Chamber and committees

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-38934

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 June 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 22 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is regarding the role of nuclear energy in supporting industrial growth and reducing energy costs.

Question reference: S6W-38931

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 June 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 22 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish the full terms of all grants and funding arrangements made to Alexander Dennis since 2010.

Question reference: S6W-38926

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 June 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 22 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether the reported decision to provide medical aid to Ukraine for civilian use only was signed off by the First Minister or a cabinet secretary, and whether it will publish any related decision-making record.

Question reference: S6W-38944

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 June 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 22 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many convictions for group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse there have been since 2010.

Question reference: S6W-38933

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 June 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 22 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding Scotland’s participation in the nuclear energy programme, which was announced in the UK Spending Review 2025.

Question reference: S6W-38535

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 24 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what recent analysis it has carried out of any correlation between excessive teacher workload and staff retention.

The Scottish Government values the teaching profession and the important work that teachers do is one of the key strengths of our education system.

We will continue to work with COSLA and the teaching unions to address concerns around teacher workload.

We are clear that reducing teachers’ class contact time by 90 minutes per week will help address critical concerns around teacher workload, including the retention of teachers.

We will continue to work with COSLA and the teaching unions to make meaningful progress on this important commitment.

Question reference: S6W-38545

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 24 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the reported finding of the Royal College of Radiologists that a shortage of radiologists risks making cancer treatment delivery “impossible”.

The Scottish Government recognises that NHS Scotland’s oncology capacity has been increasingly tested due to steady, long-term increases in demand driven by new medicines approvals, increasing complexity of treatment, an ageing population, more treatments for incurable cancers, and delayed presentations exacerbated by the pandemic.

Despite these pressures, we are treating more patients with cancer on time, within both standards, compared to the same quarter 6 years ago – 7.7% more within the 31-day standard & 0.1% more within the 62-day standard.

We continue to take action to address workforce pressures and have increased consultant radiologists by 27.7% in the last ten years. We continue to invest heavily in radiology training - for example we are currently funding around 190 specialty training places in clinical radiology, including 78 extra places we have added since 2014 based on modelling and future workforce need. This enables doctors to train and enter the workforce following completion of training - which takes a minimum of 5 years. This programme has been filled at 100% in Scotland from 2014 to 2024, with 230 resident doctors successfully completing the training.

Further, over £106 million has been allocated to NHS Boards in 2025-26 to address waiting times, with £21 million for imaging. We will reduce the radiology backlog so that 95% of referrals are seen within six weeks by March 2026, through expanding to seven-day services, recruitment, and utilising mobile scanning units.

I have written to the Royal College of Radiologists following their report as I hope to work together to support the development of solutions. This will ensure that our NHS continues to deliver excellent and equitably accessible cancer care.

Question reference: S6W-38564

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 24 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in the last five years, how many teachers have left the profession early due to safety concerns or lack of support.

Question reference: S6W-38547

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 24 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has assessed any administrative burden that the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill could place on small and family farms.

We have carefully considered the impact that the proposals in Part 1 of the Land Reform Bill will have on landowners across Scotland. The 1000 hectare threshold means that only the largest 1.4% of Scotland’s farms are expected to be in scope, according to 2023 Agricultural Census figures.

For further assessment of the impacts of proposed measures in the Bill, please refer to the Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA).

Question reference: S6W-38618

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 24 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what resources have been made available for the Scotland-Flanders joint working action plan.

The stated aim of the Flanders-Scotland Memorandum of Understanding is further cooperation between the Scottish Government and Government of Flanders. The Joint Working Action Plan sets out specific areas for further cooperation. This will therefore be progressed by existing teams within our Directorate for External Affairs and EU Directorate and policy areas related to the themes of the Plan - responsible for strengthening Scotland’s energy, research, tourism, culture and other vital links with European partners.