- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 4 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will review future grant funding for any activist groups found to have been spreading misinformation and hostility in relation to the expression of gender-critical views.
Answer
The Scottish Government provides funding to a range of organisations through several different funding streams. Each fund has its own set of monitoring and reporting requirements to assess that the recipient is meeting the criteria of the fund. We expect all organisations in receipt of Scottish Government funding to comply with the law.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 3 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the recommendation by the Care Inspectorate, in its Guidance for children and young people’s services on the inclusion of transgender including non-binary young people, to “Use gender-inclusive language, such as ‘come on everybody’ instead of ‘come on boys and girls’”.
Answer
As the Care Inspectorate is an independent non-departmental body, it operates at arm’s length from Government. The Care Inspectorate therefore issues its own guidance independently from the Scottish Government to maintain its role as an impartial and objective regulator.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 3 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any potential impact on investor confidence in (a) the Grangemouth oil refinery and (b) Scotland more broadly of the First Minister’s recent remarks regarding nationalisation of the refinery.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to doing all it can to bring forward investment at Grangemouth and across Scotland. We have given clear signals to investors and prospective developers at Grangemouth that we want to work with them to make the projects outlined in Project Willow a reality including establishing the £25 million Grangemouth Just Transition Fund. Additionally, we have established an investment taskforce, led by Scottish Enterprise and the UK Office for Investment, which is working at pace to identify and attract inward investors at Grangemouth.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 3 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what due diligence or feasibility assessments it has conducted on the (a) costs, (b) risks and (c) implications of nationalising the Grangemouth oil refinery.
Answer
I refer the member to the answers provided in response to S6W-36894 and S6W-36895 on 13 May 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 3 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether all (a) NHS boards and (b) local authorities have fully tested and resourced (i) disaster recovery and (ii) IT resilience plans.
Answer
The Network and Information Systems (NIS) regulatory requirements for the NHS require that each Health Board provides evidence on their improvements to resilience and capabilities through the Scottish Health Competent Authority regulatory audits, which are against the Public Sector Cyber Resilience Framework.
The Scottish Government published the Cyber Resilience Public Sector Action Plan for all organisations in Scotland’s public sector, including Health and Local Authorities. This plan, alongside a number of other actions, sets out the minimum standards for cyber security that public sector organisations are expected to meet. Controls within the Public Sector Cyber Resilience Framework require that disaster recovery and resilience policies and procedures be in place.
https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-public-sector-cyber-resilience-framework-v2-0/pages/1/
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 3 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what urgent steps it is taking to reduce the waiting time for NHS hearing aid replacements, to bring it in line with the national 18-week treatment target.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not capture patients on waiting lists for hearing aid replacements specifically and it is the responsibility of Health Boards to manage these lists appropriately.
Scottish Government officials meet monthly with Health Boards to review performance and delivery across all Planned Care specialities, including ENT, and Health Board Action Plans in relation to the Independent Review, which has been published online, are reported and monitored by the NHS Planning and Delivery Board.
Work continues with the NHS, Third Sector and private providers to identify and cost an appropriate model of community care for any future service reform and ensure that the voices of those with lived experience inform this work
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 3 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how much public money has been spent on bonuses for Scottish Water executives in the past five years.
Answer
Remuneration of executive members, including bonus incentives, is published in Scottish Water’s annual report and accounts which are routinely laid before Parliament and available online at Annual Reports - Scottish Water.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 16 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 3 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether it is responsible for any increase in the number of pupils leaving school at 16 years old.
Answer
This government has overseen a long period of sustained improvement in S4 Leaver positive initial destinations from 78.4% in 2010 to 91.9% in 2024. We are however not complacent and recognise the proportion of S4 leavers in positive initial destinations has decreased by 0.8 percentage points between 2023 and 2024. We are actively working with local authorities on how to further improve the percentage of school leavers in positive destinations.
Ministers, local authorities and schools share statutory responsibilities for education, as well as the wider wellbeing of children, young people, and families which are intertwined and longstanding. National and local government need to work together, with a collective responsibility to improve educational outcomes such as these.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Siobhian Brown on 3 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on what the main causes of anti-social behaviour are.
Answer
The Scottish Government recognise that antisocial behaviour is complex and no single factor can explain why some people or groups are at higher risk of committing acts of antisocial behaviour. Our Vision for Justice in Scotland commits to tackling underlying causes through a public health approach, supported by the ecological framework. This considers how individual, relationship, community, and societal factors interact to influence behaviour. Evidence also shows that reducing crime, including antisocial behaviour, requires a combination of strategies: addressing root causes, deterring offending by increasing perceived risks of offending, and reducing opportunities to offend.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 3 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how many free bikes have been given to school pupils since May 2021.
Answer
The total number of free bikes distributed to school aged children in Scotland since May 2021 is 13,244. This includes bikes distributed under the Free Bikes for School Children pilot programme between August 2021 and March 2023, the Free Bikes Partnership from April 2023 to March 2024, and under the Regional Transport Partnership-led People and Place programme in financial year 2024-25.
Due to reporting schedules, the final evaluation of the People and Place programme for financial year 2024-25 has not been completed at the time of writing. The free bikes data for 2024-25 may therefore be subject to change.