- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 12 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 22 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on rail improvements in the current parliamentary session to date, and how much it estimates it will have spent in total by the end of the current parliamentary session.
Answer
Figures representing all rail expenditure for the years 2021-22 to 2023-24 can be found in Transport Scotland accounts:
Year 2022-23: Annual Accounts | Transport Scotland
Year 2023-24: Annual Accounts | Transport Scotland
The budget figures for the current and previous financial years are available at: Scottish Budget 2025 to 2026 - gov.scot.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 12 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 22 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on the Baird and Anchor project in the current parliamentary session to date, and how much it estimates it will have spent in total by the end of the current parliamentary session.
Answer
The most recent budget forecast of £261.1 million for the Baird and ANCHOR project remains under pressure until design changes and completion strategies for both buildings are addressed. A full update on project costs is expected by late summer pending the scope of work being developed and agreed.
An important part of any large capital project, is the ongoing testing and refinement of the design. This process is informed by a range of internal and external experts and subject to independent review led by NHS Scotland Assure, and is intended to provide assurance of compliance with the most up to date standards and also that learning from recent large projects is incorporated appropriately.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 May 2025
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 29 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the education secretary has had with NHS boards and local authorities regarding the levying of fees for hospital teaching costs for children who routinely attend independent schools.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 29 May 2025
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 09 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 21 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has provided to the Scottish National Investment Bank in the current parliamentary session to date, and how much it estimates it will have provided by the end of the current parliamentary session.
Answer
Audit Scotland published a report on the Scottish National Investment Bank’s performance on Thursday 15 May (Scottish National Investment Bank | Audit Scotland). Page 16 details the Capital and Resource allocations by year since the Bank was launched in November 2020:
Financial Year | Scottish Government capital allocation (£m) | Scottish Government resource allocation (£m) |
2020-21 | £75 | £7.1 |
2021-22 | £200 | £5 |
2022-23 | £206 | £9 |
2023-24 | £263 | £5.8 |
2024-25 | £174 | £2.8 |
2025-26 (budget) | £200 | £0 |
Total | £1,118 | £29.7 |
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 09 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 21 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how it has adjusted income tax rates and bands since the start of the current parliamentary session.
Answer
Please see the following table setting out changes to Scottish Income Tax since the start of this parliamentary session.
Table 1: Scottish Income Tax Policy: Income Tax Rates and Bands, 2021-22 –
2023-24
| | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 |
Band Name | Income Range | Rate | Income Range | Rate | Income Range | Rate |
Starter Rate | £12,571* - £14,667 | 19% | £12,571* - £14,732 | 19% | £12,571* - £14,732 | 19% |
Basic Rate | £14,668 - £25,296 | 20% | £14,733 - £25,688 | 20% | £14,733- £25,688 | 20% |
Intermediate Rate | £25,297 - £43,662 | 21% | £25,689 - £43,662 | 21% | £25,689 - £43,662 | 21% |
Higher Rate | £43,663 - £150,000** | 41% | £43,663 - £150,000** | 41% | £43,663 - £125,140** | 42% |
Top Rate | Over £150,000** | 46% | Over £150,000** | 46% | Over £125,140** | 47% |
* Assumes individuals are in receipt of the Standard UK Personal Allowance
** Those earning more than £100,000 will see their Personal Allowance reduced by £1 for every £2 earned over £100,000
Table 2: Scottish Income Tax Policy: Income Tax Rates and Bands, 2024-25 –
2025-26
| | 2024-25 | 2025-26 |
Band Name | Income Range | Rate | Income Range | Rate |
Starter Rate | £12,571* - £14,876 | 19% | £12,571*- £15,397 | 19% |
Basic Rate | £14,877- £26,561 | 20% | £15,398 - £27,491 | 20% |
Intermediate Rate | £26,562 - £43,662 | 21% | £27,492 - £43,662 | 21% |
Higher Rate | £43,663 - £75,000 | 42% | £43,663 - £75,000 | 42% |
Advanced Rate | £75,001 - £125,140** | 45% | £75,001 - £125,140** | 45% |
Top Rate | Over £125,140** | 48% | Over £125,140** | 48% |
* Assumes individuals are in receipt of the Standard UK Personal Allowance
** Those earning more than £100,000 will see their Personal Allowance reduced by £1 for every £2 earned over £100,000
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 09 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 21 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on infrastructure in the current parliamentary session to date, and how much it estimates it will have spent by the end of the current parliamentary session.
Answer
Over the current parliamentary term, we estimate that the total spend through the capital budget will be £31.1 billion. This is based on the latest figures available. The following table sets this out in detail.
Table 1: Total capital spending between 2021-22 and 2025-26, £ millions
| | Outturn 21-22 £ m | Outturn 22-23 £ m | Outturn 23-24 £ m | Budget Allocated at SBR 24-25 £ m | Budget Allocated at Scottish Budget 25-26 £ m | Total 21-22 to 25-26 £ m |
Capital | 5,402 | 6,296 | 5,953 | 6,266 | 7,199 | 31,116 |
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 12 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 21 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has provided to the Women’s Business Centre in the current parliamentary session to date, and how much it plans to provide by the end of the current parliamentary session.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to advancing women’s entrepreneurship and fostering an inclusive business environment, through implementation of the recommendations of the Pathways report on women in entrepreneurship, which consulted extensively to identify impactful measures that would address the gender gap.
To date we have supported a range of programmes including the South of Scotland Enterprise regional Pathways Pre-Start programme and the Pathways Funds. We are investing a record £6 million to support further Pathways implementation in the current financial year, transforming the number of women who start and scale businesses and widening participation in entrepreneurship.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 12 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 21 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it (a) monitors and (b) estimates the number of jobs supported by its infrastructure spending.
Answer
Our current Infrastructure Investment Plan (IIP) which was published alongside the last Capital Spending Review, estimated that annually, around 45,000 construction and maintenance jobs would be supported through the associated total capital investment. This information is not centrally monitored, however as part our annual reporting on the progress of the IIP, we include information on major capital projects and their contribution to local economic development.
Our annual IIP Progress Reports are published on the Scottish Government website and can be found by way of the following link www.gov.scot/infrastructure-investment-plan
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 12 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom Arthur on 21 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has provided to businesses to enable them to pilot a four-day week in the current parliamentary session to date, and how much it estimates it will have provided in total by the end of the current parliamentary session.
Answer
No funding has been provided to any private business this parliamentary session to pilot a 4 day working week and there is currently no planned funding for Private Sector Pilots. The Scottish Government recognises the environmental, health and wellbeing benefits, and efficiency gains that a four-day working week could bring and have taken forward unique pilots in public sector organisations in Scotland.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 12 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 21 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how much it (a) spent in Session 5, (b) has spent in the current parliamentary session to date and (c) estimates it will spend in total in Session 6 on private sector-led research and development projects.
Answer
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes an annual report on Research and Development (R&D) expenditure by government departments. The latest report was published on 9 April 2025 and can be found at: Research and development expenditure by the UK government - Office for National Statistics. Please see Table 14 for data on Scottish Government purchased R&D (or funding provided for R&D) by receiving organisation for the 2023 financial year.
Comparable data for the 2022 financial year and the 2021 financial year are available at the following links. Earlier years data are not strictly comparable due to the reclassification of a research performing organisation.
2022 data:
https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/economy/governmentpublicsectorandtaxes/researchanddevelopmentexpenditure/datasets/scienceengineeringandtechnologystatisticsreferencetables/current/previous/v11/goverd2022.xlsx
2021 data:
https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/economy/governmentpublicsectorandtaxes/researchanddevelopmentexpenditure/datasets/scienceengineeringandtechnologystatisticsreferencetables/current/previous/v10/rftgoverd2021.xlsx
