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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: S6F-04139

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 May 2025

To ask the First Minister, in light of it being almost five years since the Scottish Government committed to spending £60 million to renew every play park in Scotland and of reports that less than half of the funding has been spent, what action the Scottish Government is taking to ensure that children do not miss out on renewed facilities.

Question reference: S6W-37085

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 27 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the reported ministerial pay rise of almost £20,000, whether it will publish the evidence base underpinning the reported comment by the Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport that “it won’t cost the public purse a penny extra”.

The Scottish Government has already published the estimated financial contribution made to public spending by the voluntary Ministerial pay freeze since it was established on 1 April 2009. Between 1 April 2009 and 31 March 2025, Ministers made an estimated £2.2 million available for public spending from their own pay packets. This is public funding that would not have been available had Ministers not voluntarily decided to return a proportion of their pay. In 2024-25, Ministerial pay was 30.4% below where it would otherwise have been. From 1 April 2025, the MSP element of the pay of all Ministers except the First Minister was equalised with that of all other MSPs, while the freeze on the Ministerial element of their pay continues for a seventeenth consecutive year. In 2025-26, Ministers will make an estimated £166,000 available for public spending from their own pay packets and, as such, public funds this year will again be higher than they would have been without the pay freeze. This is the point that the Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport was making.

Question reference: S6W-36975

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 16 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 27 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the main reasons are for the highest S4 school leaver numbers in more than a decade, in light of recent statistics for 2023-24.

While the percentage of school leavers in S4 remains unchanged in 2023-24 from the previous year at 14.4%, we acknowledge the importance of understanding the factors influencing early school leaving.

After a rise last year, the Scottish Government have been exploring with partners factors influencing young people deciding to leave school at S4. These include the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the cost of living crisis, and also an increase in availability of entry-level jobs.

We are continuing to work with our partners to find ways to support young people to stay in learning.

Scotland continues to demonstrate strong participation in education among 15–19-year-olds, as recognised by the OECD, with over half of pupils (57.1%) leaving school at S6.

Question reference: S6W-36973

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 16 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 27 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that any ideological language or policies do not undermine the professional judgment of staff working with vulnerable young people.

There are a range of approaches in place which support the prevention of harm to vulnerable young people by those who work with them.

If an organisation has employees or volunteers doing a regulated role, it has a legal duty to report harmful behaviour to Disclosure Scotland. This duty applies whether the person is a member of the PVG scheme or not.

There are also a range or regulatory organisations whose function are to maintain professional standards. For example, the General Teaching Council for Scotland.

We are committed to tackling the underlying issues which influence ideologies and seek to protect the rights of all young people. For example, in schools we have undertaken work, aligned to the implementation of the Equality Act to prevent discrimination; through challenging racism, misogyny, and bullying and through approaches such as LGBT Inclusive Education and Supporting Transgender Young people in Schools Guidance which makes clear the responsibility of schools to support young people who are considering or who have changed their gender identity in order to ensure that they do not experience discrimination within schools and can reach their full potential.

Question reference: S6W-37641

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 27 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what urgent steps it is taking in light of reports that nearly one in five people abandoned their call to NHS 24 in 2024.

Calls to the 111 service can go unanswered for a variety of reasons, including callers choosing to end their call after being connected to the automated messaging service and hearing the options available to them – including an NHS 24 callback service during busier periods.

Other options include accessing self-care advice via the NHS Inform website or contacting another area of the health service which may be more appropriate to meet their needs.

We continue to support NHS 24’s ongoing work to help reduce unanswered calls, including recently revising NHS 24’s key performance indicators to better reflect and understand the current demands on the service.

This work allows the Service to capture any unmet demand, and any potential risks where callers have made multiple attempts to access 111 without success.

In addition, over the past two financial years NHS 24 has received additional funding of £28.3m to support their wider role in the re-design of unscheduled care. This has allowed the service to boost their staffing numbers with 22 WTE additional clinicians recruited this year and the Service now almost at desired capacity in terms of call handlers.

Question reference: S6W-37026

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 27 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to its public service reform programme, what proportion of its planned £280 million savings by the end of 2024-25 will have come from reductions in pay costs for the board members of (a) public sector and (b) other non-departmental bodies.

The Scottish Government is committed to driving key efficiency programmes such as Scottish Single Estates, Commercial Value for Money (CVfM), Collaborative Procurement frameworks, the Intelligence Automation Centre of Excellence, and Digital programme. There has been strong progress across these programmes which are expected to reach up to £280 million of cost avoidance and cash releasing savings over a two-year period by the end of 2024-25. This figure is not related to pay costs for board members of public sector or other non-departmental bodies.

Question reference: S6W-37635

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 27 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported findings from a survey by Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce that more than two thirds of voters want the UK and Scottish governments to adopt a "pragmatic, domestic-first approach" to energy.

Offshore oil and gas licensing, as well as consenting and the associated fiscal regime, are all matters that are currently reserved to the UK Government.

The Scottish Government has been clear in our commitment to achieving net zero by 2045. Any further extraction and use of fossil fuels must be consistent with Scotland’s climate obligations and just transition commitments and we have advocated for a licencing approach that has a Climate Compatibility Checkpoint as well as taking energy security into account. It is vital that we take an evidence-based approach to the energy transition. At the heart of our approach is ensuring a just transition for Scotland’s valued and highly skilled oil and gas workforces whose skills will be critical to the success of Scotwind and other low carbon energy projects.

Question reference: S6W-37674

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 16 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 27 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it spent £2,609.78 on belongto.org on 12 March 2025.

The Ireland Scotland Joint Bilateral Review 2021-25, co-produced by both Scottish and Irish governments, recognises the strong cultural and people-to-people links between the two countries and commits to strengthening these.

The funding from the Scottish Government to Belong To in Ireland is a contribution to the Empowering Voices project, which is also supported by the Welsh Government and British Council. The project is coordinated by Belong To (Ireland), and involves LGBT Youth Scotland (Scotland), Education Authority (Northern Ireland), The Proud Trust (England), and Viva LGBT+ (Wales). The project provides a platform for young LGBT+ people from each of the five nations to share their lived experiences.

Question reference: S6W-37633

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 27 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether any costing or modelling has been done to deliver its commitment to reduce teacher class contact time.

The Scottish Government commissioned Pupil projections and implications for teacher resourcing needs: education workforce modelling and research, which was published on 7 May 2024. This independent research has informed our engagement with partners on the commitment to reduce class-contact time for teachers.

Local Government are also undertaking local scoping and modelling work to inform delivery of this commitment. This work is scheduled to be completed by summer 2025.

Question reference: S6W-37632

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 27 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it has not implemented its 2021 commitment to reduce teacher class contact time to 21 hours per week.