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: S6O-04589

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the finance secretary has had with ministerial colleagues regarding a different model for allocating funding to Integration Joint Boards, in light of a recent Accounts Commission report highlighting the unsustainable gaps in their finances.

Question reference: S6O-04591

Asked by: Bob Doris, MSP for Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the potential impact on Scotland’s public finances as a result of the UK Government increasing employer national insurance contributions.

Question reference: S6W-36669

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 23 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many people currently in receipt of Adult Disability Payment have been granted an indefinite award.

Social Security Scotland holds information at an individual level on clients who have been granted an indefinite award of Adult Disability Payment, but does not currently collate this information into a total figure.

Social Security Scotland will continue to review and prioritise any new statistics produced and will take account of users’ needs when developing future publications, in line with Code of Practice for Statistics.

Social Security Scotland routinely publishes statistics on all benefits, including Adult Disability Payment. The latest Adult Disability Payment official statistics publications can be found at: https://www.socialsecurity.gov.scot/publications/statistics.

Question reference: S6W-36593

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 23 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) subscription and (b) other associated costs it has paid in each of the last five years for the provision of (i) Microsoft Teams, (ii) Zoom and (iii) other videoconferencing software.

Scottish Government uses the Microsoft 365 product suite to support shared services across 21,000 users in 55 government sector organisations. Within that suite, Microsoft Teams is the component used for videoconferencing, but also supports an array of uses such as file sharing, messaging, telephony, calendar management, and mass corporate notification. As such, the costs provided here are for the total costs of Microsoft product tools as the components are not priced individually.

Streamlining product purchase and usage in this way has enabled Scottish Government to reduce or eliminate spend in other areas. The tool is highly resilient and supports Scottish Government in continuing to operate during disruptive events. It has also cut travel significantly during routine operating.

The following table shows the total amounts spent on Microsoft subscriptions over the past five years. There is a charge for Skype in 2020-2021, as we were transitioning from this service to Microsoft Teams.

Overall, the move to Microsoft cloud services has been driven by a focus on delivering value for money while building business resiliency. Any Microsoft procurement is managed through a government framework in order to ensure the best deal possible and safeguard the public purse.

Year	Software	FY Spend
2020-2021	Skype	£ 119,464.16
2020-2021	Microsoft Products	£ 3,999,359.64
2021-2022	Microsoft Products	£ 5,043,649.34
2022-2023	Microsoft Products	£ 5,879,085.73
2023-2024	Microsoft Products	£ 5,649,335.50
2024-2025	Microsoft Products	£ 6,300,240.60
Total:		£26,991,134.97

Question reference: S6W-36562

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 23 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it will fund the projected increase in social security expenditure without raising taxes or making reductions to other public services.

The Scottish Government will continue to provide vital assistance to enable older people to heat their homes, to help disabled people live independent lives and will keep thousands of children out of poverty. The Scottish Fiscal Commission’s December 2024 forecasts show that our investment in Social Security over and above the money we get from the UK Government is projected to be less than 3.5% of the total Scottish Government Resource Budget by 2029-30.

As part of our Medium-Term Financial Strategy, we consider the medium to longer-term drivers of public spending and assess these against forecast funding. It is then for Ministers to prioritise expenditure, as part of the annual budget process and Spending Reviews, in line with the principles and policies on the use of borrowing and reserve powers.

The Fiscal Sustainability Delivery Plan which will publish alongside the Medium-Term Financial Strategy in May 2025 will set out the actions we’re taking to improve the sustainability of the public finances over the medium-term.

Question reference: S6W-36501

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 23 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what criteria will be used to assess the recycling efficiency of local authorities under the extended producer responsibility scheme, and what the penalties will be for councils that fail to meet these standards.

An efficient waste management service is defined by the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024 as a waste management service where disposal costs are as low as reasonable possible, taking into account the waste management service provided by a local authority, and any other factors specific to that authority, or to the area in relation to which it exercises its waste management functions, which in the opinion of PackUK (the EPR scheme administrator) are likely to affect its disposal costs.

Effectiveness assessments of local authorities waste management services are carried out by PackUK. The assessment of whether a local authority is running an effective waste management service for household packaging waste will include the amounts of household packaging waste managed, and the proportions recycled, recovered or disposed of. It will also account for local authority specific factors including population density, accessibility, deprivation, and government policies in each nation, as well as other relevant factors. Metrics will be agreed between PackUK and local authorities.

If PackUK determines that a local authority is not providing an effective waste management service, they will give notice to the local authority and work with them to determine how the services could be improved. Only if a local authority is not doing everything they can be reasonably expected to do to improve its waste management service and has no mitigating circumstances, could they then be subject to a deduction of their payment up to 20%.

Effectiveness assessments can be brought in from 2026 if sufficient data is available to make assessments, but must be brought in by 2028.

Question reference: S6W-36685

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 23 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has conducted of income levels among older people in Scotland and how this compares with other parts of the UK.

Statistics on pensioner household income by UK country and English region are published by the Department for Work and Pensions. The median income for these households is presented in the following table.

Median weekly equivalised household income for pensioner households in £ (in 2023-24 prices), before housing costs

	2019-22	2020-23	2021-24
England	599	602	597
Wales	598	576	580
Scotland	599	585	586
Northern Ireland	609	592	588
UK	599	599	595

Source: DWP/ Households below average income publication

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/households-below-average-income-for-financial-years-ending-1995-to-2024

Question reference: S6W-35741

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 23 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions its ministers have had in relation to requests to deliver Hugh’s Law, which would offer financial assistance to parents when children undergo prolonged hospital treatment.

We fully recognise that this is a challenging time for families. The Young Patients Family Fund helps families of young inpatients under 18 in Scotland cover some of the costs of hospital visits, regardless of diagnosis. Families can get support to cover costs of travel, food and/or accommodation.

Importantly, no-one needs a formal diagnosis to apply for Child Disability Payment which has paid out over £1 billion to families with disabled children to date. Parents applying on behalf of a terminally ill child can use our fast-tracked route to apply so they and their family can access the maximum level of financial support they are entitled to – quickly and with dignity.

Question reference: S6W-36500

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 23 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether beer sold in the on-trade is defined as household waste by local authorities.

Classification of packaging waste as household or non household waste under extended producer responsibility for packaging is set out by the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024. Classification is based on several criteria and producers are encouraged to consult the regulations or contact SEPA for specific queries. Glass drinks containers that are not in scope of DRS, will be captured under packaging EPR data reporting and fee obligations. Drinks containers which will be obligated under DRS when in force, such as aluminum, will be exempt from pEPR fee obligations. The use of reusable/refillable packaging such as beer kegs or reusable bottles is also encouraged under pEPR, as producers are only required to report and pay disposal cost fees for household packaging the first time it is placed on the market, and can then offset these fees when they recycle this packaging at the end of its life, thereby avoiding the vast majority of pEPR fees.

Question reference: S6W-36504

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 23 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to prevent double counting of extended producer responsibility fees on products sold to the on-trade, in light of reports that packaging is unlikely to end up in household waste streams.

Packaging EPR policy is intended to transfer the cost of managing household packaging, once it becomes waste, from local authorities to the producers supplying that packaging. However, some packaging can be discarded by both consumers and businesses and is captured by the household packaging definition, particularly when supplied to a wholesaler or sold in hospitality settings.

The four nations recognise the concerns raised by some businesses and have worked to address concerns around the current definition of household packaging. There is currently no established method or international precedent that meets the expectation of UK businesses. We will continue to engage with sectors on a way forward for future years and will share more information soon.