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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-33280

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 29 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many rural schools there have been in each year since 2007.

Question reference: S6O-04248

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to mitigate against future increases to Social Security Scotland's overall spend on benefits.

Question reference: S6W-32048

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 13 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding its allocation of £145.5 million to maintain teacher numbers, where the original documents in relation to any associated funding agreements with local authorities are or will be published.

Since 2012-13 the Scottish Government has had a policy position of increasing/maintaining teacher numbers and has made a range of historical financial allocations to local government to support this.

During COVID-19, in the 2020-2021 school year, we provided additional funding to Local Authorities for the recruitment of additional teachers, to aid in education recovery and to compensate for any loss of learning suffered by pupils during lockdown, bringing added resilience to the education system. The £145.5m is part of the £240m referenced in the news release https://www.gov.scot/news/education-recovery/

We have continued to offer Local Authorities £145.5m to maintain teacher numbers. The funding was a continuation of the additional resource provided to ease education recovery. The £145.5m was referenced in the 2022/23 local government budget settlement.

The agreement reached on 10 December 2024 can be found at Education: agreement with COSLA - gov.scot

Question reference: S6O-04187

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the plans for the contract for Contact Scotland BSL, which provides free services to BSL users.

Question reference: S6W-32144

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 7 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many people currently in receipt of Adult Disability Payment have their primary residence outside of Scotland, broken down by how many have their primary residence (a) in the rest of the UK and (b) outside of the UK.

Social Security Scotland routinely publishes information on Adult Disability Payment caseload, broken down by local authority.

As of 31 October 2024, statistics showed that there were 374,655 clients on the Adult Disability Payment caseload, of which 480 were classified as ‘Other’ rather than one of the 32 Scottish local authorities. 'Other' includes cases where there is an error in the postcode, and postcodes for a property within a new development. Residence in Scotland is checked for each case by Client Advisors during the application process to ensure that the applicant normally lives in Scotland, including asking for proof of address where appropriate.

The latest Adult Disability Payment official statistics publication can be found at: https://www.socialsecurity.gov.scot/publications/statistics. The next release of Adult Disability Payment statistics which will cover the period to the end of January 2024, is due to be published on 18 March 2025.

Question reference: S6O-04179

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 December 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to reform planning regulations to enable the construction of new nuclear power stations.

Question reference: S6W-31927

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 18 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether an economic impact assessment has been conducted into the impact of the closure of the Queensferry Crossing due to risks of falling ice.

Question reference: S6W-31925

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 18 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much it spent on the launch of the MV Glen Rosa in 2024.

Question reference: S6W-31926

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 17 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether an environmental report has been conducted into the impact of the closure of the Queensferry Crossing due to risks of falling ice.

No specific environmental report has been undertaken in relation to the impact of the closure of the Queensferry Crossing due to risks of falling ice. However, a detailed investigation has been undertaken by Transport Scotland, which tested solutions and mitigation measures for ice accretion on the Queensferry Crossing. This has been subject to a detailed review by a Peer Review Panel of experts from around the world on ice accretion on major bridges.

The investigation discounted physical measures such as heating of cables or mechanical removal of ice, due to impracticality and cost. Measures taken forward include bridge instrumentation, advanced weather forecasting and regular cleaning of cables. The conclusion of the investigation was that when ice accretion occurs, the best mitigation measure is to divert traffic onto the Forth Road Bridge until the risk from falling ice has passed.

Question reference: S6O-04127

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 December 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the potential impact on agriculture, what assessment it has made of the number of family farms in Scotland that will incur inheritance tax liability as a result of changes announced in the UK Budget.