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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-36984

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 1 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to publish any further independence-related papers in the series Building a New Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-36474

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 1 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish all internal modelling and scenario planning that it has carried out on the financial viability of full fiscal autonomy, particularly in light of the reported £22 billion gap between Scotland's tax revenues and public spending.

Question reference: S6W-36473

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 1 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has carried out of the long-term fiscal implications of full fiscal autonomy, including any projected reduction in Barnett consequential funding.

Question reference: S6W-36994

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 1 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the average daily desk occupancy rate has been across its estate in the last year.

The table below show the occupancy levels at Scottish Government (SG) core office buildings for which there is an available data set. The average daily desk occupancy rate has been calculated by dividing the number of unique building pass users recorded over a 24 hour sample period by the number of available desks. A sample is taken on one day of each week and totalled together with the other sample days in the year then divided by how many weeks occurred.

SG Core office	Average desk occupancy	Average desk occupancy
	Jan-Dec 2024	to end March 2025
4 Atlantic Quay (Glasgow)	*9.75%		4 AQ closed in July 24
5 Atlantic Quay (Glasgow)	48.25%	60.13%
Bothwell House (Hamilton)	6.25%	8.12%	closing May 25
Cadzow Court (Hamilton)	51.30%	61.37%
Compass House (Dundee)	61.74%	48.89%	data to feb 25 only
Denholm House (Livingston)	27.82%	15.50%	data to feb 25 only
Alexander Fleming House (Elgin)	26.09%	41.01%
Hadrian House (Falkirk)	36.57%	26.26%
Tankerness Lane (Kirkwall)	55.13%	65.31%
Longman House (Inverness)	5.57%	15.20%
Marine Scotland (Eyemouth)	62.50%	79.17%
Marine Scotland (Peterhead)	26.25%	8.77%
St Andrews House (Edinburgh)	38.95%	40.68%

Question reference: S6W-36995

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 1 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to review the size and location of its office footprint in response to changing working patterns.

The Scottish Government estate is under review to allow us to plan for affordable, inclusive, accessible, modern, secure, energy efficient buildings of the right size to meet our changing needs and net zero ambitions, as well as to ensure best value for taxpayers’ money.

Since the beginning of 2023, as part of SG’s asset planning, 11 buildings have been closed, resulting in a reduction of approximately £2.4m in annual running costs and a 10% reduction in our building footprint. A further 3 buildings are scheduled to close in the next 12 months with staff or operations relocating to existing SG core estate or Public sector estate.

All opportunities for sharing with other public bodies are considered in line with the Single Scottish Estate programme. There are a number of active reviews underway at SG’s offices in Perth, Ayrshire, Inverness, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Scottish Borders.

Our asset planning forms part of the Single Scottish Estate (SSE) programme which aligns to the Resource Spending Review (RSR) and with Public Services Reform (PSR), providing enabling levers and opportunities through co-location and strategic estates strategy to support the transformation of public services for what is required now and in the future.

Question reference: S6W-36980

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 1 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much was spent on staffing the constitutional futures division between 2019 and its disbandment.

The Scottish Government established a small team of civil servants in the months following the publication of the 2019 Programme for Government until 18 March 2020 which had work to update Scotland’s Future as part of its remit. We cannot provide you with a specific figure on the costs of that work as a full financial year was not completed.

The staffing costs of the Constitutional Futures Division (CFD), for the years that a full financial period was completed, have previously been published in response to an FOI request and in response to question S6W-22623:

2022/23 - Written question and answer: S6W-22623 | Scottish Parliament Website

2023/24 - Various questions relating to Independence: FOI release - gov.scot

The CFD disbanded on 17th January 2025 and therefore, as advised above, we are unable to provide details of staffing costs as a full financial year was not completed.

Question reference: S6W-36952

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 1 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what support it provides to employers in the Highlands and Islands to enable staff to carry out retained firefighter duties during working hours.

Recruitment and retention of Wholetime and On Call firefighters is a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) Chief Fire Officer and Board.

Many on call firefighters have primary jobs and have a primary employer. SFRS has an Employers Recognition Scheme whereby employers are recognised for their efforts in supporting their employees to become on call firefighters. SFRS also has an On Call Guide for Employers. This enables employers to learn more about what is involved, how they can support their employees to become On Call firefighters. Also outlined are the benefits to their organisation and the valuable contribution to their local communities.

Question reference: S6W-36954

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 1 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to introducing a specific retention package for retained firefighters in remote and island areas.

Recruitment and retention of Wholetime and On Call firefighters is a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) Chief Fire Officer and Board.

Terms and Conditions and pay of all firefighters are negotiated on a UK wide basis under a well-established collective bargaining process. Through this process there is a new nationally agreed pay banding system which offers far more flexibility in the contracts SFRS can offer to Retained Firefighters which SFRS hope will allow people who may not previously have been able to provide the requisite commitment to contribute to protecting their communities whilst maintaining a better work/life balance.

Question reference: S6W-36960

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 1 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the average cost to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service was of dealing with each wildfire incident in each of the last 10 years.

Question reference: S6W-36475

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 1 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what impact full fiscal autonomy could have on its commitments to protect (a) the NHS, (b) education and (c) local authority budgets.