- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 October 2025
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Current Status:
Answer expected on 11 November 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what guidance is provided to local authorities on parental eligibility for Neonatal Care Pay and Leave.
Answer
Answer expected on 11 November 2025
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 October 2025
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Current Status:
Answer expected on 11 November 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on which local authorities provide their staff with statutory paternity leave and pay and which local authorities provide their staff with enhanced paternity leave and pay, and what the level of uptake is for these across local authorities.
Answer
Answer expected on 11 November 2025
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 October 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 28 October 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what action it takes when its corporate devices, including laptops and mobile phones, reach the end of their business needs and are no longer required by it, and how they are routinely disposed of, including whether it allows any of these devices to be reused subsequently outside of its supervision and, if so, (a) under what circumstances, (b) what information it has regarding how many devices in each of the last five years, have been repurposed and (i) by whom and (ii) for what reason, broken down by type of device, and (c) what action it takes to ensure that these devices cannot be compromised and no longer hold confidential or sensitive information, and how it monitors the effectiveness of this.
Answer
When corporate devices are no longer required for operational use, we follow a structured and secure disposal process to ensure data protection and environmental compliance. This includes:
- Assessment: Devices are reviewed to determine whether they are eligible for redeployment, reuse, or disposal.
- Data Sanitisation: All devices are securely wiped using industry-leading data erasure software that complies with internationally recognised standards, and UK-specific requirements such as GDPR and NCSC (National Cyber Security Council) guidance. This process ensures that all data is permanently and irreversibly removed from the device, with tamper-proof erasure certificates generated for audit and compliance purposes.
Reused or Recycled: Devices not fit for redeployment are either reused or recycled. Reused devices may be sold through approved channels or donated to approved third-sector organisations. Devices offered for sale are sold at auction by a contracted supplier. The specifics of each purchaser are not tracked. Donated devices are provided to third-sector organisations for continued use where possible, although supply chain constrictions following COVID-19 have interrupted donations in some years.
Remaining devices are recycled through certified e-waste partners. As noted above, whether resold, donated, or recycled devices are only ever disposed of after being fully wiped of all data.
The following table gives a breakdown of laptop and desktop devices disposed of since 2020. The first column displays the year while the next two differentiate between laptop and desktop devices. The remaining columns show the total number of both device types either resold, recycled, or donated. The donated column also indicates the recipients of devices for that year.
All mobile phones returned for disposal are not eligible for reuse, therefore no data is available.
Year | Laptops | Desktops | Resold | Recycled | Donated |
2020 | 1,097 | 2,638 | 2,638 | 118 | 979 Turing Trust |
2021 | 161 | 0 | 161 | 0 | 0 |
2022 | 1,731 | 73 | 1,191 | 13 | 250 Edinburgh Remakery 250 Turing Trust
100 HP Hope Scheme |
2023 | 2,705 | 275 | 2,934 | 46 | 0 |
2024 | 1,868 | 286 | 1,843 | 111 | 200 Turing Trust |
2025 | 2,531 | 93 | 1,958 | 566 | 100 HP Hope Scheme |
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 03 October 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 28 October 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how much funding will be committed to the National AI Adoption Programme in 2025-26, and how much of this will be committed to (a) grants and (b) loans.
Answer
In 2025-26, the Scottish Government committed £975,000 to the National AI Adoption Programme, reflecting its ongoing support for the responsible and inclusive uptake of AI across Scotland’s business community.
Of this total, £290,000 will be delivered as direct grant support to businesses. This includes £200,000 for AI Transformation Grants, which are aimed at helping SMEs discover, explore and implement AI solutions that can drive significant change within their organisations. An additional £90,000 will fund AI Exploration Vouchers, designed to support businesses at the early stages of their AI journey by enabling them to test and explore potential use cases.
No funding has been allocated to loans within the 2025-26 programme. The remainder of the budget will be used to deliver a range of complementary support activities — including expert advice, engagement events and targeted outreach — to help build confidence, capability and awareness around AI adoption across the wider economy.
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 03 October 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 17 October 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-40750 by Richard Lochhead on 2 October 2025, what the remaining 29% of funding not allocated to local government was spent on.
Answer
As set out in the response to S6W-40750, £98.6 million (98%) was spent in 2024-25. Of that, £70.1 million (71%) went to local government. The remaining £28.5 million (29%) was spent on the delivery of Fair Start Scotland, supporting the total operating costs of the Directorate for Jobs & Wellbeing Economy, and towards progressing Fair Work.
All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 25 September 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 9 October 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-26080 by Mairi McAllan on 25 March 2024, whether the 58 actions published in its report, The Entrepreneurial Campus, have been delivered, and what mechanisms are in place to scrutinise the delivery.
Answer
The Scottish Government is working with partners, including the college and university sector, to deliver the ten-year Entrpreneurial Campus Blueprint. We continue to align this work with existing policies such as Techscaler, the Innovation Strategy and the Knowledge Exchange and Innovation Fund to drive change. This year, we are also investing £700k to accelerate the implementation of the recommendations by funding four key projects.
Each project includes evaluation metrics, and we are also making use of existing reporting tools such as the as the Knowledge Exchange and Innovation Fund reporting undertaken by the Scottish Funding Council. Outcomes from the funded projects will be reported through established channels, including the National Strategy for Economic Transformation annual report.
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 September 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 3 October 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the suggestion in the Scottish Retail Consortium’s manifesto, Scotland’s Future High Streets, that accredited providers other than local authorities should be permitted to issue building warrants, in line with the approach taken in England.
Answer
There are no current plans to introduce private verification in Scotland. Local authorities are appointed by Scottish Ministers as verifiers to administer the building standards system for their own geographical area. The appointments are conditional on verifiers meeting the requirements set out in Operating and Performance Frameworks.
The Grenfell Inquiry’s Phase 2 report recommended that an independent panel consider whether or not it is in the public interest for building control functions to continue to be performed by those who have a commercial interest in the process, as is the case in England.
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 September 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 2 October 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many self-sufficient information and communications technology (ICT) structures with dedicated data centres and professional staff exist within the Scottish public sector, including non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs), NHS boards and local government.
Answer
Responsibility for ICT provision rests with individual organisations, including NHS boards, local government, and non departmental public bodies who determine the most appropriate and cost effective arrangements for their operational needs.
In line with Scotland’s Digital Strategy, the Scottish Government promotes the use of shared digital and data services across the public sector. This reduces duplication, strengthens data security, supports value for money, and provides citizens with a consistent digital identity through shared platforms such as myaccount - mygov.scot and ScotAccount - mygov.scot.
An exercise to collate information on data centres and associated staffing was carried out some years ago, however these findings are now outdated. I have instructed officials to gather current information to enable us to inform opportunities for cost savings as part of the Public Service Reform strategy.
Until this work concludes, we do not hold a current central record of the number of self-sufficient ICT structures with dedicated data centres, nor the professional staff supporting them.
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 September 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 2 October 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how much of the 2024-25 employability budget of £102.8 million (a) it spent and (b) was passed on to local government.
Answer
At outset, budget for Employability Level 2 was £102.8 million, £2.5m was transfer out to Finance and Local Government portfolio to support Employability Child Poverty co-ordinators across 32 local authorities.
1. Of the remaining budget, £98.6 million (98%) was spent in 2024-25.
2. Of that £70.1 million (71%) went to local government.
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
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Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 October 2025
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 8 October 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on legal enforcement measures being taken with regard to retailers committing age of sale offences when selling age-restricted items, such as vapes and cigarettes.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 8 October 2025
