Questions and answers

Question reference: S6O-04949

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 September 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has engaged with the Equality and Human Rights Commission in relation to the 19 public bodies and organisations that were found to have misrepresented the Equality Act 2010.

Question reference: S6W-39865

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 8 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-36754 by Angela Constance on 8 May 2025, whether it will provide an update regarding the specific date on which it plans to lay the SSI to propose adding the characteristic of “sex” to the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021.

On 28 August 2025 we laid in draft an SSI to add the characteristic of sex to the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021.

If passed, it will make it an offence for a person to stir up hatred against women and girls, and where an offender is motivated by, or demonstrates, malice and ill-will towards women and girls in committing a criminal offence, that offence will be aggravated by prejudice relating to the characteristic of sex.

This SSI is subject to super affirmative process and is therefore subject to consultation prior to the final version being laid in Parliament. The draft SSI, accompanying explanatory note, policy note and consultation paper can be found online at Draft SSI to add 'sex' as a characteristic to the hate crime and public order (Scotland) Act 2021 - gov.scot and the consultation itself can be found online at SSI to add "sex" as a characteristic to the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 - Scottish Government consultations - Citizen Space. The consultation will run until 10 October 2025.

Question reference: S6W-39864

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 8 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to ensure that people are protected against misogyny, in light of the decision not to proceed with the introduction of the proposed Misogyny Bill.

To ensure there are protections for women and girls in law, we have laid in draft an SSI to add the characteristic of sex to the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021. This ensures that women and girls will have the same protections as other groups protected by that Act. If passed, it will make it an offence for a person to stir up hatred against women and girls, and where an offender is motivated by, or demonstrates, malice and ill-will towards women and girls in committing a criminal offence, that offence will be aggravated by prejudice relating to the characteristic of sex.

This SSI is subject to super affirmative process and is therefore subject to consultation prior to the final version being laid in Parliament. The draft SSI, accompanying explanatory note, policy note and consultation paper can be found online at Draft SSI to add 'sex' as a characteristic to the hate crime and public order (Scotland) Act 2021 - gov.scot and the consultation itself can be found online at SSI to add "sex" as a characteristic to the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 - Scottish Government consultations - Citizen Space. The consultation will run until 10 October 2025.

Further, we continue to take forward a range of actions in schools to address gender based violence and sexual harassment. Our Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) Scotland Programme is working to tackle gender stereotyping and attitudes that condone violence against women and girls, and addresses a range of behaviours including name-calling, sexting, controlling behaviour and harassment. We have also published a national framework for schools to help tackle sexual harassment and gender-based violence. Rape Crisis Scotland also provide a national sexual violence prevention programme to local authority secondary schools across Scotland. The programme aims to provide consistency in approaches to the prevention of sexual violence and contributes to Equally Safe (our strategy to prevent and eradicate violence against women and girls). Since the programme started in 2016, it has reached over 48,000 pupils.

Question reference: S6W-39694

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 3 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has considered the implications of the High Court decision relating to Northumbria Police participating in Pride marches for the impartiality of school teachers in Scotland.

It is a legal requirement for all teachers in Scottish schools to be registered with the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS), the independent regulator for teachers in Scotland.

Registered teachers must adhere to the GTCS Professional Standards and Code of Professionalism and Conduct, which require them to uphold values of integrity, trust, and respect, and to act impartially in their professional practice.

Question reference: S6F-04252

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 01 September 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 September 2025

To ask the First Minister whether he will provide an update on the steps that the Scottish Government is taking as a result of the Supreme Court judgment in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers.

Question reference: S6W-39717

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 1 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the £756 million in ScotWind option fees that it has received, how much of this revenue has been used to date and for what purposes.

A total of £756 million was generated from the initial ScotWind leasing round.

To date £96 million of this funding has been spent, all of it in 2022-23. This was used to support the overall fiscal position, with pressures set out as part of the Emergency Budget Review in Autumn 2022.

£364 million of ScotWind revenues have been profiled into 2025-26. Final decisions on formally drawing down the funding will be made at the end of the financial year.

The remaining £296 million has not yet been allocated with decisions on their deployment to be taken at individual Budgets, in line with Scottish Government priorities.

The current profiled utilisation of Scotwind funding in 2025-26 is as follows;

Portfolio	Detail	Scotwind Capital	Scotwind Resource	Total
F&LG	Responding to COSLA’s ask for funding to respond to the climate emergency by making available £40 million to target local priorities. Additionally, £20 million is allocated for Orkney Islands Council and Shetland Islands Council to enable them to sustain and improve interisland connectivity in the way that best meets local needs. £10 million has been dedicated to reform public services.	52.0	18.0	70.0
NZE*	Supporting offshore wind capital investment, nature restoration and energy and transition funds. Additionally, £25 million has been allocated to support economic growth at the Grangemouth Industrial Cluster.	179.9	5.0	184.9
RALRI	£16 million to progress transformation and reform of the agriculture and food and drink industries, including energy efficiency and improved resilience. The remaining funding will be targeted towards peatlands restoration and woodlands creation.	30.6	0.0	30.6
Transport	Supporting capital investment for sustainable and active travel programmes and low carbon programmes	78.5	0.0	78.5
	Total	341.0	23.0	364.0

*Net Zero and Energy has since been split between Housing and Climate Action and Energy.

Question reference: S6W-39691

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 29 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to update the Scottish Government Urban Rural Classification.

The Scottish Government Urban Rural Classification will be updated following the release of the next Population Estimates for Settlements and Localities in Scotland publication by National Records of Scotland. This is currently planned to be released in 2028, based on the 2026 mid-year population estimates. A revised version of the Scottish Government Urban Rural Classification will then be produced using the new settlement population figures.

The Scottish Government Urban Rural Classification 2022, based on the 2022 Census settlement population figures, was published in December 2024:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-government-urban-rural-classification-2022/

Question reference: S6W-39719

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the work that it is doing to (a) prevent sexual violence in hospitals and (b) accurately record incidents of sexual assault that have been reported across the NHS estate.

We have recently published a sexual harassment guide to supplement the refreshed Gender Based Violence policy for NHSScotland. The guide has been developed to support employees who are currently experiencing or have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace. This includes information on how to report incidents.

Scottish Government officials are continuing discussions with Health Boards, NHS Education for Scotland (NES), and Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) to review existing training provisions and reporting methods. This will allow us to share best practice and develop improvements in how we prevent sexual violence from occurring and how it is reported across all Health Boards.

The Scottish Government continues to expect all NHS Boards to be actively committed to protecting staff from sexual assaults. All incidents should be recorded and reported through existing reporting systems and investigated. Where necessary, cases should be escalated to Police Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-39720

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 22 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the work that it is doing to determine whether it will introduce a standalone offence of non-fatal strangulation.

As outlined in my letter to the Criminal Justice Committee on 22 July 2025, I remain committed to giving the proposal to introduce a standalone offence of non-fatal strangulation serious consideration. As part of that process our Programme for Government detailed that we will carry out a comprehensive assessment of the relevant law in order to determine next steps. I will keep Parliament updated as this work progresses.

Question reference: S6W-39716

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 21 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the Central Legal Office of NHS Scotland (a) provides cost-effective advice and (b) protects the public purse from costly litigation.

The Central Legal Office (CLO) within NHS National Services Scotland provides in-house legal services to NHSScotland Boards and wider public sector organisations. They provide cost effective advice by having fees that are competitive, flexible and compliant with the requirements for the proper handling and reporting of public funds as laid out in the Scottish Public Finance Manual.

Furthermore, their specialist legal advice and representation supports clients make legally informed decisions to promote cost-efficient practice in litigation matters.

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