- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 30 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether having access to skilled training pathways should form part of its wider welfare-to-work strategy for under-25s, and whether it considers military service to be such a training pathway.
Answer
Access to skilled training pathways, including apprenticeships is vital for developing the young workforce. Apprenticeships play an essential role in giving young people a pathway into rewarding careers as well as enabling employers to invest in their staff.
The Scottish Government invests over £2 billion annually in colleges, universities, and the broader skills system, including apprenticeships and vital services linked to Scotland's Careers Service. This underscores our commitment to helping young people access the right education and skills pathways.
Skills Development Scotland provide an all-age career service in every local authority with an SDS Careers Adviser in every secondary school to highlight the wide range of career options available to people across Scotland. Advisers offer impartial careers information and guidance to support customers to consider and make informed personal decisions having explored all options and relevant information.
Military service can be a rewarding career pathway for many young people, offering a wide range of training and career opportunities as well as valuable transferable skills. Careers Advisers would support individuals to access information on the My World of Work site or direct to armed forces career centre sites if considered appropriate.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answer expected on 13 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will instruct all public sector bodies in Scotland to conduct an urgent review of their equality, diversity and inclusion policies, in light of the Supreme Court ruling regarding For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers.
Answer
Answer expected on 13 May 2025
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answer expected on 13 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many of its public agencies, including NHS boards and local authorities, currently operate single-sex services based on gender identity rather than biological sex, and what steps are being taken to address this.
Answer
Answer expected on 13 May 2025
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answer expected on 13 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will issue formal guidance to schools, health services and prisons to ensure that the rights of women and girls to single-sex spaces are upheld, in full compliance with the Equality Act 2010.
Answer
Answer expected on 13 May 2025
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answer expected on 13 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what immediate action it will take to ensure that all public bodies comply fully and without qualification with the Supreme Court’s ruling that the term “woman” in the Equality Act 2010 refers to biological sex and not gender identity.
Answer
Answer expected on 13 May 2025
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 29 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to improve access to early-stage funding for startups, particularly those based outside of Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Answer
Numerous Scottish public bodies deliver support and tailored strategic investment into Scottish businesses including Scottish Enterprise, the Scottish National Investment Bank, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, South of Scotland Enterprise, Business Gateway and the Scottish Government’s £42m national Techscaler programme.
The Scottish Government-backed investment funds deployed by these organisations are designed to fill gaps in the supply of capital available to businesses and at the same time crowd in private capital to create a busier ecosystem of investors active in Scotland. Underpinned by Techscaler offering online education, expert mentoring, and a network of 14 hubs across seven regions in Scotland, these funds support tech startups from creation through to scale, ensuring support is accessible and rooted in communities across the country.
Examples of this funding and support include:
- Over £118m capital raised by founders since the inception of Techscaler in 2022 and in November 2024 Techscaler, in partnership with Focused for Business launched the Funding Accelerator programme designed to help Scottish startups secure their first or second equity funding round, with investments ranging from £100k to £1m.
- In 2024/25, Scottish Enterprise made 125 investments totalling £42.5m in early-stage companies, with 52% of these investments in companies located out with Edinburgh and Glasgow.
- South of Scotland Enterprise has supported 391 individuals in the South of Scotland as part of a Pathways pre-start pilot for under-represented groups, providing start-up grants of £1,000 to eligible participants.
- Highlands and Islands Enterprise IMPACT30 programme has supported 301 young entrepreneurs across its region and the Highlands and Islands Enterprise Techscaler Kickstart Grant Scheme offers grants ranging from £5,000 to £10,000 to ambitious tech founders and entrepreneurs in developing their business ideas.
- Through our Ecosystem Fund, we have supported various in-person and remote projects specifically focussed on access to finance, resulting in over 700 individuals growing their investment network.
- Scottish Government has consistently provided support for the Scottish EDGE business competition, including £1.4m in 2024-25, with an aim of identifying and supporting Scotland’s innovative, high growth potential entrepreneurial talent. This recently included a pilot Regional EDGE competition to specifically target support to different regions.
- To support the establishment of a network of entrepreneurial campuses, the Scottish Government allocated Converge with £100k to provide early-stage business microgrants. These microgrants have enabled 55 projects, run by university students and staff, to test their initial business idea. Microgrants were awarded to every university in Scotland to ensure all parts of the country have educational institutions that support entrepreneurial activity.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 29 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of university spin-out companies formed in Scotland have (a) remained in the country and (b) relocated to (i) the rest of the UK and (ii) overseas.
Answer
The information requested is not held centrally. However, data are available that show of the university spin-out companies formed in Scotland less than 5% have registered trading addresses out with Scotland.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Siobhian Brown on 29 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the reported increasing number of fires linked to lithium-ion batteries in domestic and industrial settings.
Answer
The Scottish Government is aware of the increased number of fires linked to lithium-ion batteries, as highlighted by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS). Lithium-ion battery use has increased, particularly as we transition to net zero emissions, and it is important to ensure proper use, storage, disposal and recycling of these batteries as highlighted by SFRS in their recent public awareness campaign on this issue.
SFRS continues to work in collaboration with key partners to ensure the highest level of preparedness for potential incidents involving lithium-ion batteries. In the event of incidents involving these batteries in domestic premises or in recycling facilities, SFRS have the ability to deploy a range of resources that can be utilised by the highly skilled crews to successfully bring incidents to a safe conclusion
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 29 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the performance and effectiveness of the public bodies under its control.
Answer
The quarterly review which forms part of the Scottish Government’s Assurance cycle to ensure public bodies are operating efficiently and effectively includes an assessment of performance and identifies any areas that may require to be monitored.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 29 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to work with the UK Government with the aim of strengthening economic ties with the USA and resisting the imposition of any trade barriers.
Answer
Scottish Government officials and Ministers are in continuous dialogue with the UK Government about USA tariff barriers and we support all efforts to find mutually beneficial resolutions that are in the interests of Scotland. We have been clear that we need to see bold and decisive action from the UK Government that reflects the uncertainty that is being felt by business and families at this time.
We are also working closely with the UK Government’s Department for Business and Trade on its programme of Trade and Economic Cooperation with individual US States, to reduce trade barriers and advance trade and investment opportunities for the UK and Scotland.
