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-38291

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs has met with the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government to discuss funding for the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit, and, if so, what the outcome of any such discussions was.

As part of the usual budget process within government, the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs met with the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government on a bilateral basis on 6 November 2024 and 20 March 2025. The specific issue of funding for the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit was not discussed as part of those meetings. The Scottish Government has provided increased funding for the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit for 2025-26 as part of its broader package to tackle violence and on the basis of them being able to provide additional impact from this funding.

Question reference: S6W-38292

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether any payments have been made to prisoners to settle cases related to "slopping out" practices in prisons in the last five years, and, if so, what the total cost was of any such payments.

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

In the last five years, the SPS has made payments to prisoners to settle cases related to “slopping out”. In the last five financial years, there has been a total of three cases settled relating to “slopping out” which were settled in Financial Year 2020-21. The total cost of these three cases was £12,000. There have been no further cases settled relating to “slopping out” since 2020-21.

Question reference: S6W-38294

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is aware of any extraditions to Scottish prisons being blocked or held up by international courts in the last five years, and, if so, what the reasons were for any such cases.

Foreign authorities sometimes request assurances from Scotland in response to an extradition request because they must be satisfied that requested persons will not be subject to treatment that breaches their human rights. Assurances, by their nature, require more work to be done in order to secure the extradition of a requested person, therefore, all cases where assurances are sought necessarily involve some element of additional delay. The most commonly sought assurances relate to prison standards and the nature of healthcare available in prisons.

Pre-Brexit, assurance requests from the EU were rare due to the principle of mutual trust and respect accorded between EU member states. However, post-Brexit, the number of assurances and the complexity of the specific asks increased as courts, both Scottish and Foreign, must consider the system the requested person will be surrendered to in greater detail and with greater scrutiny due to the loss of mutual recognition between the UK and EU.

The Scottish Government is aware of one extradition which was temporarily blocked by an Irish court in 2023 following a negative judicial finding regarding the first set of assurances provided. The requested person was subsequently extradited to Scotland in 2024 following the provision of updated assurances by the Scottish authorities.

The Scottish Government is not aware of any other international or foreign court blocking any extradition.

Question reference: S6W-38290

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit has had its funding reduced by £35,500 in the 2025-26 financial year, compared with the previous financial year.

Funding for the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit for 2025-26 has not been reduced.

The Scottish Government grant to the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit has been increased from £1.17 million in 2024-25 to just over £1.2 million for 2025-26. This represents an increase of £47000 (4%) on the Unit’s grant allocation in 2024-25, and is a £82000 (7%) increase on the Unit’s indicative grant allocation for 2025-26.

Question reference: S6O-04821

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 June 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on when the consultation results of the A96 corridor review will be published.

Question reference: S6F-04167

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 June 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 June 2025

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's position is on whether the home leave for prisoners system is operating appropriately and as intended.

Question reference: S6O-04779

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 June 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what work it is undertaking to prepare for the publication of the Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland statistics for 2024-25.

Question reference: S6T-02545

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that violence against teachers in schools in Aberdeen has risen by 25% in the last year.

Question reference: S6W-37549

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 27 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects to publish a strategy on ending intimate and sexual violence against men and boys.

The Scottish Government’s 2021-22 Programme for Government included a commitment to progress work to tackle violence against men and boys, investing in services which support male survivors of rape and domestic abuse.

In line with our PfG commitment we have invested in services which support male survivors of abuse by funding the following organisations:

Men’s Advice Line, who provide emotional support and practical advice and information for male victims of domestic abuse in Scotland.
SACRO’s FearFree Project which supports male and LGBTI survivors of domestic violence.
AMIS, a charity that support men experiencing domestic abuse through their national helpline, website and training services.
The Scottish Domestic Abuse and Forced Marriage Helpline to support both male and female victims and survivors.
ASSIST, who as part of their work provide advocacy support to male survivors of domestic abuse in the West of Scotland and the Lothians.
LGBT Domestic Abuse project, which works across Scotland to raise awareness and improve service responses of LGBT people's experiences of domestic abuse and other forms of gender based violence.

All legislative changes adopted to address domestic abuse and rape and sexual assault, such as the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 similarly protect both female and male victims.

Furthermore, Equally Safe, Scotland’s strategy to prevent and eradicate all forms of violence against women and girls, recognises that men and boys can also be victims of violence and abuse. Its focus on the disproportionate harm women and girls face due to this type of violence is in line with United Nations and World Health Organisation approaches, and enables us to meet our obligations under international human rights legislation such as CEDAW and the Istanbul Convention.

Question reference: S6W-37544

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 27 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to launch its consultation on whether the dual functions of the Law Officers, as head of the independent prosecution service and principal legal advisers to the Scottish Government should be separated, in light of the commitment on page 36 of the Scottish National Party 2021 manifesto.