- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 June 2025
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 18 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether policies such as culling livestock and promoting less meat consumption could have a detrimental impact on the rural economy.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 18 June 2025
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 30 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 11 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what value-for-money assessments it has carried out in relation to public inquiries since 2007.
Answer
The Finance and Public Administration Committee is currently conducting an inquiry into the cost effectiveness of Scottish Public Inquiries. I wrote to the Committee on 30 May 2025 providing a detailed response to their request for information from Scottish Government in relation to its role as sponsor of current and previous public inquiries. This response noted that Section 17 of the Inquiries Act 2005 confers responsibility for the procedure and conduct of an inquiry on its Chair, independent of Ministers, and that this includes a statutory requirement for a Chair to act 'with regard to the need to avoid any unnecessary cost (whether to public funds or to witnesses or others)'.
Assessment of value for money would therefore be a matter for a Chair of an inquiry to consider as they deem appropriate within the overall duty to avoid unnecessary cost, and those inquiries which are currently ongoing have responded independently to the call for evidence received from the Committee on costs. Responses are published on the Committee pages of the Scottish Parliament website.
The findings and conclusions of the Committee's inquiry will be considered once known.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 11 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what immediate steps are being taken to reduce the number of patients who have been waiting for over two years for an outpatient appointment.
Answer
We want patients to be treated as soon as possible. However, we know many are facing unacceptable waits and we are determined to do more. That is why we are targeting an additional £200 million to reduce waits and enhance capacity. Funding of £106m has already been agreed with Boards to improve waiting times during 2025-26.
We are also looking to optimise the full force of the £21.7 billion committed through the Scottish Budget to health and social care to improve performance.
We will continue to target resources to reduce waiting times, particularly for those waiting longest for treatment, through maximising productivity and additional resources.
This is all part of our programme to drive up productivity and tackle waiting lists, supported by the Centre for Sustainable Delivery. Together, our actions will further enable NHS Scotland to maximise capacity, build greater resilience and deliver reductions in the number of patients who have waited too long for treatment.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 11 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the detailed Project Willow report by EY-Parthenon, whether the
Scottish National Investment Bank will provide investment to fill the gaps in
private finance requiring state support set out at page 39; if so, how much
will be invested, and what it will be invested in.
Answer
The Bank makes commercial investments in businesses or projects in line with the three strategic missions set for it by Scottish Ministers:
- Achieving a Just Transition to net zero carbon emissions by 2045
- Extending equality of opportunity through improving places by 2040
- Harnessing Innovation to enable our people to flourish by 2040
The Bank has operational and administrative independence over its investment decisions, and is represented on the Grangemouth Investment Taskforce.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 11 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason only 56.7% of inpatient or day case treatments were completed within 12 weeks of referral during the quarter ending March 2025.
Answer
We must recognise that our health service has experienced unprecedented pressures over the past few years, including pandemic backlogs, staff shortages and the most difficult winter the NHS has ever faced, with the pausing of all non-emergency treatment inevitably leading to planned care delays and an increase in waiting times.
We have remobilised services but understand that activity levels are still lower than we would wish them to be. Patients requiring urgent care, including cancer treatment, are being prioritised. The Scottish Government remains committed to delivering reductions in waiting times.
Our Budget will provide a record £21.7 billion for health and social care. More than £106 million has been allocated to health boards to help tackle the longest waits for procedures and operations.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 11 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many patients have been waiting for over two years for an outpatient appointment.
Answer
Public Health Scotland (PHS) publishes statistics on the length of time patients wait to be seen as a new outpatient or admitted for treatment as an inpatient or day case in the Stage of Treatment (SoT) publication. The latest publication release contains data up to quarter ending 31 March 2025.
At 31 March 2025, there were 5,262 waits over two years for an outpatient appointment.
Trend information of the wait experienced by patients whilst still on the waiting list (ongoing waits) can be found in the ‘Waits over 52 weeks’ data table in sheets ‘Table 3.1.1’ for new outpatient appointments, and ‘Table 3.2.1’ for inpatient or day case admissions. The data is ongoing from 31 December 2019 onwards and can be filtered by health board and specialty: waits_over_52_weeks_may25.xlsx
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 10 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether the First Minister endorsed comments suggesting that the UK Government (a) would nationalise the Grangemouth oil refinery if it were located in England and (b) is "happy to see" the refinery "wither", and, if so, for what reason, and whether this reflects official Scottish Government policy.
Answer
Yes, the Scottish Government does agree with this view and we continue to call upon UK Ministers to intervene at Grangemouth as it has done in other parts of the UK.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 10 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the potential economic benefits of adopting a Singapore-style long-term development strategy focused on growth, innovation and business competitiveness.
Answer
Singapore’s economic performance has been strong and it is always useful to look at international comparisons and learn from others. The analysis which the Scottish Government published in June 2022 as part of the first Building a New Scotland paper shows that independent, small Northern European countries are better comparators for Scotland. The evidence in our paper suggests that decision-making at Westminster and a UK economy which does not suit Scotland’s distinct circumstances has led to outcomes that fail to match Scotland’s potential.
In 2022, The Scottish Government published it’s National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET). This sets out a ten year transformation with the objective of creating a fair, green and growing economy and establishing Scotland as a world-class entrepreneurial nation and ensuring that its businesses, industries, regions, communities and public services are more innovative and productive than they have ever been. In the three years since NSET was published, we have made significant progress in delivering the strategy with 39% of the original action complete including the publication of the Green Industrial Strategy.
The Green Industrial Strategy (GIS) sets out our strategic approach to green growth, offering a clear view of the economic sectors and industries in which we have greatest strength and most potential. Alongside this, Scotland’s National Innovation Strategy identifies the sectors that drive economic growth, and the underlying actions required to deliver that growth.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 02 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 10 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the detailed Project Willow report by EY-Parthenon, what assessment has been made of the (a) likelihood and (b) potential impact of any leakage of toxic substances resulting from Project 9 (E-ammonia), in light of the risk set out at page 175.
Answer
Any project developer will have to satisfy environmental and planning regulations throughout the project lifecycle.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 02 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 10 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the detailed Project Willow report by EY-Parthenon, how it plans to address the skills-related risks associated with the construction and operation of the Grangemouth site, as set out at page 184.
Answer
The Scottish Government recognises the importance of skills provision to realising the potential of Project Willow, and to securing an industrial future for Grangemouth more widely. We are prioritising skills development through the Grangemouth Just Transition Plan which will be published shortly.
This complements the support the Scottish Government is providing to Grangemouth refinery workers to retrain into in-demand industries, including those associated with Project Willow.
