The Scottish Parliament

Question reference: S7W-00656

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 29 May 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 12 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will increase police funding in line with inflation, in order to prevent further reductions to community policing.

Scotland’s police service will always be visible and at the heart of our communities. Police Scotland are keeping people safe every day as shown by recorded crime falling by half since 1991.

Using the GDP deflator, the 2026-27 Scottish Police Authority (SPA) Budget has increased in real terms compared to the opening 2025-26 budget.

In 2026-27, the Scottish Government is providing record funding of over £1.7 billion for policing, a total budget increase of £81.5 million, or 5% compared to the published 2025-26 Autumn Budget Revision (ABR) budget. This record investment continues to allow Police Scotland to recruit new officers and to maintain officer numbers at 16,500.

It is for the SPA, working with the Chief Constable, to determine how to allocate this budget to meet policing priorities, as outlined in the Police Scotland Three year Business Plan.

Question reference: S7W-00655

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 29 May 2026
Current Status: Answered by Kirsten Oswald on 9 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the Scottish National Party 2026 manifesto pledge to commit £10 million over three years to introduce a Police Scotland Retail Crime Taskforce, what the timeline is for this rollout.

The Scottish Government confirmed that a further £3 million was available to help Police Scotland tackle retail crime in its budget for 2026-27. This will ensure that the service can build upon its work carried out the previous year, which included the creation of its Retail Crime Taskforce.

Spending plans for 2027-28 and 2028-29 were outlined in the Scottish Spending Review 2026. Decisions on future budgets will be taken as part of the budget setting processes.

Question reference: S7W-00654

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 29 May 2026
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 8 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the Scottish National Party 2026 manifesto commitment to "reduce the hours police officers need to spend in courts and hospitals, including through the expansion of mental health triage cars to reduce the pressure on police when people are reported as being in mental health distress and ensure they are in our communities more", what reforms it proposes to introduce.

Scottish Ministers will be considering options with the Scottish Ambulance Service to increase the availability of this service across Scotland, this will be informed by an evaluation of the current three sites funded by the Scottish Government in Glasgow, Inverness and Dundee. We expect the evaluation to be available by the end of summer 2026.

There are a number of public sector reform programmes currently underway in justice, including Summary Case Management (SCM) and the Digital Evidence Sharing Capability to reduce police time spent at court. The national rollout of SCM across all sheriffdoms was completed in January 2026. A report published in May 2026 estimates that, during the rollout period, over 100,000 fewer police officers were cited to give evidence. These reforms are improving efficiency across the system by reducing unnecessary trials, minimising witness citations, and helping to address court backlogs.

Question reference: S7W-00837

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 June 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 19 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment has been made of the contribution that geothermal energy could make to Scotland's economy.

Question reference: S7W-00838

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 June 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 19 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its response to petition PE1976 (Backdate council tax discounts for dementia to the date of GP certification), when it plans to bring forward legislation to backdate council tax discounts for individuals living with dementia.

Question reference: S7W-00300

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 May 2026
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 5 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government in what financial year it expects the devolved public sector headcount to begin falling, in light of reports that it rose in the year following the publication of its workforce reduction target.

In the calendar year to December 2025 the core Scottish Government made a reduction of 2.5% in its total workforce, including both directly employed FTE and contingent worker headcount, as a result of tighter recruitment controls being implemented and taking effect. The increase in the overall devolved civil service headcount has occurred in specific public bodies outside of core Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government will publish a Workforce Management Governance Framework in 2026, which will include guidance on governance arrangements and controls necessary to ensure consistent and accountable management of the public sector workforce.

As part of the Public Service Reform Strategy, we will continue to work in partnership with public bodies to review and restructure the public service delivery landscape. This includes commitments to significantly reduce the overall structural footprint across public bodies and core Scottish Government.

As these measures are rolled out across Public Bodies we will see headcount reductions there too to meet our targets going forward.

Question reference: S7W-00310

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 May 2026
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 5 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its commitment to reduce the public sector workforce, for what reason the devolved civil service headcount increased in the year to December 2025.

In the calendar year to December 2025 the core Scottish Government made a reduction of 2.5% in its total workforce, including both directly employed FTE and contingent worker headcount, as a result of tighter recruitment controls being implemented and taking effect.

The increases in the overall number has occurred in specific public bodies outside of core Scottish Government. As tighter recruitment controls are rolled out across Public Bodies we will see headcount reductions there too to meet our targets going forward.

Question reference: S7W-00301

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 May 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 5 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the publication of the Fiscal Sustainability Delivery Plan, what proportion of the identified £5 billion fiscal gap has been closed by measures announced to date, broken down by year.

In June 2025 we published the Medium-Term Financial Strategy and the Fiscal Sustainability Delivery plan.

The Medium-Term Financial Strategy provided our assessment of the scale of the fiscal challenge over the next five years. This was £2.6 billion for resource spending and £2.1 billion for capital spending by 2029-30.

The Fiscal Sustainability Delivery Plan set out clear actions we would take to close the resource deficit, through driving forward reform and efficiencies and having a robust focus on public spending, identifying up to £2.9 billion of resource budget savings within the MTFS period. The progress of the Fiscal Sustainability Delivery Plan is monitored through internal quarterly reporting, supported by a robust governance framework. Progress on the FSDP measures will be reported externally on alongside the next Medium-Term Financial Strategy.

Building on the actions set out in the FSDP, we published Portfolio Efficiency and Reform Plans alongside the 2026 Scottish Spending Review, which set out around £1.5 billion of savings by 2028-29. These will drive efficiencies through shared corporate platforms, consolidation of public bodies, estates rationalisation and accelerated digital delivery – for example, extending ScotAccount and the NHS Digital Front Door, and moving 25% of correspondence to digital by 2030 (saving at least £100 million a year).

To address the capital spending gap, we published the Infrastructure Delivery Pipeline which is underpinned by prioritisation decisions and capital spending plans set out in the 2026 Scottish Spending Review. It sets out an affordable and deliverable pipeline of investment for the next four years.

Question reference: S7W-00643

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 May 2026
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 4 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made towards the implementation of the new national Learn to Swim initiative to ensure that all primary school pupils learn to swim and gain water safety skills.

The Scottish Government is working in close partnership with COSLA and Scottish Swimming to deliver a national programme of free swimming lessons for all primary school children. A School Swimming Working Group, chaired by the Scottish Government and COSLA, has now been established to support both the development of the initiative and its subsequent implementation. Focused on the Primary 5 cohort predominantly, this three year phased approach will ultimately result in every primary-aged child in Scotland receiving access to high-quality swimming lessons.

Strong progress has already been made, particularly in advancing the delivery model and refining cost arrangements, to ensure that the programme being developed is robust and sustainable.

The foundations for a national programme are firmly in place, and partners are well positioned to move into implementation, working towards delivery of free swimming lessons for primary school children across Scotland.

Question reference: S7W-00294

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 May 2026
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 4 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Scottish National Party’s 2026 manifesto commitment to enact a statutory price cap on essential food items in shops, whether it plans to hold a public awareness and information campaign ahead of any cap coming into effect in order to minimise frictions in stores.

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