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-27948

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 11 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will outline the current size of Scotland's civil service in terms of full-time equivalent staff count, and whether it expect this number to increase over the next two financial years.

At the end of December 2023, the Scottish Government directly employed 8,824 (full time equivalent) civil servants and engaged 1,436 contingent workers.

The latest available workforce statistics are at this link: Scottish Government workforce statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot). This will be updated with end March 2024 data on Tuesday 11 June 2024.

The Scottish Government is proactively addressing the need to reduce in size to remain fiscally sustainable and has been on a reducing trajectory since March 2022. We continue to progress public sector reform, and workforce numbers are regularly and carefully reviewed to ensure that we are delivering for the people of Scotland as efficiently and effectively as possible.

Question reference: S6W-27914

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 11 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-27515 by Ivan McKee on 23 May 2024, whether it will provide a breakdown of the work undertaken by the consultancies that were awarded funding in the 2022-23 financial year.

Following on from the answer to S6W-27515 where a list of 132 Scottish Government consultancy suppliers total annual spend was provided. Due to the high volume of transactional data that provides the breakdown of this spend (1,199 in total) and the work that would need to be carried out to provide the line level detail would be a substantial piece of work. To help to provide additional information to support the ask, a further breakdown on the top 10 suppliers has been provided which includes the number of annual transactions again for FY22-23. This captures approximately 83% of the total annual spend.

Supplier Name	Sum of Aggregate Spend	Transactions
Deloitte LLP	£8,298,702.55	44
SAC Commercial Ltd	£4,571,346.65	79
Ernst & Young LLP	£3,917,671.36	68
Ricardo-AEA Limited	£1,585,598.88	62
Taleos Consulting Limited	£1,305,222.50	12
James Harvard Limited	£558,950.00	52
This is Milk Limited	£518,035.00	33
Palladium International Limited	£517,364.31	6
Sniffer	£341,667.00	15
Civil Service Learning (CSL) - KPMG LLP	£278,150.73	23
	£21,892,708.98

Question reference: S6W-27915

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 11 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it will take to ensure that the public has confidence in organisations that receive public funding, by ensuring that its funding processes operate at the highest level of governance accountability and transparency.

There is a robust framework for the stewardship of public funds by the Scottish Government, its public bodies and recipients of public sector grants. The Scottish Public Finance Manual (SPFM) sets out statutory, parliamentary, and administrative requirements in relation to managing public resources, emphasising the need for economy, efficiency, and effectiveness, and promoting good practice.

There are ‘framework documents’ between the SG and public bodies covering accountability arrangements, financial controls and processes, and associated annual assurance processes. Accountable Officers are personally answerable for the regularity and propriety of the finances under their stewardship and report in annual accounts which are scrutinised by Audit Scotland and potentially by the Public Audit Committee. SG Sponsor teams work with public bodies, ensuring appropriate framework documents and governance arrangements are in place and action is taken on any audit recommendations.

The SPFM sets out the expectations of grant funding and the financial control framework required if public bodies disperse grants. Bodies in receipt of public funds are subject to binding agreements that are monitored as part of established grant management processes.

Question reference: S6W-27940

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 11 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much the Edinburgh Eastern constituency has received from the CashBack for Communities fund since it was established, and what projects this funding has supported.

Question reference: S6W-27889

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 11 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much support has been provided through the Energy Transition Fund in each of the years in which the fund has operated, and whether it will provide a breakdown of the (a) fund recipients and (b) amounts awarded in each case.

The Energy Transition Fund was launched in 2020 and provides support for four major projects based in the Aberdeen City region. The following table sets out funding awarded to date, broken down by project and financial year.

	Funding awarded (£million)
Project Name	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24	Total to date	Allocated 2024-25
Energy Transition Zone	0.05	2.38	9	5.541	16.971	2.505
Global Underwater Hub	0	1.823	1.811	0.768	4.402	1.178
Net Zero Technology Transition Programme	0	1.597	6.574	6.157	14.328	2.094
Aberdeen Hydrogen Hub	4.5	0	1.35	4.37	10.22	3.8
Total per year	4.55	5.8	18.735	16.836	45.921	9.577

The Scottish Government also provides planning for and support to the energy transition through a range of other vehicles. These include the Just Transition Fund, Scottish Industrial Energy Transformation Fund and the development of a Just Transition Plan for the Grangemouth Industrial Cluster which will be published shortly.

Question reference: S6W-27937

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 10 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when the Ministerial Taskforce on Population last met, and what was discussed.

The Ministerial Population Taskforce meets quarterly to oversee delivery of Scotland’s Population Strategy and it last met on 20 March 2024. Items discussed included: Scotland’s Migration Service, in advance of its launch on 27 March; the linkages between housing policy and population; an update on planned National Records of Scotland statistical and Census publications; and an overview of progress in developing a Rural Delivery Plan. Minutes from the meeting will be published on the Scottish Government website in due course.

Question reference: S6W-27946

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 10 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when the (a) First Minister (b) Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs and (c) Lord Advocate, and any other ministers, and their officials, last met with the (i) Chief Constable and (ii) Deputy Chief Constables at Police Scotland, and what was discussed.

The First Minister last met with the Chief Constable on 16 May 2024. Deputy Chief Constable Alan Speirs was also in attendance. The agenda covered:

Introduction
Mental health and policing
Criminal justice system
Workforce and operating model
Police (Ethics, Conduct and Scrutiny) (Scotland) Bill
Hate crime

I meet the Chief Constable regularly. The last meeting was on 4 June 2024 with Deputy Chief Constable Bex Smith also in attendance. The agenda covered:

Police (Ethics, Conduct and Scrutiny) (Scotland) Bill
Revised model of policing
Criminal justice system
Scottish Resilience Partnership
Emma Caldwell Investigation – NPCC Request

The Lord Advocate last met with the Chief Constable on 12 March 2024. Deputy Chief Constable Bex Smith was also in attendance. The Lord Advocate and Chief Constable discussed violence against women and girls in Scotland and how prosecutors and police officers could work together to improve outcomes for victims.

From January 2024, I agreed with the Chief Constable and SPA Chair to publish notes of their meetings, once approved, on the Scottish Government website: https://www.gov.scot/collections/police-minutes-of-regular-meetings

Question reference: S6W-27993

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 10 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-27605 by Siobhian Brown on 28 May 2024, whether it has considered alternative approaches to carrying out this research in the event that the re-tendering process is unsuccessful, and whether this has been raised by the (a) Law Society of Scotland, (b) Scottish Solicitors Bar Association and (c) Scottish Legal Aid Board.

Alternative approaches to the work have been considered at meetings of the research group, which the Law Society of Scotland, Scottish Solicitors Bar Association, and the Scottish Legal Aid Board are part of, should the tendering process remain unsuccessful. Ministers are also very mindful that the recommendation of the Legal Aid Payment Advisory Panel was very clear that any research carried out should be independent from the Scottish Government and that there are commercial sensitivities around the data being sought. Any alternative approaches would have to be carefully considered to ensure that this independence remains and that legal aid providers have confidence in the data gathering process.

Question reference: S6W-27885

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 7 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions (a) it and (b) its agencies have had with (i) the UK Government, (ii) local authorities, (ii) devolved nations and (iv) other countries on the purchase of hydrogen buses manufactured in Scotland.

The Scottish Government participates in the UK Hydrogen Propulsion Manufacturing Taskforce. The taskforce works to develop recommendations on how government and industry can maximise investment opportunities for the UK manufacturing of hydrogen propulsion systems. This has included reference to the opportunities for hydrogen fuel cell buses. The taskforce has been paused during the pre-election period for the UK general election.

As set out in our Hydrogen Action Plan, hydrogen in the transport sector could act as a complementary energy alongside battery electrification, providing an option to parts of the transport sector such as heavy duty vehicles, when battery electrification is challenging. However, it is up to individual bus operating companies to determine what type of zero emission vehicles best suits their particular circumstances, and for manufacturers to respond to that demand in the way that they think is most appropriate.

Question reference: S6W-27888

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 7 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with Scotland-based manufacturers on (a) the manufacture and (b) marketing in (i) the UK and (ii) international markets of hydrogen buses manufactured in Scotland.