- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 March 2025
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 3 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how much it projects to spend on social security by 2029-30, including how much of this it estimates will arise from Barnett consequential funding.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 3 April 2025
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 07 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 21 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-34603 by Shona Robison on 26 February 2025, whether all of its assessments of the long-term impacts of behavioural responses to its income tax policies pertain to measurements of past and present impacts, and not to future, projected impacts.
Answer
Scottish Fiscal Commission forecasts for income tax include judgements for behavioural responses which are based on evidence from academic literature on how taxpayers have responded to previous changes to income tax policy in Scotland, the UK, and internationally. The SFC applies behavioural responses to policies over the course of their full forecast. More detailed information is available at the following link: How we forecast behavioural responses to income tax policy | Scottish Fiscal Commission.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 17 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Siobhian Brown on 21 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has consulted with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service over any fire safety risks posed by battery energy storage systems.
Answer
The Scottish Government regularly discusses a wide range of fire safety topics with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) including battery energy storage systems (BESS). A dedicated working group within SFRS continues to monitor the number of BESS applications and their development, alongside the Service’s role in the planning, consultation, and progression of these sites.
A strong focus on prevention and the adherence to industry safety standards is essential for managing risks. It is the duty of the site operator to responsibly plan and monitor any risks at their site. SFRS will continue to work in partnership and provide support to those dutyholders with advice where required in line with the guidance from the National Fire Chief Council on Grid Scale Planning Guidance for Fire and Rescue Services which covers the UK. These guidelines detail, amongst other things, minimum standards with fire safety systems and design features, water requirements for firefighting and access requirements.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 17 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Siobhian Brown on 21 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service should become a statutory consultee in the consent process for battery energy storage systems.
Answer
Designation as a statutory consultee places certain statutory obligations on the relevant body to provide comments on any application notified to them within a set time period. These obligations have to be met and funded by the organisation in question. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) has not requested to become a statutory consultee at this time and we do not have plans at this stage to take this forward however we will of course continue discussions with SFRS on this matter as and when appropriate.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 March 2025
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 27 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government when it last met with representatives from Lothian Buses.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 27 March 2025
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 07 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 19 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-34349 by Maree Todd on 28 February 2025, whether it anticipates that its reported trend of increases in spend on mental health and child and adolescent mental health services as a proportion of NHS board spending will continue at their present rate, and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.
Answer
Decisions around how much is spent on mental health and child and adolescent mental health services is dependent on the financial decisions taken by NHS Boards and their partners, on the continued local investment needed to achieve the targets. It is important that Boards retain flexibility in their spending decisions to meet specific demands, including making progress towards the 1% and 10% targets
Boards should be commended for the increases in spend on mental health. While some have gone above the 10% and 1% targets.
Looking forward we expect spending on Mental Health between the Scottish Government and NHS Boards, to be around £1.5 billion in 2025-26 based on recent Health Service cost book data.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 18 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-34365 by Shona Robison on 28 February 2025, whether it will provide a breakdown of its annual spend on contingent workers since 2021-22 by (a) project, (b) directorate and (c) contract name.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold all data in a way that can meet this request. The Scottish Government can provide you with a breakdown of its annual spend on contingent workers by Directorate, but is unable to provide this by Project and/or Contract name as it cannot be consistently categorised in this way.
The table containing the breakdown of expenditure by Directorate on contingent workers was too large to be incorporated into the PQ response. This has therefore been recorded as bib 65692 held in The Scottish Parliament Information Centre. To note, this data has been extracted from a different system to that which retains records on contingent worker numbers and cannot be viewed as inter-related, due to the dependency on different hierarchical structures and definitions of contingent worker. This data does not provide a comparable view of the costs attributable to the contingent workforce listed Scottish Government workforce information - gov.scot
The Scottish Government implemented an Oracle Cloud enterprise resource planning system in Autumn 2024, replacing our legacy HR and Finance systems. Though the data capture of contingent workers remains an area requiring some further development, the implementation of a combined HR and Finance system will improve the data we hold on workforce costs.
The Scottish Government has prioritised a reduction in the contingent workforce such as contractors and consultants, as it has reduced its workforce size. This approach has been in partnership with recognised Trade Unions. The number of contingent workers is now 39% lower than in March 2022.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 07 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 18 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-34366 by Shona Robison on 28 February 2025, for what reason there was a decrease in the number of contingent workers recorded under the Director General for Corporate Services between 2022 and 2023.
Answer
The use of contractors in SG is largely accounted for by resourcing requirements to strengthen key professional skills such as expanding our digital capabilities. Employing temporary and agency workers provides the flexibility required to meet immediate business and access specialist and other skills quickly.
Having grown the workforce to respond to the Covid-19 epidemic, the Scottish Government reviewed its workforce plans at the beginning of the 2022-23 financial year and the Resource Spending Review. Recruitment controls were introduced in 2022 and the Scottish Government has continued to prioritise reductions in contingent workers as an initial means of reducing the workforce size and cost. This approach has been in partnership with recognised Trade Unions. The number of contingent workers is now 39% lower than in March 2022.
One of the areas in which this was delivered was the Digital Directorate within DG Corporate. A number of roles were identified that would be needed on a long term basis which were currently occupied by contingent workers. An intentional cost saving strategy was implemented to replace some posts being held by contingent workers with directly employed staff. It is estimated that this process has saved Scottish Government £3.2m.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 07 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 18 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-34366 by Shona Robison on 28 February 2025, what value was provided by employing 989 contingent workers in the 2021-22 financial year.
Answer
A Contingent Worker is defined as non directly employed workers that are engaged in any capacity for the Scottish Government. Contingent worker statistics published include consultants, contractors, interim managers, inward secondments/ Service Level Agreement, temporary workers, short-term youth initiatives, other contractors and Government UK Fast Stream.
The use of contractors in SG is largely accounted for by resourcing requirements to strengthen key professional skills such as expanding our digital capabilities. Employing temporary and agency workers provides the flexibility required to meet immediate business and access specialist and other skills quickly.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 07 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 18 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-34780 by Shona Robison on 26 February 2025, what its response is to reported concerns that its approach to aiming to help first time buyers does not work towards increasing the underlying supply of housing units, and whether it has done or commissioned any work to analyse the impact of (a) the non-proceeding of the Additional Dwelling Supplement transactions referred to on supply in the private rental sector and (b) each of its changes to the Additional Dwelling Supplement and Land and Buildings Transaction Tax to the overall supply of housing units in the Scottish housing market.
Answer
As set out in the response to question S6W-34780, increasing the rate of the Additional Dwelling Supplement is intended to support increased opportunities for first-time buyers and home movers while raising vital additional revenue to support public services. This takes account of the latest Scottish Fiscal Commission forecasts for Land and Buildings Transaction Tax and its assumptions regarding the behavioural effects of the rate increase.
