- Asked by: Lorna Slater, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 August 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 17 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it is consulting directly with (a) transgender pupils, (b) their guardians and (c) their teachers on any changes to guidance on toilets and changing rooms in schools.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that the Supporting Transgender Young People in Schools guidance remains up to date and fit for purpose. As with any significant legal or policy developments, we are considering whether the guidance requires to be updated to reflect these. That consideration is ongoing.
The Scottish Government will engage with organisations representing a range of interests, as appropriate.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 August 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 17 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its response it to reports of a recent trend of businesses increasingly relocating production from Scotland to other parts of the UK.
Answer
Thriving businesses are key to Scotland’s prosperity, and their success is critical to delivering the First Minister’s priorities.
That’s why our Programme for Government includes measures that will make it easier to invest and do business by creating better certainty and stability for business. The programme includes actions to improve regulatory best practice, support entrepreneurs, boost planning capacity and reduce barriers to delivery.
NatWest’s New Startup Index shows Scotland's strong performance in business formations, with the fastest relative growth in new companies being incorporated from H2 2024 led by the North East of England (19.0%), followed by Scotland (17.9%).
According to the latest EY Attractiveness Survey, Scotland remains the best-performing part of the United Kingdom for inward investment, outside London, for the 10th year in a row.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 August 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 17 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of Scotland’s economic growth in the last two years has been attributable to (a) public and (b) private sector activity.
Answer
The statistics for Scotland’s gross domestic product (GDP) cannot be split precisely into separate contributions from the public and private sectors. This is because they are produced using data classified by industry and there are public sector bodies in many part of the economy. As an approximation, the contribution to GDP growth over the last two years from the public sector dominated industries of public administration and defence, education, health and social work is presented in the following table. Note that there are some public sector bodies in the rest of the economy, and the education, health and social work industries also contain private sector businesses and organisations. These contributions are calculated using the latest quarterly GDP statistics available at https://www.gov.scot/publications/first-estimate-of-gdp-2025-q2/.
| | Total GDP | Public administration and defence, education, health and social work | Rest of Economy |
Percentage growth: 2023 Q2 to 2025 Q2 | 2.0% | 2.6% | 1.9% |
Weighted contribution to Total GDP growth: 2023 Q2 to 2025 Q2 (percentage points) | 2.0p.p | 0.6p.p | 1.5p.p. |
Proportion of Total GDP growth: 2023 Q2 to 2025 Q2 | 100% | 28% | 72% |
Note: contributions may not sum to the total due to rounding
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 September 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 17 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has provided in each year since 2017 to third sector organisations that publicly campaign for gender self-identification, also broken down by organisation.
Answer
The information as requested is not held centrally. The Scottish Government funds hundreds of organisations and does not monitor which organisations have campaigned for gender self-identification.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 September 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 17 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what the most recent forecast is for the prison population to the end of 2025-26, and how this compares to the design capacity of the prison estate.
Answer
On 7 August, the Scottish Government published the latest 6-month prison population projections, based on court activity and prison population data, up to the end of 2025. Due to the uncertainty surrounding factors that influence prison population flows - such as crime rates and justice system activity - the projections included several possible scenarios, including a reasonable upper estimate and a reasonable lower estimate. Taking the scenarios together and assuming that recent trends in justice demand, policy and practice continue, it was projected that the average daily prison population could be between 7,950 and 8,750 in December 2025. The design capacity of the prison estate is currently 7,805.
- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 25 August 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 17 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will specify the use of Scottish-grown and manufactured cross-laminated timber (CLT) in the building standards technical handbooks and supporting documents.
Answer
Decisions regarding the selection and specification of materials must be made by qualified design and construction professionals, based on the specific performance requirements of each individual project. This approach ensures that materials are chosen appropriately and responsibly, in alignment with the intended outcomes of the building standards.
The Scottish Government actively encourages innovation within the construction sector, including the use of home-grown and sustainable materials. However, it would be inappropriate for the Technical Handbooks to promote or endorse any single material, product or technology.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 September 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 17 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many pupil support assistants have been trained to carry out invasive medical procedures in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
The information you have requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 September 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 17 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the development of Coul Links, and in light of the reported over 700 formal objections submitted, including from conservation bodies, scientists and residents, how it is ensuring that community and expert voices are being heard as well as those of private commercial interests.
Answer
Any planning application is required to be determined in accordance with the development plan unless there are material planning considerations that justify a departure from the development plan. In reaching a decision, full regard will be had to all material planning considerations, including the views of consultees as well as any representations submitted. The independent reporters held hearing sessions to gather evidence from the local community and expert witnesses (including those for the applicant, NatureScot and environmental charities) on the proposal’s potential impacts on protected sites, wildlife, and plants, as well as its anticipated socio-economic effects.
- Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 September 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 17 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that passengers from Lockerbie train station can benefit from the removal of peak fares.
Answer
ScotRail is not currently contracted or funded by Transport Scotland to operate rail services to Lockerbie. This has been investigated several times in the past but cannot be delivered efficiently by extending an existing service to Lockerbie.
It would require the leasing of additional trains and recruitment of staff resulting in an increased cost of several million pounds each year. It is therefore most cost efficient to the taxpayer, for cross-border operators to serve the station.
Options were explored to find a solution for Lockerbie station, however due to a range of factors, no sensible solution could be progressed at this time.
- Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 September 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 17 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide core funding for essential roles on brain tumour research, such as clinical research nurses and data analysts.
Answer
The Scottish Government, through NHS Research Scotland (NRS) provides core funding to promote and support excellence in clinical and translational research.
Within NRS, the Scottish Cancer Research Network works to increase, support and sustain cancer clinical trial activity across the NHS in Scotland. This work is underpinned by core funding from the Scottish Government.
The Scottish Cancer Research Network employs Clinical Research Nurses and Data Managers based on operational needs. The Network currently employs 2 dedicated Neuro-oncology Research Nurses and 2 specialist Data Managers.
