delivery on each route is accurate. Equally, for the generation and appraisal of options to address identified transport connectivity needs, the methodology recognises the importance of ensuring that these are deliverable, including the impact on personnel of options that would mean a change in the route service level. At appropriate stages in the assessment, further input and validation from the operator, including from crew, port staff and their representatives, will be needed to ensure that the outputs from the assessments are based on a full understanding of how the services are delivered and the operational impact of any changes.
For example, for the Cowal Community Needs Assessment published in September 2024, crew and trade unions were briefed on the future options for Gourock-Dunoon ferry services and fed back on the report before decisions were made on implementation. Crew were then instrumental in supporting the development of new draft timetables to meet the requirements of the CNA prior to consultation on those with the community.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 December 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 16 December 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has made of the reported rise in attempted murders perpetrated by children.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of youth perpetrated attempted murders, as the data we receive from Police Scotland for the Recorded Crime statistics is a simple count of the number of recorded crimes by crime type.
Police Scotland have provided the following management information on the number of people under the age of 18 who were accused of attempted murder between the first quarter of 2024-25 (i.e. 1st April to 30th June 2024) and the second quarter of 2025-26 (1st July to 30th September 2025). Data for earlier years are not available from the single standardised national system used by Police Scotland to gather details of those involved in crime, which became fully operational from January 2024.
It should be noted that the table below is not a total of attempted murders by those under the age of 18 as some cases may have had multiple perpetrators.
| | 2024-25 Q1 | 2024-25 Q2 | 2024-25 Q3 | 2024-25 Q4 | 2025-26 Q1 | 2025-26 Q2 |
Number of under 18s accused of attempted murder | 8 | 5 | 10 | 10 | 18 | 2 |
Source: Police Scotland, Management Information, extracted from internal systems and correct as at 8 December 2025
Notes:
- Data presented here is provisional and should be treated as management information.
The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of youth perpetrated attempted murders, as the data we receive from Police Scotland for the Recorded Crime statistics is a simple count of the number of recorded crimes by crime type.
Police Scotland have provided the following management information on the number of people under the age of 18 who were accused of attempted murder between the first quarter of 2024-25 (i.e. 1st April to 30th June 2024) and the second quarter of 2025-26 (1st July to 30th September 2025). Data for earlier years are not available from the single standardised national system used by Police Scotland to gather details of those involved in crime, which became fully operational from January 2024.
It should be noted that the following table is not a total of attempted murders by those under the age of 18 as some cases may have had multiple perpetrators.
| | 2024-25 Q1 | 2024-25 Q2 | 2024-25 Q3 | 2024-25 Q4 | 2025-26 Q1 | 2025-26 Q2 |
Number of under 18s accused of attempted murder | 8 | 5 | 10 | 10 | 18 | 2 |
Source: Police Scotland, Management Information, extracted from internal systems and correct as at 8 December 2025
Notes:
- Data presented here is provisional and should be treated as management information.
- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 16 December 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6O-05245 by Kate Forbes on 4 December 2025, whether it will confirm the (a) expected timetable for the laying before Parliament of the proposed legislation to create legal identities for Scotland's city regions, (b) powers that these new legal entities will have and (c) systems that are being considered to ensure that decisions are made by those with democratic mandates and not unelected city region officials.
Answer
We are committed to enabling regional co-operation, which is why last month the First Minister announced a plan to bring forward legislation in the next parliament to allow Regional Partnerships to become legal bodies. As is normal practice, we will provide details of the timetable for the next legislative programme in the next Parliament.
We are proposing a flexible approach, in which different Partnerships can ask for different powers at a level that works best for them. This will create a dynamic model of implementation which recognises Scotland’s regional differences. We intend to develop our approach in partnership and will engage with COSLA, regional groupings, and other interested stakeholders on the range and scope of powers.
We want to create a system that works for Scotland and accountability is an important part of that. However, this does not mean that we should directly copy the May oral model from England.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 16 December 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what capital investment it is planning for Inverclyde Royal Hospital to ensure that it remains a fully-resourced acute care hospital serving the local community.
Answer
This year NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde is being supported with an initial resource budget of £3,123.5 million, along with capital allocations of £41.26 million for maintaining the NHS estate and replacing and upgrading equipment.
Boards are expected to make the best use of these resources, to ensure that patients continue to receive a high standard of care.
In addition, we are supportive of NHS GG&C developing a design for the façade of Inverclyde Royal Hospital and Scottish Government will make a decision on funding when a design is complete and full costs are known.
We are currently working with all NHS Health Boards to develop a whole system NHS infrastructure plan to inform long-term investment priorities across Scotland – this includes NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 December 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 16 December 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-42088 by Ivan McKee on 2 December 2025, what information it can provide on the current review of the Scottish Government carbon levy, including (a) the remit and scope of the review, (b) when the review (i) commenced and (ii) will be completed, (c) which (1) directorates and (2) external stakeholders are involved in, or being consulted as part of, the review and (d) whether it plans to publish the findings of the review, and, if so, when.
Answer
The review of the carbon levy commenced in summer 2025. The review is being led by the Scottish Governments Travel Management Team in consultation with Scottish Procurement and Property Directorate, Directorate for People and the Office of the Chief Economic Advisor. External stakeholders include CTM North Ltd and Enterprise Rent-a-Car ltd.
The levy is a corporate policy which applies to travel undertaken by core Scottish Government staff. If the recommendations of the review are taken forward, they will be published internally. No external publication is planned.