- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 08 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 20 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on Glasgow City Council's reported view that the current level of asylum support funding is unsustainable.
Answer
Asylum is reserved, including provision of asylum accommodation and support provided to people seeking asylum who would otherwise be destitute while awaiting a decision on their asylum application from the Home Office.
In 2022 the Home Office introduced funding for local authorities for the first time, to recognise the contribution of local authorities like Glasgow who supported significant numbers of people seeking asylum and to encourage participation by new local authorities. This funding has only been confirmed annually and the level of funding provided does not adequately reflect local authority costs for service provision.
Funding for local authorities has been a positive step, but we support calls for a long- term commitment to enable better support for people seeking asylum as well as local communities.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 08 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 20 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on which Scottish local authorities are (a) currently and (b) not currently participating in the UK Government’s asylum dispersal programme.
Answer
UK Government announced full asylum dispersal policy in April 2022. Under the policy Home Office contractors can presume that asylum dispersal properties can be procured in any local authority area across the UK.
The Scottish Government is aware that over half of Scotland’s local authorities now have asylum dispersal accommodation in their area.
The Home Office regularly publishes statistical data relating to immigration and asylum including data relating to people seeking asylum in receipt of Home Office support by local authority. Latest data publication is available online: Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 08 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 19 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many formal (a) warnings, (b) notices and (c) interventions regarding suicide risks linked to infrastructure in mental health units have been issued since 2022, broken down by NHS board.
Answer
The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost as it is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 09 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 19 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, whether it will provide the (a) office seating capacity and (b) annual running cost of each building (i) 4 Atlantic Quay (Glasgow), (ii) 5 Atlantic Quay (Glasgow), (iii) Bothwell House (Hamilton), (iv) Cadzow Court (Hamilton), (v) Compass House (Dundee), (vi) Denholm House (Livingston), (vii) Alexander Fleming House (Elgin), (viii) Hadrian House (Falkirk), (ix) Tankerness Lane (Kirkwall), (x) Longman House (Inverness) (xi) Marine Scotland (Eyemouth), (xii) Marine Scotland (Peterhead) and (xiii) St Andrews House (Edinburgh).
Answer
The information requested is set out in the following table:
Office | Seating capacity | Annual running cost (2024-25) |
4 Atlantic Quay (Glasgow) 1 | 670 | £51,465.41 |
5 Atlantic Quay (Glasgow) | 764 | £1,507,095.13 |
Bothwell House (Hamilton) 2 | 12 | £13,708.11 |
Cadzow Court (Hamilton) | 32 | £38,310.42 |
Compass House (Dundee) | 22 | £19,121.78 |
Denholm House (Livingston) | 124 | £95,660.21 |
Alexander Fleming House (Elgin) | 23 | £50,462.25 |
Hadrian House (Falkirk) | 36 | £38,435.06 |
Tankerness Lane (Kirkwall) | 26 | £51,360.40 |
Longman House (Inverness) | 148 | £127,877.81 |
Marine Scotland (Eyemouth) | 2 | £13,984.23 |
Marine Scotland (Peterhead) | 20 | £42,493.61 |
St Andrews House (Edinburgh) | 1775 | £1,601,075.15 |
1 – Office closed July 2024
2 – Office closed May 2025
The figures in the Annual running cost (2024-25) column take account of the following:
Facilities Management Hard Services fixed contract costs
Facilities Management Soft Services fixed contract costs
Utilities
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 02 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 15 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it supports a UK-wide framework to safeguard universities against intellectual property and technology transfers to foreign military regimes.
Answer
Scottish Government officials are engaging closely with UK Government, via the Department for Education, Department for Science Innovation and Technology, and the Home Office, on the development of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme due to come into force on 1 July.
Officials also continue to engage with the UK Government on UK-wide frameworks and guidance regarding the management of international partnerships.
Whilst national security is reserved to the UK Government, the Scottish Government expect universities, as autonomous bodies, to conduct due diligence on managing risks associated with international partnerships and comply with relevant legal requirements, including the National Security Act 2023, and National Security and Investment Act 2021.
The Scottish Government also expects that universities will carefully consider guidance published by Universities UK, and the UK Government’s Research Collaboration Advice Team, to support them in managing risks of international partnerships.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul McLennan on 15 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the reasons for the reported 26% decline in new-build rental construction over the past year, and what actions are being taken to address this.
Answer
The Scottish Government is aware of the recent publication of industry figures on the operation of the Build to Rent sector. We are committed to improving conditions for housing investment at scale and will continue efforts to create a favourable environment, working with the sector, including the Housing Investment Taskforce, to achieve this.
Through our recently announced consultation, we are seeking views on proposed exemptions for certain types of property including mid-market rent and build to rent to be exempted from rent control and to specify circumstances where it might be appropriate for landlords to increase rent above the level of the rent cap, could be used.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 May 2025
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 21 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the impact of its Scottish income tax policy on the median income in Scotland, in light of this estimated to be £29,750 in 2025-26, based on its current policy.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 21 May 2025
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville 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.
Answer
There are existing protections for freedom of speech and the Equality Act 2010 protects people from discrimination or harassment at work or in other areas of their life, because of their religious or philosophical beliefs.
The Equality Act 2010 is mainly reserved to the UK Parliament and UK Government. The regulator, the Equality and Human Rights Commission, has issued guidance on avoiding discrimination and harassment in the workplace and there is a Statutory Code of Practice on Employment.
Freedom of speech is a qualified right and the ways in which a person’s religion or belief is manifested might not be protected if this impacts on the legal rights of others, including those with the protected characteristic of gender reassignment, not to be discriminated against or harassed.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 14 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has issued any guidance or expectations to university governing bodies regarding executive pay restraint during periods of public funding pressure, in the last five years.
Answer
The Minister addressed the issue of executive pay and the need for restraint when he attended the Meeting of the Committee of Scottish University Chairs on 27 March 2025.
Universities are autonomous institutions with responsibility for their own pay and remuneration decisions.
However, the Scottish Government expects universities to exercise restraint in setting senior pay, and senior pay packages should be in step with the salary, terms and conditions offered to other university staff.
Universities are also required to comply with the terms of the Scottish Funding Council’s Financial Memorandum as a condition of grant funding. This includes compliance with the principles of The Scottish Code of Good HE Governance, such as the expectation that universities’ remuneration committees seek the views of student and staff representatives in relation to the remuneration packages of Principals and senior executive teams, represent the public interest and avoid any inappropriate use of funds.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 14 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Scottish National Party 2021 manifesto commitment to abolish non-residential care charges, for what reason the number of local authorities introducing or raising such fees has reportedly increased since 2022.
Answer
Under Section 87(1A) of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968, a local authority may charge for the adult non-residential, non-personal care it provides such as day care, lunch clubs, meals-on-wheels, community alarm and help with shopping and housework.
Local authorities have the powers to develop their own charging policies for non-residential social care and support. These charging policies are designed with the primary objective of offsetting the costs of providing services at a local level.
COSLA produces annual guidance to help promote consistency in policies, however variation often exists due to local accountability and conditions. COSLA and the Scottish Government recognises that local authorities require autonomy and flexibility to adapt to their local circumstances.
COSLA guidance recommends that charges should be reasonable and must be no higher than the cost to the local authority of providing the service. In reality most charges are much lower than the cost of providing the service.
The Scottish Government recognises that the cost of care can be high for people particularly in the current financial climate. We are committed to working with COSLA to review non-residential charges.
