- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 May 2025
-
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
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 May 2025
-
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.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 May 2025
-
Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 14 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many hours of social care support could have been delivered with the £30 million that was reportedly spent on developing the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill.
Answer
We are delivering much needed social care reform through the National Care Service, and it is a complex programme of change. The reported £28m reflects the funding allocated to developing National Care Service proposals since August 2021. The vast majority of the allocation is funding for existing Scottish Government staff and co-design work.
To put the £28m spent on the NCS into context, that is just 0.2% of the total health and social care budget on a system that we agree isn’t currently working. This is not unreasonable or a waste of investment. It includes co-design and engagement work ensuring people with lived experience of accessing and delivering social care services, social work and community health are partners in developing the National Care Service proposals.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2025
-
Current Status:
Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 13 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to apologise to any women’s rights campaigners who may have been mischaracterised or dismissed as a result of expressing views that the term “woman” refers to biological sex, in light of the Supreme Court ruling regarding For Women Scotland v The Scottish Ministers.
Answer
The Scottish Government accepts the Supreme Court judgment.
The Supreme Court counselled against reading this judgment as a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another. It is not. The ruling gives clarity on the interpretation of two pieces of relevant legislation passed at Westminster. We will now engage on the implications of the ruling. Protecting the rights of all will underpin our actions. The Scottish Government acted in good faith in our interpretation of both the Gender Recognition Act 2004 and the Equality Act 2010; and as the Supreme Court recognised, our approach was consistent with advice then given by the EHRC.
- 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 13 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has undertaken any analysis, or cost-benefit study, into the viability of taking Grangemouth refinery into public ownership.
Answer
The Scottish Government has considered the Grangemouth Refinery’s historical financial performance and, from the information available, has concluded that the asset is loss-making with significant capital investment required to retain operations.
Noting the fiscal constraints within which Scottish Ministers are required to operate, such an intervention would require the UK Government to intervene.
I continue to call on UK Government to leave no stone unturned to ensure a long term and sustainable future is secured for those who work and live at Grangemouth.
- 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.
Answer
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.
- 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.
Answer
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.
- 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 what contingency planning it has undertaken to mitigate the impact of any reduced international student recruitment on university finances.
Answer
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. As autonomous institutions, universities have the key role in mitigating financial pressures and external risks.
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.
Scotland’s first International Education Strategy (IES), published in February last year, highlighted the positive impact that international students make and sets out the actions that the Scottish Government will take to promote Scotland as a study destination and to attract and diversify our international student population.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 May 2025
-
Current Status:
Answered by Angus Robertson on 13 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what the reasons are for its reported position that an independent Scotland would be better able to mitigate the impact on Scotland of economic and financial uncertainty, and what evidence informed its position on the matter.
Answer
I refer the member to the publication, A stronger economy with independence, which sets out detailed proposals on how the Scottish Government would use the full powers of independence to build an inclusive, fair, wellbeing economy that works for everyone in Scotland, and will allow us to replicate the success of many neighbouring countries which are more prosperous, productive and fairer than the UK.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 May 2025
-
Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 13 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many public body equal pay claims are outstanding, and what assessment it has made of the financial implications of these.
Answer
The information requested is not routinely gathered or held centrally by the Scottish Government. Any outstanding liabilities to settle equal pay claims will be reflected in a public body's annual accounts. Information of this nature can be obtained by approaching individual public bodies.
