- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 September 2025
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 24 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with COSLA about increasing the transparency of senior officer pay and conditions alongside improved democratic oversight and accountability.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 24 September 2025
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 September 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 17 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has made of public confidence in the curriculum for excellence, and how it plans to restore any reduction in confidence.
Answer
The OECD report “Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence: Into the Future” commissioned by Scottish Government and published in 2021 commented that “significant efforts have been made to engage stakeholders throughout CfE’s lifecycle, which have contributed to successes with CfE.” (OECD Report, (p90) and also reported strong public confidence and interest in education (104).
The report by Professor Kenneth Muir “Putting Learners at the Centre” (published March 2022) conducted public consultation across a range of questions. That report commented that “just over half (58%) of the respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the existing vision for CfE reflected what matters for the education of children and young people in Scotland” (“Muir Report, p17). However, the Muir report (at pages 17 – 19 in the report) also identified a number of points that respondents to that consultation thought should be changed in order to further improve overall confidence in CfE.
The further National Discussion report (All Learners in Scotland Matter - national discussion on education: final report – May 2023) commented that based on its engagement with a range of people and organisations there was “general support for CfE” (p59 National Discussion Report) but also pointed to a range of comments on how to improve the curriculum.
It is important for the curriculum to retain strong confidence and support from pupils, parents, teachers/practitioners and the wider public. As the Member will be aware, the curriculum is currently being reviewed through the Curriculum Improvement Cycle to ensure that our 3-18 curriculum remains relevant, clarify the role of knowledge, declutter the curriculum and help to improve progression. Further information is available via the June 2025 publication “Curriculum, Qualifications and Assessment Reform: progress to date and next steps” and via Education Scotland’s Curriculum Improvement Cycle website.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 August 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 17 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its response it to reports of a recent trend of businesses increasingly relocating production from Scotland to other parts of the UK.
Answer
Thriving businesses are key to Scotland’s prosperity, and their success is critical to delivering the First Minister’s priorities.
That’s why our Programme for Government includes measures that will make it easier to invest and do business by creating better certainty and stability for business. The programme includes actions to improve regulatory best practice, support entrepreneurs, boost planning capacity and reduce barriers to delivery.
NatWest’s New Startup Index shows Scotland's strong performance in business formations, with the fastest relative growth in new companies being incorporated from H2 2024 led by the North East of England (19.0%), followed by Scotland (17.9%).
According to the latest EY Attractiveness Survey, Scotland remains the best-performing part of the United Kingdom for inward investment, outside London, for the 10th year in a row.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 August 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 17 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of Scotland’s economic growth in the last two years has been attributable to (a) public and (b) private sector activity.
Answer
The statistics for Scotland’s gross domestic product (GDP) cannot be split precisely into separate contributions from the public and private sectors. This is because they are produced using data classified by industry and there are public sector bodies in many part of the economy. As an approximation, the contribution to GDP growth over the last two years from the public sector dominated industries of public administration and defence, education, health and social work is presented in the following table. Note that there are some public sector bodies in the rest of the economy, and the education, health and social work industries also contain private sector businesses and organisations. These contributions are calculated using the latest quarterly GDP statistics available at https://www.gov.scot/publications/first-estimate-of-gdp-2025-q2/.
| | Total GDP | Public administration and defence, education, health and social work | Rest of Economy |
Percentage growth: 2023 Q2 to 2025 Q2 | 2.0% | 2.6% | 1.9% |
Weighted contribution to Total GDP growth: 2023 Q2 to 2025 Q2 (percentage points) | 2.0p.p | 0.6p.p | 1.5p.p. |
Proportion of Total GDP growth: 2023 Q2 to 2025 Q2 | 100% | 28% | 72% |
Note: contributions may not sum to the total due to rounding
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 08 September 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 17 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it has issued on engaging with elected representatives in schools, and ensuring that there is a balanced representation of views.
Answer
It is important that our pupils understand the democratic process in Scotland, the UK and further afield. Local authorities have a role in ensuring that teachers in their schools can engage confidently with election issues and that balance and impartiality are respected.
Teachers are well versed in teaching sensitive topics in a non-partisan way and should use their professional judgement in doing so, in line with GTCS standards of personal and professional conduct, honesty and integrity.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 September 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 17 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what conditions are attached to any grant funding for equalities organisations to help ensure their (a) political neutrality, (b) value for money and (c) measurable outcomes.
Answer
Conditions attached to Scottish Government grant funding will vary based on the organisation and project being funded. Some organisations are given core funding to meet general costs while others receive funding strictly associated to a specific project. The specific details of these conditions are set out individually in grant offer letters for each piece of funding.
All grants are actively managed in line with the Scottish Public Finance Manual: Grant and grant in aid - Scottish Public Finance Manual - gov.scot. In particular, grants have outcomes and objectives associated to them which mean that payments are only made when the grant manager is content that value for money is being achieved. Furthermore, all Scottish Government grant offer letters specify that funds are not to be used for party political purposes. Beyond the auspices of projects for which organisations have been given grant funding, organisations are free to campaign on any issues as we would expect in a democratic society. It is not for the Scottish Government to interfere with this freedom, to ensure that the third sector can have an independent voice.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 September 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 17 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has provided in each year since 2017 to third sector organisations that publicly campaign for gender self-identification, also broken down by organisation.
Answer
The information as requested is not held centrally. The Scottish Government funds hundreds of organisations and does not monitor which organisations have campaigned for gender self-identification.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 September 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 17 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what the most recent forecast is for the prison population to the end of 2025-26, and how this compares to the design capacity of the prison estate.
Answer
On 7 August, the Scottish Government published the latest 6-month prison population projections, based on court activity and prison population data, up to the end of 2025. Due to the uncertainty surrounding factors that influence prison population flows - such as crime rates and justice system activity - the projections included several possible scenarios, including a reasonable upper estimate and a reasonable lower estimate. Taking the scenarios together and assuming that recent trends in justice demand, policy and practice continue, it was projected that the average daily prison population could be between 7,950 and 8,750 in December 2025. The design capacity of the prison estate is currently 7,805.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 September 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 16 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is regarding the flexible working arrangements of the chief executive of the National Social Work Agency who will reportedly be entitled to work remotely for up to 60% of their weekly contracted hours, and what assessment it has made of any impact on leadership and performance of such an arrangement.
Answer
The establishment of the National Social Work Agency is underway. It will be an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government and will be established by Spring 2026. Recruitment for the Chief Executive of the agency is underway to support the transition from the Scottish Government and is line with existing policies and procedures.
The Scottish Government’s hybrid working policy outlines that organisations outside of Scottish Government core, for example, executive agencies will set out their own local approaches. Once the Chief Executive is in post and with the supporting structures in place, the future policy on hybrid working within the National Social Work Agency will be a matter for the Chief Executive and the Board to lead, in consultation with staff and the unions.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 September 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 16 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made on the impact on Scotland's economy of the report by Offshore Energy UK suggesting that, without replacing the Energy Profits Levy in the next year with a profits-based mechanism to encourage investment and output, North Sea oil and gas production could disappear “within years, not decades”.
Answer
The fiscal regime for offshore oil and gas, as well as the regulatory regimes for licensing and consenting, are all matters that are currently reserved to the UK Government.
We continue to call on the UK Government to listen carefully to concerns being expressed by businesses and trade bodies around the impacts of its Energy Profits Levy.
We are now awaiting the UK Government’s response to its recent consultation, which must clearly set out how a stable and long-term fiscal regime will be used to deliver business and investor certainty for the North Sea. The Energy Profits Levy was always supposed to be a temporary measure and we must see the earliest possible end date, as it is now affecting investment and jobs in the North East.
