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Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S6W-34521

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 24 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the potential cost to the third sector in Scotland of the UK Government’s decision to raise employer national insurance contributions, and what plans it has to help alleviate any additional costs, including inflationary costs, arising from this decision that are facing voluntary organisations that are in receipt of it grants or contracts from it.

The actual cost to the third sector of the increase in Employer National Insurance contributions is difficult to determine given the diversity in size and employment numbers across the sector. However, in the joint letter from the First Minister and President of COSLA to the Chancellor on 3 January, which was supported by SCVO and a range of third sector organisations, they refer to SCVO’s estimate that the third sector will face additional costs of £75 million per year, plus wider inflation. We will continue to monitor the impact on the sector through the longitudinal survey we support through SCVO.

The Scottish Government has called upon the UKG to take an ‘actual costs’ approach to compensation for increased costs as a result of the increase in employer’s national insurance costs. In the absence of full funding we will be very restricted in the extent to which we can respond.

We recognise this may mean continued challenges for our third sector partners. We are aiming to assist the sector by improving notification of continued funding to third sector organisations and increasing the number of two year grants we can offer as part of our commitment to Fairer Funding.

Question reference: S6W-34525

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 21 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its plans for a pilot initiative to support voluntary organisations that (a) deliver essential services and (b) contribute to its priority of eradicating child poverty.

I recognise many of the challenges faced by the third sector and continue to work with my officials to champion the voice of the Sector across Government and ensure that the vital work of third sector organisations is well understood and valued as part of a thriving Scottish society.

The Scottish Government news release Fairer funding for charities - gov.scot provides details of the announcement on 5 February 2025 of the new Fairer Funding multi-year funding pilot.

In his address to third sector organisations at The Gathering, the First Minister stated that this signalled a clear direction of travel to increasing the number of multi-year funding agreements across the third sector.

The Pilot is part of a package of policy measures under the Fairer Funding heading, which also includes improvements to the grant making process, more timely notifications, rationalising reporting requirements and improving grant conditions.

Question reference: S6O-04364

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 February 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the Housing (Scotland) Bill, which two local authority areas have been identified as areas for the planned homelessness prevention pilots, in light of reports that the pilots are due to commence in spring 2025.

Question reference: S6W-34528

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2025
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 18 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made towards the ambition to achieve Fairer Funding for the voluntary sector by 2026, and how progress towards this ambition will be scrutinised.

The Scottish Government recognises that the third sector needs stability and certainty in order to thrive and to help the Government to deliver on its policy agenda. We have listened to the views of the Sector and have committed to progress Fairer Funding within the bounds of affordability. This includes implementing a multi-year funding pilot totalling over £120 million for 2025-26 and 2026-27, making improvements to the grant making process, providing more timely notifications, rationalising reporting requirements, improving grant conditions and securing better grant management data. In conjunction with third sector umbrella bodies and grantee organisations, officials are developing a system for evaluating the effectiveness of the Fairer Funding pilot with a view to identifying learning and making continuous improvement.

Question reference: S6W-34527

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 18 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it defines "Fairer Funding".

The Scottish Government recognises that the third sector needs stability and certainty in order to thrive and to help the Government to deliver on its policy agenda. The Programme for Government 2024 commits the Government to continuing to invest in the third sector across the Scottish Government, making improvements to grant making.

We have listened to the views of the Sector and have committed to progress Fairer Funding within the bounds of affordability. In the first instance this includes implementing a multi-year funding pilot and improving the timeliness of grant notifications. Subsequently we will go on to evaluate the impact of the Pilot and make further improvements to the grant making process, including consideration of reporting requirements and grant conditions in order to ensure grants make the greatest impact possible for beneficiaries.

Question reference: S6W-34526

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 18 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of voluntary sector grants are (a) currently and (b) expected to be multi-year as a result of its Fairer Funding commitment.

The Fairer Funding pilot consists of grants to the third sector in Scotland totalling £61.7 million in 2025-26 and £63.2 million in 2026-27. The challenging financial position means that the total volume of multi-year funding agreements is balanced against other priorities and our ability to take a measured financial risk within each portfolio area. However, the sums involved are substantial and have been welcomed by the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations and by the third sector organisations involved. The Pilot is an important first step to move forward with multi-year funding.

Work is underway to improve our visibility of grants issued by the Scottish Government to the third sector. The previous electronic accounting system did not reliably classify whether or not grant spend is allocated to the third sector. This therefore means that collating grant information remains a manual exercise across all portfolios whilst the reporting framework associated with the new system (Oracle Cloud) is fully developed. Oracle Cloud was adopted in October 2024 and is being used to make payments made to grant recipients. However, for effective analysis, a data set of an entire financial year or more is likely to be required to produce meaningful insights.

Question reference: S6W-34329

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 17 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on when legislative regulations regarding alkaline hydrolysis will be laid before the Parliament.

Question reference: S6W-33946

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 3 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on strengthening (a) planning law and (b) national guidance to improve the provision of accessible parking spaces.

Accessible parking space provision is influenced by many regimes including planning, building standards and roads policy. It is for the local authority to decide on the suitable parking requirements in each locale, taking a place based approach. Planning law does not govern car parking provision, rather, it is for the local authority to manage existing parking in public car parks and on the road network and requirements for new developments (set out in building standards guidance).

Scottish Government funding for electric vehicle charge points now requires operators to take steps to ensure a reasonable proportion of accessible spaces.

Question reference: S6O-04304

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to making bereavement education a formal part of the school syllabus.

Question reference: S6O-04168

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 December 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has conducted an assessment of the potential impact of the reported proposed budget reduction for the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service on its ability to reduce any court backlogs.