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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: S6W-37171

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 8 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to prevent further closures of nightclubs and live music venues in Scotland, in light of reports of a 30% decline in the UK since 2020.

The Scottish Budget continues to support businesses, including nightclubs and music venues, with a number of measures including maintaining the Small Business Bonus Scheme which remains the most generous scheme of its kind in the UK, and a freeze to the Basic Property Rate in 2025-26 which ensures that over 95 per cent of non-domestic properties continue to be liable for a lower property tax rate than anywhere else in the UK.

Recognising the challenges faced by the hospitality sector 40 per cent relief is offered in 2025-26 for hospitality premises with a rateable value up to and including £51,000, including Grassroots Music Venues with a capacity of up to 1,500 people, capped at £110,000 per business. 100 per cent relief continues for hospitality premises located on islands, and in prescribed remote areas (Cape Wrath, Knoydart, and Scoraig), capped at £110,000 per business.

The Scottish Government continue to demonstrate steadfast support for culture and the arts in Scotland, with record-changing increases in funding for the sector. The highest ever number of artists and organisations will receive regular funding from Creative Scotland this financial year – including grassroots and community culture as well as the music sector.

Question reference: S6W-36898

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 8 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with (a) the UK Government and (b) other partners to secure additional investment in the Grangemouth Flood Protection Scheme.

The UK Government has an important role to play in all aspects of the future of the Grangemouth Industrial Cluster and the Scottish Government will engage with them and others as required.

As we do this, we will also work with all businesses and investors, to ensure that the community and workforce benefit from this investment.

More broadly Scotland’s National Flood Resilience strategy commits to exploring new ways public and private finance can contribute to creating flood resilient places in the longer term.

Question reference: S6W-36846

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 11 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 8 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the potential impact of declining international student enrolments on university finances, in light of reports that applications from overseas students are down by over 10%.

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) has a statutory duty set out in the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 2005 to secure the coherent provision by the post-16 education bodies (as a whole) of a high quality of fundable further education and fundable higher education.

The SFC monitors and assesses the financial health and the sustainability of universities through regular engagement and analysis of financial returns, which universities are required to submit to SFC each academic year. This includes consideration of a wide range of factors, including international enrolments.

Question reference: S6W-37143

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 8 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish a register of all current public bodies, including their (a) functions, (b) staff numbers, (c) budgets and (d) board members.

Information on public bodies for which either the Scotish Government or Scottish Parliament are responsible is publicly available on the National Public Bodies Directory Executive non-departmental public bodies - National public bodies: directory - gov.scot.

Each entry on the national directory includes staff numbers and details of Scottish Government funding where the information is held. There is also a link to the respective public body website where details of the public bodies functions and board members can be found.

Question reference: S6W-37053

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 8 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether it is responsible for any public health consequences that result from its decision to remove eligibility for the flu vaccine from 50- to 64-year-olds.

Decision-making on Scotland’s vaccination programme continues to be guided by the independent, expert advice of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The JCVI currently advises flu vaccination for all those aged 65 years and over, along with individuals who have specific underlying health conditions.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the JCVI advised routine flu vaccination for those 65 years and over, as well as those with underlying health conditions. Scotland followed this advice.

Our programme was expanded during the pandemic in order to protect the people of Scotland, the NHS and the wider health and social care sector, while it was under severe COVID-related pressure. The programme was expanded to those aged 55 years and over in 2021, and then to those aged 50 years and over in 2022 and 2023.

In winter 2024, as we moved beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, we reverted to the standard JCVI-advised groups and those aged 50-64 years were no longer included. This is in line with JCVI advice, endorsed by Scotland’s Chief Medical Officer.

Question reference: S6O-04659

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what steps it is taking to roll out stroke thrombectomy services on a 24/7 basis across the country.

Question reference: S6W-37163

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 7 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported concerns that rural nursery closures will force families to travel long distances or give up work due to a lack of childcare.

The Scottish Government recognises that high quality, accessible and affordable early learning and childcare is vital in rural and island areas to support children’s outcomes and to enable parents or carers to train, work, or study.

At a national level, several work programmes are underway to support childcare access in these communities. This includes funding a new national childminder recruitment and retention programme, making grants available to local authorities via the Addressing Depopulation Fund (two of which contain a focus on addressing childcare issues) and investing £16 million over two years into our six early adopter communities, including those in rural and island locations.

Decisions relating to the school estate, including whether to temporarily close council schools and nurseries, are for local authorities to make in consultation with the local community. Local authorities have a statutory responsibility to make Early Learning and Childcare services available to all eligible children within their area and are responsible for local service delivery planning, this includes a duty to consult and inform parents every two years regarding local demand. We are currently reviewing guidance on mothballing to provide greater clarity on when it is an appropriate action to take. That will ensure that local decisions are based on effective engagement with the community, better reflect the needs of rural families and help to maintain access to early learning in those communities.

I would therefore encourage any families affected by planned service closures to engage with their local council about how the Early Learning and Childcare needs of their children will continue to be met.

Question reference: S6W-37097

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 7 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on Amazon Web Services in each of the last three years.

The Scottish Government spend with Amazon Web Services in each of the last 3 financial years is detailed in the following table:-

Financial Year	Total spend
April 22-March 23	£534,815.88
April 23-March 24	£1,698,666.07
April 24-March 25	£1,659,999.71

New services hosted on Cloud Platform Services (CPS) are built on AWS – ScotPayments, Digital Identity & Digital Connectivity – these have all gone live over the past 3 years, increasing AWS spend as the services scale to meet their customer demand.

Currently there are 45 workloads on the CPS, 27 of which are on the AWS element of the platform. Through using the services contract with public cloud companies, SG services have to date saved £409,414 – these savings are against open market AWS costs.

Savings are being made through migration of applications to CPS from the SG data centre, which is due to close in December 2026. The closure of the data centre is expected to save an estimated £3.6M, between data centre upgrade requirements and increases in energy running costs.

Question reference: S6W-37165

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 7 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many nurseries are projected to close over the next academic year.

The Scottish Government does not produce projections of nursery closures.

As with other sectors of the economy the childcare sector – which operates as a mixed economy model with services delivered by public, private and third sector services, including childminders – experiences continued changes in the number of services operating. In a given year there will be new services entering the market and other services leaving the sector, as well as other changes to registrations (e.g. to increase capacity or changes in ownership).

Care Inspectorate data published in September 2024 shows that overall capacity within daycare of childcare services increased from 176,130 registered places at 31 December 2020 to 178,890 registered places at 31 December 2023.

Question reference: S6W-37164

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 7 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on how many nurseries have been mothballed or closed since 2020.

The Scottish government does not hold information on the number of nurseries which are closed or mothballed.

Decisions relating to local ELC provision are for local authorities to make, in consultation with the local community. Mothballing should only be for a temporary period and should be subject to regular review, at least annually, against the same requirements which led to the original decision to mothball.

The Care Inspectorate publish a monthly list of all service closures which can be found here: Changes to registration, variations and cancelled services

The annual Care Inspectorate Early Learning and Childcare Statistics publication (Early learning and childcare statistics 2023) sets out information on the availability and quality of registered daycare of children and childminding services for children and families across Scotland. This also includes data on annual service cancellations across the sector.