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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-37083

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 14 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to protect freedom of speech for public servants, teachers and other professionals who hold or express gender-critical views, in light of the Supreme Court ruling regarding For Women Scotland v The Scottish Ministers.

Question reference: S6W-37145

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 14 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will issue guidance to universities and research institutions regarding collaboration with Chinese entities that UK intelligence agencies have deemed a security risk.

Question reference: S6W-37081

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 14 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to apologise to any women’s rights campaigners who may have been mischaracterised or dismissed as a result of expressing views that the term “woman” refers to biological sex, in light of the Supreme Court ruling regarding For Women Scotland v The Scottish Ministers.

Question reference: S6W-37149

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 14 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether it is appropriate for Scottish universities to pursue joint research ventures with Chinese state-owned companies or universities that have been sanctioned or identified as high risk by the UK or allied governments.

Question reference: S6W-37150

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 14 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether any higher education institution has sought its advice, or approval, before entering into partnerships with Chinese organisations engaged in defence, surveillance, or dual-use technology research.

Question reference: S6W-37076

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 14 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision on the definition of “woman” in the Equality Act 2010 is final and binding.

Question reference: S6W-37041

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the use of artificial intelligence-based tools to address any delays in cancer treatment and diagnosis.

Scottish Government is committed to the trustworthy, ethical and inclusive use of artificial intelligence (AI) in health and social care, where it can help to transform lives, increase healthy life expectancy and reduce health inequalities across Scotland.

There are promising examples of AI being developed to improve the accuracy and speed of diagnosis and in enhancing decision support tools.

The Accelerated National Innovation Adoption (ANIA) pathway is a programme funded by the Chief Scientist Office within Scottish Government. It has been established to provide a national approach to the identification and adoption of research and proven scientific and technological innovations. Governed by the Innovation Design Authority (IDA), it aims to support improved partnership working, system leadership and joint decisions on the progression of AI innovations across any health condition, including cancer.

Question reference: S6W-36988

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it will take in response to the 2025 conservation assessment, which suggested that 72% of Scotland’s rivers are now classed as “poor” for wild salmon.

We recognise that wild salmon populations are now at crisis point in Scotland. Although the pattern of decline is repeated across the salmon’s North Atlantic range, caused at least in part by the effect of climate change on survival during its marine phase, there remains much that we can do in our rivers and coastal waters to build resilience and transform the fortunes of this iconic fish for the better.

The Scottish Government’s Wild Salmon Strategy sets out Scotland’s vision for flourishing populations of wild Atlantic salmon. The accompanying Implementation Plan identifies collective action to achieve this vision.

Action to date includes the introduction by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) of a new risk assessment framework for managing the interaction of sea lice from farmed fish and wild salmon; the opening up of 1400 kilometres of previously inaccessible habitat to migratory fish, by removal and easing of barriers to migration through SEPAs River Basin Management Planning process; restoration of 75,000 hectares of degraded peatlands, contributing to regulating the quantity and quality of water courses and bodies; and since 2021, our £65 million Nature Restoration Fund has awarded over £8 million to support projects to improve Scotland’s freshwater environment.

Going forward, the Wild Salmon Strategy Delivery Group which includes representatives from both public and private sector organisations, will continue to oversee delivery of the Strategy. The 2025 annual progress report, which details the ongoing work of the Implementation Plan, will be published shortly.

Question reference: S6W-36872

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the reported warning from Scottish Care that half of all residential and nursing care homes could close within a year, and what urgent action it is taking in response.

The projections and warnings from Scottish Care are alarming, and we certainly understand that the current challenges facing the social care sector including the care home sector are significant. Additional pressures have been brought to the sector by the decisions of the UK Government, such as the increase in employers National Insurance Contributions, changes to the social care visa system and salary threshold levels.

The Scottish Government has increased investment into our Health & Social Care Sector, the 2025-26 Budget provides funding of £21.7 billion for Health and Social Care - an uplift exceeding consequentials and taking funding to record levels. Despite substantial funding increases, it’s clear that significant challenges remain.

While I recognise the seriousness of the risks faced by the social care sector, the projections from partners such as Scottish Care are the worst-case scenario. As stated, investment in the sector has increased, quite substantially, during a period in which pressures on public finances have been most acute.

Safeguards are in place to support the sector with regulators, COSLA and the Scottish Government available to provide additional support where necessary. We will continue to provide targeted support to local areas through the Collaborative Support and Assurance Group, co-chaired by myself and the COSLA spokesperson on Health and Social Care, Councillor Kelly. COSLA also chairs the National Contingency Planning Group, which can be stood up in the event of a large-scale threat to the sector affecting more than one local authority.

But we do take these warnings seriously, and the Scottish Government are undertaking a programme of work to understand and respond to the current financial viability pressures facing the care home and wider social care sectors, and identify where extra support, contingencies and mitigations may be required. This work has included collaboration with COSLA, sector partners and representative bodies. Work remains ongoing but is proceeding at pace.

Question reference: S6W-36876

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many care homes (a) have closed in the last 12 months, and (b) are considered to be at risk of closure.

In regards to part A of the question, the best source for care home closure data sits with the Care Inspectorate (CI) via their ‘service cancellations and registrations publication’. The most recent version was published on 22 January 2025, which you can access via the link below

https://www.careinspectorate.com/images/documents/7934/CI_Stats_Report_RegCanxQtr3_24_25.csv

37 care home services have cancelled their registration with CI since the start of 2024, according to this most recent report. This includes care home services for older people, children & young people, mental health, alcohol & drugs misuse, learning disabilities and respite services.

In order to see those services that have been cancelled you can look at the cancelled services column the publication table.

It is important to note that often the services listed will most likely have been reopened under a different business name and care service number since this data was released. Over the same period, there have been 30 registered care homes services, you can view this in the registered services columns in the same table.

In regards to Part B, to understand the care home services that are at risk of closure you can look at the RAD score – current Scrutiny Assessment Tool (SAT) score, High-Medium-Low – for each service which is available on the Care Inspectorate data store publication. The most recent one was published on 28 February

https://careinspectorate.com/images/documents/8039/MDSF_data_28%20February%202025.xlsx

The SAT is a trigger tool to identify indicators of potential concerns in services. The SAT was developed using feedback from staff, information from our enforcement review, intelligence and learning from the pandemic and the Hull early indicators of concern (which has been widely adopted by the health and social care sector). It only provides a picture of the services that have been inspected, rather than all care homes in the country.