Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-36936

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 29 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether the productivity of civil servants working remotely has been formally evaluated.

All Civil Servants working for Scottish Government follow annual performance management procedures, including regular evaluation of performance and feedback wherever they work.

As part of a recent review of hybrid working, officials noted that there are few independent research empirical studies about hybrid working of a sufficient academic standing. Of those studies that were of a high standard and have been conducted recently, findings indicate that some form of hybrid working can lead to improved or the same performance levels compared to office working only.

Question reference: S6W-36930

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 29 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the annual cost of its civil service has reportedly risen to almost £470 million, and what steps it is taking to address this.

This response relates to Scottish Government Core workforce.

Historically, a range of factors, including newly devolved responsibilities such as establishing Social Security, EU Exit, and our response to the COVID-19 pandemic, are behind the growth in the workforce. Like many organisations, the Scottish Government has also needed to respond to the cost of living crisis that has led to increases in pay across the labour market.

The Scottish Government is proactively addressing the need to control workforce size to remain fiscally sustainable.

The Scottish Government has reduced its total workforce by 4% from March 2022 to December 2024. It has achieved this through recruitment controls and prioritised the reduction of expensive contingent workers in making these reductions, in partnership with our Trade Unions. The number of contingent workers is now 46% lower than in March 2022.

Scottish Government workforce numbers are regularly and carefully reviewed to ensure efficient and effective delivery for the people of Scotland and recruitment controls remain in place. The Budget has set a commitment to continuing to reduce the workforce in this financial year.

Question reference: S6W-37508

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 29 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-35785 by Jim Fairlie on 26 March 2025, whether (a) NatureScot presented its final version of the species licensing review to the Scottish Ministers in April 2025 and (b) it will provide an update on when it expects the findings to be published.

To clarify, as I set out in my response to S6W-35785, NatureScot had intended for the draft species licensing review to undergo an external review in April 2025 before being submitted to Ministers at a later date.

The external review has been delayed slightly and NatureScot anticipate that it will now take place over the coming weeks. Following completion of the external review, the species licensing review will then be presented to Ministers for consideration prior to being published.

Question reference: S6W-36935

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 29 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of its civil servants are currently working remotely on a full-time basis.

The latest published workforce statistics show 9,349 Staff within SG Core as at December 2024 Scottish Government workforce information - gov.scot. 85 staff of the total 9,349 have a home working contract.

However, in a number of cases this may be because of a reasonable adjustment in accordance with equalities legislation, or for other role-related reasons. In either case, we do not record what proportion of time is spent working exclusively from home and in practice most staff with homeworking contracts will likely still attend an SG workplace from time to time or work with stakeholders in communities.

Question reference: S6W-36931

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 29 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the total number of its civil servants in pay grades C1, C2 and C3 has reportedly increased by 152% since 2016.

Historically, a range of factors, including newly devolved responsibilities such as establishing Social Security, EU Exit, and our response to the COVID-19 pandemic, are behind the growth in the workforce.

UK Civil Service grew its directly employed FTE by 7.4% between March 2022 and December 2024 in comparison to the Scottish Government permanent civil service growing by 5.6%.

In comparison to the UK Civil Service the growth in the equivalent grades (Grades 6 and 7) was the same as it was in the Scottish Government between 2020 and 2024 at 47%.

The Scottish Government has reduced its workforce in the last two financial years, by 0.4% in 2022-3 and 3% in 2023-24 and from March 2022 to December 2024, the total workforce has reduced by 4%. To achieve this it has prioritised the reduction of expensive contingent workers in making these reductions, in partnership with our Trade Unions. The number of contingent workers is now 46% lower than in March 2022.

Scottish Government workforce numbers are regularly and carefully reviewed to ensure efficient and effective delivery for the people of Scotland and recruitment controls remain in place. The Budget has set a commitment to continuing reductions in the workforce in this financial year.

Question reference: S6W-36928

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 29 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many secondary schools are currently rated as posing a (a) moderate and (b) high risk to life safety in the event of a fire.

It is the statutory responsibility of local authorities to manage their school estate, therefore, the Scottish Government does not hold this information.

Schools do not generally fall into high-risk to persons from fire, due to their numbers of access and egress points, familiarity of occupants, regular training and drills, and ordinarily users are non-sleeping.

However, if there were concerns raised to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) regarding perceived high levels of risk to life from fire, the SFRS would undertake an urgent audit and, if necessary, could prohibit the use, or parts, of a school until the situation was satisfactorily rectified.

Question reference: S6O-04727

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 29 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that rape victims who request free court transcripts under the pilot scheme are waiting seven months on average to receive their transcript.

I am sorry that anyone has had to wait to receive their transcript due to delays in the pilot scheme for transcripts. We have been working closely with Scottish Court and Tribunal Service to address the issues that have been raised in a minority of these applications. SCTS have now written to applicants to provide them with an update on their application and to advise that they will provide regular updates every three weeks. Changes have also been made to their website to provide clearer information about expected timescales and the updates that will be provided.

Question reference: S6O-04762

Asked by: Jackie Dunbar, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on any engagement it has had with the UK Government regarding the impact of the increase to employer national insurance contributions on the third sector in Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-04767

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is giving to local authorities to enable them to implement their Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies.

Question reference: S6O-04766

Asked by: Rona Mackay, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on ScotRail driver recruitment and training programmes, in light of reports of previous service reductions being attributed to staffing shortages.

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