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-38174

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 4 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the budget for the Care Reform (Scotland) Bill in 2025-26 is £11 million, in light of its decision to withdraw plans for a national care service.

The Scottish Government is delivering improvement and reform of social care, social work and community health.

Financial information, including the National Care Service Programme 2025-26 budget position, has been provided to the Finance and Public Administration Committee. The Care Reform (Scotland) Bill is one element of our ambitious programme of social care reform that will be delivered through both legislative and non-legislative means, including the recent establishment of the non-statutory NCS Advisory Board.

Question reference: S6W-38578

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 4 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many older people are currently on waiting lists for a social care assessment.

Question reference: S6W-38941

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 4 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government which of its departments or directorates are being considered for (a) closure, (b) consolidation and (c) staffing reductions under the recently announced £1 billion annual savings plan for public services.

The Public Service Reform Strategy sets out a clear direction for modernising how we work, with workforce transformation at its core. It supports a shift in operating models, with a focus on efficiency, collaboration, and protecting frontline delivery, and will significantly increase our focus on delivering the most efficient and effective public services system, this includes the Scottish Government. We will be reviewing the service delivery landscape to make sure it is the right composition to deliver the services the people of Scotland need, this will include both public bodies and Scottish Government directorates. There are also plans in place to drive workforce reductions to meet the £1 billion target. Updates on the progress of this work will be provided to Parliament as part of regular updates on the wider PSR Strategy.

Question reference: S6W-38950

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 4 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason only 2% of victims were reportedly notified through the Victim Notification Scheme of the early release of prisoners in summer 2024.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

The Scottish Government’s Victim Notification Scheme (VNS) in Scotland is an opt-in scheme, which affords victims the right to decide whether they choose to receive information, including but not limited to, the offender’s release date.

The SPS’ VNS Team hold the contact details for registered victims who have joined the VNS. Registered victims, where the offender was released early as part of Early Release, were notified by SPS’ VNS Team of the change to the offender’s release date, ahead of release.

In addition, temporary expediated processes were also introduced to enable victims who had not registered on the VNS but confirmed eligible to join, to find out themselves or through a named VSO, the release date of an offender.

Question reference: S6W-35794

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 3 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is aware of any informal pay arrangements at Ferguson Marine and, if so, what action it has taken in response to these.

Question reference: S6W-35793

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 3 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what role it has in overseeing financial agreements at Ferguson Marine; what its response is to reports that there was a “verbal agreement” with a subcontractor that led to the shipyard facing a bill for almost £48,000 in unpaid tax, and whether it was aware of any such deal.

The Framework Agreement that exists between Ferguson Marine and the Scottish Government, dated September 2024, outlines the role of the Scottish Government regarding the financial arrangements of the business. The agreement is available from the website of Ferguson Marine.

The Scottish Government was not made aware of the agreement made by the former CEO of Ferguson Marine, David Tydeman, with a subcontractor that resulted in unpaid tax until it was reported to the Chair, the Board of Ferguson Marine, and the sponsor department.

Question reference: S6W-35968

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 3 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish any data analysis that it has carried out on any regional differences in health outcomes for young women.

Our Women’s Health Plan Data Landscape Review examined the publicly available data on the health of women in Scotland and is available here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/womens-health-plan-review-data-landscape.

This report highlights the data and data sources that are available on health outcomes for women and girls in Scotland and includes information on young women.

The report covers data at Scotland level, but much of these data are disaggregated by age and region, health board or local authority at the data source.

Question reference: S6W-38739

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 3 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the total lease cost is for its offices at (a) Tankerness Lane, Kirkwall, (b) Longman House, Inverness, (c) Marine Scotland (Eyemouth), (d) Marine Scotland (Peterhead), (e) St Andrew's House, Edinburgh, (f) Cadzow Court, Hamilton and (g) 4 Atlantic Quay, Glasgow.

Tankerness Lane, Kirkwall; Longman House, Inverness; St Andrew’s House, Edinburgh and Cadzow Court, Hamilton are all owned under the core Scottish Government core estate.

The lease at 4 Atlantic Quay, Glasgow expired on 14 July 2024. Therefore, there are no lease costs applicable to these properties.

For the remaining properties, I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-37224 on 13 May 2025. 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-38738

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 3 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-37224 by Ivan McKee on 13 May 2025, what the annual running cost was for each of its offices from January to December 2024.

The following table shows the annual total running costs for each of the leased Scottish Government offices as per the response to question S6W-37224. These figures include all associated costs for running each office building and cover January to December 2024.

Property	Total running costs
10 Commerce Street (Fraserburgh Fishery Office)	£29,809.00
28 Cunzie Street (Anstruther Fishery Office)	£32,356.75
40 Hall Street (Campbeltown Fishery Office)	£25,895.50
5 Atlantic Quay	£3,982,638.25
7 Ferry Terminal Building (Kirkwall Fishery Office)	£36,320.00
AB1 Building	£77,675.50
Alexander Fleming House	£139,131.50
Alexandra Buildings (Lerwick Fishery Office)	£64,520.00
Bothwell House (Ground and First Floors)	£50,159.25
Brooms Road - Dumfries	£379,197.75
Caley Building (Peterhead Fishery Office)	£94,501.00
Charlotte House	£205,861.75
Compass House	£107,486.25
Culag Pier (Lochinver Fishery Office)	£17,765.75
Custom House (Stornoway Fishery Office)	£48,248.50
Denholm House	£231,818.50
Fishmarket Building (Eyemouth Fishery Office)	£29,355.75
Hadrian House	£125,719.50
Harbour Buildings (Mallaig Fishery Office)	£18,971.75
Inchbraoch House	£69,534.75
Kinlochbervie Fishery Office - Number 5	£1,985.00
Kinlochbervie Fishery Office - Number 7	£17,557.75
Office at Tarbert Fish Market	£3,759.50
Russell House	£529,154.00
Scotland House - Brussels	£282,994.08
Scotland House - London	£753,112.00
St Ola House (Scrabster Fishery Office)	£83,325.25
Strathearn House	£954,122.75
The Douglas Centre (Buckie Fishery Office)	£17,243.25
The Island Centre, Crossapol	£31,108.75
The Links, Golspie	£42,587.00
Unit 4B Kinlochleven Business Park	£157,549.00
Unit 5, Old Quay - Campbeltown	£3,884.50
West Shore Street (Ullapool Fishery Office)	£41,350.25

Question reference: S6W-35202

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 3 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many working groups currently exist within its (a) departments and (b) agencies, and how this compares with each year since 1999.