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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-37044

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 13 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the conduct of NHS Fife, in relation to the ongoing employment tribunal, is consistent with the principles of transparency and accountability in public service.

Question reference: S6W-36907

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 13 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what costs have been incurred by the Scottish Prison Service since 2021 in sourcing any wigs, underwear and other gender-affirming items for transgender inmates.

Question reference: S6W-37103

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 13 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-36772 by Jenny Gilruth on 22 April 2025, when the decision to stop gathering teacher vacancy data from local authorities was taken; what the justification for this decision was, and who made the decision.

Formal teacher vacancy data has not been collected or published since 2010 following the results of a user consultation on proposals to cease a number of education data collections in order to minimise the response burden on schools and local authorities.

Informal teacher vacancy data was collected from local authorities between 2016 and 2019 for the purpose of informing annual teacher workforce planning. This data collection was stopped in 2020 to reduce the burden on schools and local authorities during the pandemic, and due to concerns about the effectiveness of the data in informing the teacher workforce planning process.

Current teacher vacancy information is available from individual local authorities or at www.myjobscotland.gov.uk.

Question reference: S6W-37046

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 13 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the live streaming of tribunals involving public bodies, and what guidance exists on this issue.

The courts, tribunals and judiciary are independent of the government. This is necessary in order to preserve the independence of the judiciary and to protect it from political interference. Decisions on the livestreaming or other broadcasting of court or tribunal proceedings are ultimately a matter for the judiciary, supported by the relevant administrative body. Scottish Tribunals are administered by the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service (SCTS). As such, the Scottish Government has not produced guidance regarding livestreaming of tribunal proceedings.

Certain tribunals including the Employment Tribunal in Scotland, the Immigration and Asylum Tribunal, and the Social Entitlement Chamber are reserved and SCTS and the Scottish Government has no remit over these.

Question reference: S6W-36909

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 13 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what policy is in place for vetting and approving access to gender-affirming items by prisoners convicted of violent or sexual offences.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

The Management of Transgender People in Custody Policy 2023 is in place for managing transgender people in prisons who may need access to additional property to assist them to live in their affirmed gender.

The procurement of these items is subject to the same level of assurance and approval processes as it is for all items requested by individuals living in prisons.

Question reference: S6W-36911

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 13 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what consultation it has undertaken with prison officers and women's advocacy groups on the reported proposal to make wigs and underwear available to transgender prisoners through a centralised repository.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

No consultation has been taken forward in response to the suggestion made in His Majesty’s Inspector of Prisons’ Full Inspection report on HMP Barlinnie published on 24 March 2025 for a central repository for items to support people on their transgender journey. SPS has no current plans to create such a repository.

Question reference: S6W-37276

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 13 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether any First Minister has ever (a) met and (b) requested to meet the Chairman of INEOS, Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

Question reference: S6W-37045

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 13 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether any guidance has been issued to NHS boards and public bodies regarding the practice of seeking private hearings or restricting access to tribunals.

Question reference: S6W-36875

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 13 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to reduce any delays in care package approvals, in light of reported warnings that 90% of care homes have seen reductions in local authority-funded packages.

Under the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 local authorities and Health and Social Care Partnerships have a duty to assess the social care support needs of people and decide, in light of that assessment, arrange suitable services, if required.

We understand the pressures faced and addressing long waiting times for Social Care Assessment is one of the reasons that the 2025-26 Budget prioritised both the Local Government Settlement and the Health & Social Care portfolio with both receiving record funding allocations.

This includes almost £2.2bn for social care and integration – increasing investment by £1.2bn since 2021-22. On top of that, our Budget makes a record £15 billion available for councils for 2025-26.

Question reference: S6W-36883

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 13 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has issued any guidance or support to higher education institutions on maintaining academic standards, in light of the increasing use of AI.

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) has statutory responsibility for quality assurance of provision by colleges and universities, including in relation to academic standards. With the support of the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), the SFC is continuing to work with universities to address the risks and opportunities presented by artificial intelligence, and its potential impact on assessments, academic integrity and standards. This includes guidance on quality and academic standards issued by the SFC, and guidance issued by QAA to support universities with the use of generative Artificial Intelligence tools.