Seòmar agus comataidhean

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

Criathragan Hide all filters

Displaying 2048 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6W-39493

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 5 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-38738 by Ivan McKee on 3 July 2025, whether the total running costs provided include the total lease cost for each of its properties.

Question reference: S6W-39296

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 4 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has provided to the International Commission of European Citizens (ICEC) in each of the last 10 years.

Question reference: S6W-39688

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 August 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 29 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many community safety or outreach patrols it funded in 2024-25 to support drug users.

Question reference: S6W-38942

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 1 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its Public Service Reform Strategy and plans to reduce costs by £1 billion, whether it will identify the areas in which savings can be made without impacting on frontline services.

The Scottish Government is committed to delivering sustainable public services that continue to meet the needs of the people of Scotland. As set out in our Public Service Reform Strategy: Delivering for Scotland (June 2025), our approach to achieving £1 billion in annualised savings over the next five years is founded on improving efficiency, reducing duplication, and reforming how services are delivered — not on cutting frontline provision.

We are clear that this is not about reducing service provision or transferring services out of public hands. Rather, it is about ensuring that public services are delivered more effectively and efficiently. The strategy outlines a range of systemic reforms to secure these savings, including expanding shared services, simplifying the delivery landscape, scaling intelligent automation, and implementing digital solutions.

We have already delivered cash releasing and cash avoiding savings via our Single Scottish Estate, National Collaborative Procurement, Commercial Value for Money and digital programmes, which are securing cost avoiding and cash releasing savings. The programmes saved just over £320m over a two-year period to the end of 2024-25 , with further projected savings of nearly £300m over the following two financial years to the end of 2026-27.

We are committed to working closely with public bodies to drive this focus on system wide efficiency and are working towards an operational summit this year to drive that collaborative approach.

Question reference: S6W-39679

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 28 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will introduce drug testing of public waste water to better map so-called "hot spots".

Question reference: S6W-39687

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 28 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what research it has commissioned into the effects of nitazenes and their prevalence in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-39183

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 31 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it will monitor and enforce the return to use of the reported 43,000 long-term empty properties.

The Scottish Government monitors the numbers of empty homes annually when it publishes the statistical bulletin on empty properties, unoccupied exemptions and second homes. The data is sourced from council tax base returns collected from local authorities and includes stock of all tenures i.e. social housing, private rented housing, and owner-occupied homes. Further information is available from the Scottish Government website at: Second homes and empty properties in September 2024 - gov.scot.

Short term empty homes are a natural feature of the housing market. However when homes in private ownership lay empty for longer than 6 months the reasons can be complex and building relationships with owners is often the key to unlocking them. That is why we continue to invest in the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership and our network of empty homes officers. Our investment of £3.7 million has helped to bring more than 11,000 privately owned empty homes to active use since 2010. Building on this success we are investing a further £2 million in 2025-26 that will enhance the support local authorities receive from the Partnership, increase the numbers of empty homes officers and fund a range of initiatives aimed at overcoming common barriers. This record level of investment seeks to increase the scale of work taking place and enable better targeting of resources to help return more homes to active use in places where they have the most impact. On enforcement we are taking forward a compulsory purchase reform programme which aims to make the process clearer, fairer and faster. In the meantime, the Partnership are working with local authorities to increase the use of the existing system through the development of a new hub project which aims to provide support to help identify suitable cases and bring them forward.

For homes in the social sector we have placed a specific focus on bringing voids back in to use and are already seeing the impacts of this work with numbers reducing significantly. In Edinburgh, for example, the Council’s management information shows that void levels have been cut by over 50% since June 2023. This progress is down to work of local authorities together with the £40m acquisition and social voids funding which Scottish Government has provided. We are now taking this learning to other areas.

Question reference: S6W-39135

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 31 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will issue new guidance regarding the equal treatment of all school pupils in relation to NHS outreach and preventative services.

The guidance on the education of children and young people unable to attend school due to ill health was published in June 2015 and remains current.

Ministers have committed to ensuring the national guidance remains up to date and will review, if appropriate, whether or not amendments require to be made. The overall decision making, in relation to charging however, is ultimately a matter for Local Authorities and Health Boards.

Question reference: S6W-39155

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 29 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the importance of naval contracts for shipyards in Scotland, and how it reconciles this with its policy to not use public money to support the manufacture of munitions or weapons.

The shipbuilding sector plays a vital role in supporting jobs and driving economic growth across Scotland. We are committed to promoting manufacturing and innovation, and Ministers continue to engage with businesses in the sector as part of that commitment.

Scotland has significant naval shipbuilding expertise and we would expect that any future UK Government contracts will provide a substantial contribution to the Scottish economy.

The Scottish Government’s long-standing policy position is that it does not use public money to support the manufacture of munitions.

Question reference: S6W-39192

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 11 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 29 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many police officers have been refused permission to work second jobs in the past five years.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. The assessment of requests and permission for officers seeking additional jobs or business interests are matters for the Chief Constable.

The Scottish Government values the dedication shown by police officers in Scotland. That’s why our police officers remain the best paid in the UK recognising the hard work and valuable contribution they make daily as well as our commitment to investing in policing.