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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-37626

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 22 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has received any formal requests from the UK Government for collaboration on a second phase of Scottish City and Regional Growth Deals.

Question reference: S6W-37623

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 22 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has conducted of the economic outcomes achieved through the first round of City and Regional Growth Deals.

Each Deal is required to produce a Benefits Realisation Plan setting both quantitative and qualitative objectives and measures for the programme. Each Deal produces an annual report detailing progress made on the delivery of agreed projects and programmes and on their intended outputs and outcomes. We monitor progress on outcomes on a regular basis via Annual Conversations which involve senior staff from both governments and local authority partners to review the past year’s activity and look ahead to future milestones. Annual reports for all deals are made publicly available on each deal’s website enabling visibility of what is being achieved.

Question reference: S6W-37624

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 22 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will commit to ensuring that the small business sector is given a formal role in the design and delivery of any future growth deals.

Question reference: S6W-37621

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 22 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that any future phase of City and Regional Growth Deals is not hampered by what have reportedly been described by some MSPs on the Economy and Fair Work Committee as “slow and overly bureaucratic processes."

Question reference: S6W-37622

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 22 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to reform governance arrangements for growth deals to ensure greater transparency and accountability to local communities.

We have put a number of measures in place to ensure transparency and accountability in the Growth Deals.

The activities supported by Regional Growth Deals are designed by Local Authorities in consultation with the communities they serve. The decision-making structures supporting the Deals include elected members chosen by communities to serve their areas.

Information on Deal delivery is provided through published annual reports and regular updates on specific projects and programmes, all made available on each individual Growth Deal’s website.

Question reference: S6W-37625

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 22 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of funding it expects to commit to growth deals in the next financial year, and how this funding will be distributed regionally.

Question reference: S6O-04706

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what new action it will take to support fisheries, in light of the EU-UK agreement.

Question reference: S6W-37082

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 21 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish a full list of current government-funded initiatives and training materials that contain an interpretation of sex based on gender identity, and not only on biological sex.

Question reference: S6W-37080

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 20 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it will take to ensure that female-only sports, changing rooms and hospital wards are for biological women only, in light of the Supreme Court ruling regarding For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers.

The Scottish Government are not responsible for monitoring or enforcing compliance with the Equality Act 2010. That is the statutory role of the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Scottish public authorities must comply with the law, including the 2010 Act, and regulations made under that Act when carrying out their functions, shaping their policies and practices and in relation to their employees.

The Scottish Government will continue our work to review relevant policies, guidance and legislation impacted by the judgment to position us towards a state of readiness to take all necessary steps when the EHRC’s Code of Practice and updated guidance are published in the Summer.

Question reference: S6W-37162

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 20 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding the potential introduction of a statutory mechanism to ensure that all local authorities contribute to the asylum dispersal programme on an equitable basis.