The Scottish Parliament

Question reference: S6O-04731

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what work Social Security Scotland is undertaking to improve its communication with applicants for Child Disability Payment.

Question reference: S6O-04719

Asked by: Clare Adamson, MSP for Motherwell and Wishaw, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how its policies support people with premenstrual dysphoric disorder.

Question reference: S6O-04712

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what action it is taking to improve waiting times for audiology appointments.

Question reference: S6W-37329

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 21 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the Low Emission Zone (LEZ) Retrofit Fund has been allocated to be used for businesses in Aberdeen's LEZ since its introduction, and how much of that allocation was distributed to businesses.

£8,100,000 has been allocated to the Low Emission Zone (LEZ) Retrofit Fund in Scotland since 2020. There was no allocation per city in order to allow flexibility to respond to demand dependant on applications received each year.

26 applications for this funding have been received from businesses in the Aberdeen area. The majority of applications were rejected due to applicants not meeting the eligibility requirements. 4 applicants were eligible and offered funding, however only 2 accepted these offers. The amount received by these businesses to support retrofitting of vehicles to meet LEZ standards was £14,066 in total.

Over 98% of the vehicles retrofitted through this scheme have been taxis and mostly within Edinburgh and Glasgow. Lower demand retrofit funding in Aberdeen may be attributed to a combination of local taxi licencing conditions and vehicle eligibility, combined with an LEZ exemption for taxis in the city.

Question reference: S6W-37567

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 21 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether regulations have been made under section (a) 46 and (b) 47 of the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Scotland) Act 2013.

Question reference: S6W-37571

Asked by: Lorna Slater, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 21 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when it will launch the consultation on the necessary secondary legislation needed for the implementation of the Heat Networks (Scotland) Act 2021 to enable distributed heat provision to benefit from the same statutory undertaker rights as any other licenced utility in Scotland.

The Scottish Government recognises the imperative to put heat network developers on a similar statutory footing as other utility providers, and our Heat Network (Scotland) Act 2021 enables this.

My officials have been developing proposals for the requisite regulations and guidance to implement this part of the Act. However, we have not yet proceeded to consultation as we consider the implications of the UK Government’s developing plans for heat network regulation, as well as ensuring that the licensing authority can perform its functions in practice.

As such, my officials have been examining potential opportunities to amend proposals – and possibly the Act – to ensure we deliver a regulatory system which is proportionate, and which interoperates with related UK Government legislation to ensure the right networks are built where they can have most benefit and are operated in the right way.

Notwithstanding this, the intention remains to implement the special rights and powers which our Act foresees for Scottish heat network developers. My officials continue to carry out stakeholder engagement on proposals to implement this part of the Act.

Question reference: S6W-37532

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 21 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much it (a) spent in Session 5, (b) has spent in the current parliamentary session to date and (c) estimates it will spend in total in Session 6 on private sector-led research and development projects.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes an annual report on Research and Development (R&D) expenditure by government departments. The latest report was published on 9 April 2025 and can be found at: Research and development expenditure by the UK government - Office for National Statistics. Please see Table 14 for data on Scottish Government purchased R&D (or funding provided for R&D) by receiving organisation for the 2023 financial year.

Comparable data for the 2022 financial year and the 2021 financial year are available at the following links. Earlier years data are not strictly comparable due to the reclassification of a research performing organisation.

2022 data:

https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/economy/governmentpublicsectorandtaxes/researchanddevelopmentexpenditure/datasets/scienceengineeringandtechnologystatisticsreferencetables/current/previous/v11/goverd2022.xlsx

2021 data:

https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/economy/governmentpublicsectorandtaxes/researchanddevelopmentexpenditure/datasets/scienceengineeringandtechnologystatisticsreferencetables/current/previous/v10/rftgoverd2021.xlsx

Question reference: S6W-37527

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 21 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has provided to businesses to enable them to pilot a four-day week in the current parliamentary session to date, and how much it estimates it will have provided in total by the end of the current parliamentary session.

No funding has been provided to any private business this parliamentary session to pilot a 4 day working week and there is currently no planned funding for Private Sector Pilots. The Scottish Government recognises the environmental, health and wellbeing benefits, and efficiency gains that a four-day working week could bring and have taken forward unique pilots in public sector organisations in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-37519

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 21 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it has adjusted income tax rates and bands since the start of the current parliamentary session.

Please see the following table setting out changes to Scottish Income Tax since the start of this parliamentary session.

Table 1: Scottish Income Tax Policy: Income Tax Rates and Bands, 2021-22 –
2023-24

	2021-22		2022-23		2023-24
Band Name	Income Range	Rate	Income Range	Rate	Income Range	Rate
Starter Rate	£12,571* - £14,667	19%	£12,571* - £14,732	19%	£12,571* - £14,732	19%
Basic Rate	£14,668 - £25,296	20%	£14,733 - £25,688	20%	£14,733- £25,688	20%
Intermediate Rate	£25,297 - £43,662	21%	£25,689 - £43,662	21%	£25,689 - £43,662	21%
Higher Rate	£43,663 - £150,000**	41%	£43,663 - £150,000**	41%	£43,663 - £125,140**	42%
Top Rate	Over £150,000**	46%	Over £150,000**	46%	Over £125,140**	47%

* Assumes individuals are in receipt of the Standard UK Personal Allowance

** Those earning more than £100,000 will see their Personal Allowance reduced by £1 for every £2 earned over £100,000

Table 2: Scottish Income Tax Policy: Income Tax Rates and Bands, 2024-25 –
2025-26

	2024-25		2025-26
Band Name	Income Range	Rate	Income Range	Rate
Starter Rate	£12,571* - £14,876	19%	£12,571*- £15,397	19%
Basic Rate	£14,877- £26,561	20%	£15,398 - £27,491	20%
Intermediate Rate	£26,562 - £43,662	21%	£27,492 - £43,662	21%
Higher Rate	£43,663 - £75,000	42%	£43,663 - £75,000	42%
Advanced Rate	£75,001 - £125,140**	45%	£75,001 - £125,140**	45%
Top Rate	Over £125,140**	48%	Over £125,140**	48%

* Assumes individuals are in receipt of the Standard UK Personal Allowance

** Those earning more than £100,000 will see their Personal Allowance reduced by £1 for every £2 earned over £100,000

Question reference: S6W-37523

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 21 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has provided to the Scottish National Investment Bank in the current parliamentary session to date, and how much it estimates it will have provided by the end of the current parliamentary session.

Audit Scotland published a report on the Scottish National Investment Bank’s performance on Thursday 15 May (Scottish National Investment Bank | Audit Scotland). Page 16 details the Capital and Resource allocations by year since the Bank was launched in November 2020:

Financial Year	Scottish Government capital allocation (£m)	Scottish Government resource allocation (£m)
2020-21	£75	£7.1
2021-22	£200	£5
2022-23	£206	£9
2023-24	£263	£5.8
2024-25	£174	£2.8
2025-26 (budget)	£200	£0
Total	£1,118	£29.7

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