- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul McLennan on 14 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many full-time equivalent staff it has employed in its More Homes division in each of the last five financial years.
Answer
FTE number of Directly employed staff in More Homes Division | | | | |
| | fte |
31-Mar-20 | 31-Mar-21 | 31-Mar-22 | 31-Mar-23 | 31-Mar-24 | 31-Dec-24 |
All | 92 | 81 | 71 | 70 | 65 | 65 |
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 14 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to ensure that hospital wards are single-sex.
Answer
The Scottish Government has set up a short life working group to consider existing policies, guidance and legislation which may be impacted by the recent Supreme Court judgment, such as existing guidance on mixed sex accommodation in NHS facilities.
Since 2005, we have expected NHS Boards to ensure that all of their facilities comply with the guidelines and recommendations on the elimination of mixed sex accommodation, including a presumption of 100% single rooms in all new hospital developments. There are limited exceptions for areas such as Intensive Care Units.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 14 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Scottish National Party 2021 manifesto commitment to abolish non-residential care charges, for what reason the number of local authorities introducing or raising such fees has reportedly increased since 2022.
Answer
Under Section 87(1A) of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968, a local authority may charge for the adult non-residential, non-personal care it provides such as day care, lunch clubs, meals-on-wheels, community alarm and help with shopping and housework.
Local authorities have the powers to develop their own charging policies for non-residential social care and support. These charging policies are designed with the primary objective of offsetting the costs of providing services at a local level.
COSLA produces annual guidance to help promote consistency in policies, however variation often exists due to local accountability and conditions. COSLA and the Scottish Government recognises that local authorities require autonomy and flexibility to adapt to their local circumstances.
COSLA guidance recommends that charges should be reasonable and must be no higher than the cost to the local authority of providing the service. In reality most charges are much lower than the cost of providing the service.
The Scottish Government recognises that the cost of care can be high for people particularly in the current financial climate. We are committed to working with COSLA to review non-residential charges.
- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 14 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to local communities to hold their own commemorative events to mark VE and VJ Day.
Answer
The Scottish Government provided funding to support the efforts of Legion Scotland and Poppyscotland to commemorate the anniversary of VE Day through a concert at the Usher Hall on Tuesday evening. Titled Scotland’s Salute to VE Day 80, this was Scotland’s national commemorative event to mark this anniversary and told of the historic efforts which lead to victory in Europe 80 years ago.
Earlier this year, the Scottish Government wrote to MSPs and Local Authorities to highlight the funding being made available from the UK Government to arts organisations across the UK from April to August of this year to share stories of towns, cities and villages during the Second World War, as well as the funding available from the National Lottery Community Fund Awards for grants to host community events, activities and exhibitions to help tell the stories of the Second World War at a local level. I subsequently wrote to local MSPs and Local Authority Veterans Champions to reemphasise this support.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 14 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has issued any guidance or expectations to university governing bodies regarding executive pay restraint during periods of public funding pressure, in the last five years.
Answer
The Minister addressed the issue of executive pay and the need for restraint when he attended the Meeting of the Committee of Scottish University Chairs on 27 March 2025.
Universities are autonomous institutions with responsibility for their own pay and remuneration decisions.
However, the Scottish Government expects universities to exercise restraint in setting senior pay, and senior pay packages should be in step with the salary, terms and conditions offered to other university staff.
Universities are also required to comply with the terms of the Scottish Funding Council’s Financial Memorandum as a condition of grant funding. This includes compliance with the principles of The Scottish Code of Good HE Governance, such as the expectation that universities’ remuneration committees seek the views of student and staff representatives in relation to the remuneration packages of Principals and senior executive teams, represent the public interest and avoid any inappropriate use of funds.
- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 08 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 14 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will ask Historic Environment Scotland to assess the Grangemouth refinery complex for any elements worthy of designation as listed buildings, including the nine natural draught (hyperbolic) cooling towers that are situated between the oil refinery and wider petrochemicals complex, in light of them being the last cooling towers standing in Scotland.
Answer
Following the cessation of oil refining at Grangemouth, the Scottish Government is backing a proposal by Unite the Union for an asset review at Grangemouth. Understanding what existing assets could be repurposed is critical to securing the transition, therefore I have written to the UK Government expressing support and calling on them to do the same. My officials have initiated work on this however we will need the consent and support of Petroineos and the UK Government to achieve this, and would urge Paul Sweeney MSP to help with those calls to his colleagues in the UK Government.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 14 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government when a decision will be made on reallowing alcohol at certain times on ScotRail services.
Answer
The First Minister announced to the Scottish Parliament on 6 May 2025 that we intend to remove the ban on alcohol on trains and replace it with new restrictions which will allow alcohol consumption between from 10am to 9pm every day. ScotRail will reserve the right to implement alcohol restrictions on specific services where BTP and rail industry intelligence indicates it necessary, for example major concerts or sporting events.
The current ban will be lifted and the new rules will come into force on 2 June 2025.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 14 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to protect freedom of speech for public servants, teachers and other professionals who hold or express gender-critical views, in light of the Supreme Court ruling regarding For Women Scotland v The Scottish Ministers.
Answer
There are existing protections for freedom of speech and the Equality Act 2010 protects people from discrimination or harassment at work or in other areas of their life, because of their religious or philosophical beliefs.
The Equality Act 2010 is mainly reserved to the UK Parliament and UK Government. The regulator, the Equality and Human Rights Commission, has issued guidance on avoiding discrimination and harassment in the workplace and there is a Statutory Code of Practice on Employment.
Freedom of speech is a qualified right and the ways in which a person’s religion or belief is manifested might not be protected if this impacts on the legal rights of others, including those with the protected characteristic of gender reassignment, not to be discriminated against or harassed.
- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 14 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government when the £14.2 million investment programme at Ferguson Marine will commence.
Answer
The Scottish Budget: 2025-26 published on 4 December 2024 allocated £46.0 million of capital to Ferguson Marine for the financial year commencing 1 April 2025 (with details in Table 9.13: Ferguson Marine Spending Plans (Level 3).
This allocation is designed to cover capital spending associated with completion of the MV Glen Rosa and investment in yard capital equipment and infrastructure in the current financial year. Over the current and next financial years, 2025-26 and
2026-27, the Scottish Government is committed to invest up to £14.2 million in Ferguson Marine’s investment programme subject to standard commercial tests being met.
Work on Ferguson’s investment programme began in December 2024, with approved funding being directed towards addressing essential repairs and new equipment to enhance yard productivity.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 14 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many of its public agencies, including NHS boards and local authorities, currently operate single-sex services based on gender identity rather than biological sex, and what steps are being taken to address this.
Answer
The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government and is a matter for individual public bodies. The Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is the body responsible for regulating and enforcing the Equality Act 2010. The Scottish Government is already undertaking a review of existing policies, guidance and legislation impacted by the recent Supreme Court judgment but will require to fully consider the revised Guidance and Code from the EHRC when it is issued, along with the Supreme Court judgment itself, before any changes could be made.
