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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-36643

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 2 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many sewage overflows remain unmonitored, and when it plans to ensure 100% coverage.

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water I have asked them to respond. Their reply is as follows:

Scottish Water currently has around 1,400 overflow monitors in place (covering over one third of all intermittent discharges). Scottish Water has plans to increase monitor coverage to around 2,000 locations in total (nearly 50% of intermittent discharges) before the end of 2025 and this year will look to determine an approach to establish how many more monitors should be installed in 2026 and beyond.

A significant number of overflow locations are predicted never to spill and monitoring these locations would generate limited value beyond proving that overflow events do not occur. Monitors are relatively expensive to install and deploying these without generating any environmental benefit is unlikely to represent good value for customers.

Question reference: S6W-36642

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 2 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what immediate action it will take to reduce the volume and frequency of sewage spills into Scotland’s rivers and coastal waters.

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water I have asked them to respond. Their reply is as follows:

Scottish Water has already taken action and made commitments to improve the sewer network under its improving urban waters routemap, published in December 2021 at https://www.scottishwater.co.uk/About-Us/What-We-Do/Urban-Waters-Routemap. The routemap set out how Scottish Water will invest to:

improve water quality (to support Scotland’s River Basin Management Plan objectives)
increase monitoring and reporting to cover all overflows that discharge into the highest priority waters
significantly reduce sewer-related debris in the environment
reduce spills from the sewer network

Question reference: S6W-36646

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 2 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the (a) environmental and (b) public health impact of the 24,398 sewage spills reported in 2024.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) is responsible for monitoring the water quality of Scotland’s rivers and designated bathing beaches and publishes its classification results annually.

87% of Scotland’s entire water environment is currently assessed by SEPA as having a high or good classification for water quality, up from 82% in 2014.

SEPA’s most recent Bathing Waters classification shows that 97% of Scotland’s bathing waters currently achieve the bathing water quality standards with 87% being rated good or excellent, up from 84% in 2023.

Question reference: S6W-36601

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 2 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish a breakdown of funding (a) allocated and (b) spent each year by the Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund.

Scheme allocations are not routinely published, however, Ms. Martin wrote to the convener of the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee on the 28th of February 2025 detailing the 25-26 budget allocation across the Heat in Buildings Schemes, including an allocation for the Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund. As many of our schemes, including the Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund, are demand-led, allocations may change within the financial year.

We publish an annual report of progress against our Heat in Buildings strategy. The most recent report was published in October 2024: Heat in Buildings: progress report 2024 - gov.scot. This included a breakdown of funding spent through the Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund in FY23-24.

A full breakdown of annual spend and budget allocations for the Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund is provided in Table 1.

21/ 22		22/ 23		23/ 24		24/ 25		Total
Budget (£m)	Spend (£m)	Budget (£m)	Spend (£m)	Budget (£m)	Spend (£m)	Budget (£m)	Spend (£m)*	Budget (£m)	Spend (£m)
£20.0	£3.3	£30.0	£17.9	£39.5	£29.5	£35.0	£19.0	£124.5	£69.7

Table 1. Annual spend and allocation figures for Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund

*reconciliation still ongoing so spend total is subject to change as projects complete

Question reference: S6W-36560

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 2 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding any fiscal risks posed by expanding the cost of devolved benefits.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that finances remain on a sustainable trajectory and that we continue to reach a balanced position each year. The upcoming Medium Term Financial Strategy and Fiscal Sustainability Delivery Plans will set out how we will progress work to achieve our financial aims over the next five years.

While the Scottish Government ensure devolved benefits are adequately and sustainably financed to provide meaningful support, we are deeply concerned about the cuts to sickness and disability benefits announced by the Labour Government. These changes will push 250,000 people, including 50,000 children into poverty by 2029-30, and will reduce the funding Scotland receives for devolved disability benefits.

Question reference: S6W-36917

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 May 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 15 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the current projected total cost for the Grangemouth Flood Protection Scheme is, and how much of that total it has committed to date.

Question reference: S6W-37152

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 May 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 15 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether poor parental attitudes contribute to rising pupil indiscipline in schools, in light of reports that NASUWT members expressed such views at its recent annual conference.

Question reference: S6W-37043

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 May 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 15 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether it is appropriate for an NHS board to seek to restrict public scrutiny of a tribunal involving matters of significant public interest.

Question reference: S6W-37173

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 May 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 15 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many retired police officers have died before receiving pension payments, due to administrative delays, in the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-37168

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 May 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 15 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many meetings the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care has held with local authorities since 2023 to progress the removal of non-residential care charges for vulnerable residents.