- 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 Gillian Martin on 13 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what the current projected total cost for the Grangemouth Flood Protection Scheme is, and how much of that total it has committed to date.
Answer
The total expected cost put forward by Falkirk Council in 2015 for the Grangemouth Flood Protection Scheme in 2015 was £108 million. The scheme as put forward includes a range of components providing protection to both residential and industrial areas.
Falkirk Council currently estimate the cost to complete the entire Grangemouth Flood Protection Scheme as originally proposed is between £450 million and £672 million. This has increased significantly from the estimate of £108million provided in 2015.
The Scottish Government has provided almost £23 million to date to Falkirk Council to support them in development of the Grangemouth Flood Protection Scheme.
- 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 Siobhian Brown on 13 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the live streaming of tribunals involving public bodies, and what guidance exists on this issue.
Answer
The courts, tribunals and judiciary are independent of the government. This is necessary in order to preserve the independence of the judiciary and to protect it from political interference. Decisions on the livestreaming or other broadcasting of court or tribunal proceedings are ultimately a matter for the judiciary, supported by the relevant administrative body. Scottish Tribunals are administered by the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service (SCTS). As such, the Scottish Government has not produced guidance regarding livestreaming of tribunal proceedings.
Certain tribunals including the Employment Tribunal in Scotland, the Immigration and Asylum Tribunal, and the Social Entitlement Chamber are reserved and SCTS and the Scottish Government has no remit over these.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Angus Robertson on 13 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what the reasons are for its reported position that an independent Scotland would be better able to mitigate the impact on Scotland of economic and financial uncertainty, and what evidence informed its position on the matter.
Answer
I refer the member to the publication, A stronger economy with independence, which sets out detailed proposals on how the Scottish Government would use the full powers of independence to build an inclusive, fair, wellbeing economy that works for everyone in Scotland, and will allow us to replicate the success of many neighbouring countries which are more prosperous, productive and fairer than the UK.
- 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 Ivan McKee on 13 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many retired police officers have died before receiving pension payments, due to administrative delays, in the last five years.
Answer
I have asked Stephen Pathirana, Chief Executive of the Scottish Public Pensions Agency, to respond. His response is as follows:
No retired police officers have died before receiving pension payments.
From 1 October 2023, officers who had retired before that date became entitled to make a choice of pension scheme provision in respect of their pensionable service between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2022, or their date of retirement if earlier.
This choice could be made after the provision of a remediable service statement, which were to be issued by 31 March 2025 or by such later day as the scheme manager considers reasonable in all the circumstances in the case of a particular member or a particular class of member.
In the last five years, three retired officers entitled to receive a remediable service statement died before making their choice. All three officers retired under the terms of their legacy final salary scheme.
- 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 Gillian Martin on 13 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any implications of the delaying of downgrading elements of the Grangemouth Flood Protection Scheme, particularly for (a) the Port of Grangemouth and (b) other key national infrastructure.
Answer
The next steps in the process for the Grangemouth Flood Protection Scheme are to be undertaken by the local authority.
Should Falkirk Council confirm the scheme in its current form and wish to access further Scottish Government funding, it will be necessary to demonstrate that the scheme, in whole or phased elements, is value for money, and assessed against other flood protection schemes across Scotland.
- 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 Gillian Martin on 13 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to the risk of any project delay or reduction in scope for the Grangemouth Flood Prevention Scheme arising from financial uncertainty over future years' allocations.
Answer
The Grangemouth Flood Protection Scheme (GFPS) as proposed by the council, is exceptional in terms of scale and financial cost and requires careful consideration to ensure that it delivers for the local community.
The Scottish Government must weigh up any investment decision both in terms of the impact to the individual project, but also to the impact any individual project has on its ability to invest in other areas. As such, in 2023, Ministers and Falkirk Council agreed that the Grangemouth Flood Protection Scheme would be removed from consideration as part of the existing national funding agreement with local authorities for flood protection schemes because its size had a distorting effect on the affordability of the overall programme.
A Task Force approach has instead been used to examine how to take forward improved and affordable flood resilience for Falkirk and Grangemouth residents and local communities.
- 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 Gillian Martin on 13 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a full breakdown of its financial contributions to the Grangemouth Flood Protection Scheme to date, including any direct payment to Falkirk Council and partners.
Answer
To date almost £23 million has been provided by Scottish Government to Falkirk Council to support the development of the Grangemouth Flood Protection Scheme.
- 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 Angela Constance on 13 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-34000 by Angela Constance on 7 February 2025, and in light of the recent judgment by the Supreme Court on the legal definition of "woman”, whether it plans to publish a bill to implement the recommendations of the Working Group on Misogyny in the current parliamentary session, and, if so, when.
Answer
As set out in answer to question S6W-37425, which was answered on 2 May 2025, due to the short amount of time left in this parliamentary session, there is insufficient time for a Misogyny Bill to be finalised and introduced. Therefore, the Scottish Government has decided not to proceed with this Bill in this parliamentary session.
However, in order to allow for the protected characteristic of ‘sex’ to be added to the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 so that women and girls have the same protections as other groups protected by that Act, we will lay before the Scottish Parliament in September a proposed draft of an SSI under the powers within the Act. This will allow for views to be offered on the approach taken before a finalised SSI is then subsequently laid which will, if agreed, result in new protections for women and girls being introduced.
All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers
- 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 Angela Constance on 13 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether any transgender prisoners with convictions for sex offences have been provided with gender-affirming items at public cost since 2021, and if so, how many.
Answer
I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:
The SPS seeks to be as open and transparent as possible, while also upholding our statutory obligation to protect the personal information of those in our care.
This information requested is not information held by the Scottish Prison Service.
- 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 Jenny Gilruth on 13 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether poor parental attitudes contribute to rising pupil indiscipline in schools, in light of reports that NASUWT members expressed such views at its recent annual conference.
Answer
The Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research, published in 2023, identified a range of factors that staff identified as contributing to the rise in challenging pupil behaviour, particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic. Among these factors included “wider societal changes such as a general lack of respect in society, the ubiquity of social media and changing approaches to parenting”. Staff suggested that greater engagement with parents could help to support staff’s efforts to promote positive relationships and behaviour.
We recognise the importance of schools and families working together to promote positive relationships and behaviour in schools. A strong partnership between home and school helps create a consistent, supportive environment where children feel safe, respected, and are better able to learn and thrive.
The relationships and behaviour in schools action plan 2024-27 emphasises the vital role of parents and carers in supporting positive behaviour. As part of the action plan, we are currently developing guidance on responding to behaviour in schools. The guidance will be available in the coming weeks and will include advice for schools on working with parents to support positive relationships and behaviour.
