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-27771

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 3 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what progress has been made towards delivering the 2027 River Basin Management Plan.

SEPA's River Basin Management Plan for Scotland 2021-2027 (RBMP) sets out a range of actions aiming to improve the overall condition of Scotland’s water environment from 66% currently classified at good condition to 81% by 2027.

The Scottish Government supports SEPA to deliver the RMBP and invested almost £5m last year in the Water Environment Fund, a key element of the plan. Work continues this year providing access to rivers for migratory fish and restoring urban rivers providing benefits for biodiversity, climate change adaptation and flood management.

The most detailed and up to date classification information for all parameters is available in the water classification hub .

Question reference: S6W-27772

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 3 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what progress has been made towards increasing the number of combined sewage overflow networks that are being monitored.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-26620 on 25 April 2024.

Scottish Water has committed to publishing annual reports on progress against the improving urban waters routemap.

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 .

Question reference: S6W-27565

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 28 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to Falkirk Council publishing a consultation on reducing the number of hours within the school week.

Question reference: S6O-03482

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take in response to the call from the NASUWT teachers' union for a system of strategies to be put in place for dangerous and disruptive behaviour, including consequences for pupils.

Question reference: S6T-01964

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 May 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of recently reported developments, what plans are being made to support the continued operation of the Grangemouth refinery.

Question reference: S6O-03343

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 April 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to update its guidance to schools regarding gender affirmation for children, in light of the recommendations in the final report of the Cass Review.

Question reference: S6W-26424

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 17 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when (a) the First Minister and (b) any other member of the Scottish Government (i) last met and (ii) will next meet with any representative of Scotland's defence industry.

Scottish Ministers continue to have a positive relationship with the defence industries, and regularly engage with both individual companies and the wider trade associations.

Ministers last engaged with defence industry representatives on 6 March 2024, when I attended Space-Comm Expo at the invitation of ADS Group.

The Chair of the Aerospace and Defence Industry Leadership Group is also a standing member of the Industry Leadership Group (ILG) Chairs’ Roundtable discussions that take place quarterly and was last chaired by the former Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy.

The next ILG Chairs Roundtable discussion is scheduled to take place in early May and will be co-chaired by the Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Net Zero and Energy.

Question reference: S6F-02979

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 March 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 March 2024

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government plans to take following the publication of the University of Stirling study highlighting the reported risk of crumb rubber infill on artificial pitches.

Question reference: S6W-26102

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 20 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what the anticipated returns are of the £200,000 that it has reportedly spent on psychological testing for civil servants.

The recruitment and promotion of Senior Civil Servants must include a robust selection process. Standards for hiring Senior Civil Servants (SCS) are set by UK Cabinet Office. These include the use of additional forms of assessment including psychological assessment, which have supplemented interviews for SCS for over 10 years. Academic research suggests that interviews alone are a poor predictor of future job performance, and supplementing interviews with other forms of assessments, including psychological, strengthens hiring decisions.

A Prior Information Notice was published on 13 February 2024 to inform the market of our intention to issue an Invitation to Tender for a new assessment contract for Senior Civil Service recruitment and promotion. The Tender is yet to be published and a new contract will be awarded, after all bids are assessed for quality of service and value for money, later in 2024. In the last 12 months, the current provider of psychometric assessments to the Scottish Government assessed 125 candidates for 30 SCS recruitment and promotion campaigns, at a cost of £165,401. This is in line with equivalent Cabinet Office contracts per SCS Campaign.

Question reference: S6W-25928

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 18 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to allocate funding in its 2024-25 Budget to support stroke services, including the (a) delivery of the Stroke Improvement Plan, (b) further development of a national thrombectomy service and (c) development of stroke policy.