- Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 10 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 24 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the board's reported financial situation, what its position is on how NHS Grampian will repay its reported loan from it of £92.2 million.
Answer
NHS Grampian are escalated to Level 3 of the NHS Support and Intervention Escalation Framework for financial management and position and the Board continue to receive tailored support from the Scottish Government.
Outstanding brokerage must be repaid to Scottish Government once an NHS Board has returned to financial sustainability. At present, Scottish Government are working with NHS Grampian to secure a credible path to balance, and outstanding brokerage will be recovered once this has been achieved
- Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 10 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 24 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support the care sector, in light of reported comments from the Chief Executive of Scottish Care that "the bottom will fall out of the sector in three months".
Answer
The Scottish Government understand the level of concern Dr Donald Macaskill has for the challenges currently being faced by the Social Care sector within Scotland
We are particularly concerned about the impact of the decisions taken by the UK Government, most notably the increase in employers National Insurance Contributions, as well as changes to the social care visa system and salary threshold levels. These decisions place serious financial strain on social care services, that so many people across Scotland rely on.
The Scottish Government has increased investment into our Health & Social Care Sector, the 2025-26 Budget provides funding of £21.7 billion for Health and Social Care - an uplift exceeding consequentials and taking funding to record levels. This budget will have a continued focus on reform and improvement in our services, driving efficiency and changing how we deliver our services to improve quality and access.
We are continuing to invest in health and social care services, with almost 2.2 billion invested in social care and integration – exceeding our commitment to increase funding by 25% by almost £350 million.
We are providing an additional £125 million to support delivery of the pay uplift to a minimum of £12.60 per hour for adult social care workers as well as £5.9 million of investment into Care Inspectorate and £13.4 million into the Independent Living Fund.
Despite substantial funding increases, significant challenge remains – prevention, early intervention and reform remain critical to delivering an effective, efficient and sustainable health and social care system. Scottish Government officials have estimated that the social care sector alone face additional costs of more than £84m as a result of the increase in Employer National Insurance Contributions.
The Scottish Government and COSLA continue to raise this issue with the UK Government and request that funding is provided to cover the full cost of these changes for public services and those commissioned services that deliver critical services such as social care.
While we continue to engage with the UK Government on this matter, Scottish Government officials are undertaking a programme of work to understand and respond to the current financial viability pressures in the sector and the impact that this change will have. This has included engaging with local leaders through the Collaborative Response and Assurance Group(CRAG), as well as monthly roundtables and weekly meetings with partners including Scottish Care.
That work is ongoing, and the Scottish Government is committed to working closely with partners to identify the pro-active steps that can be taken to mitigate these impacts and protect services.
- Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 10 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 24 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it (a) has carried out and (b) plans to carry out an impact assessment of a potential trade deal between the UK and USA on sectors in Scotland, including farming, food, environmental protection, technology and public services.
Answer
The shape of any potential trade deal between the UK and the US remains unclear, which makes analysis of potential impacts challenging.
The Scottish Government is engaging with the UK Government at ministerial and official level to get the details needed to analyse the implications of a potential deal for Scotland. We are also engaging with businesses to understand their views and concerns and, when further details are available, we will closely examine opportunities for Scotland alongside key issues like environmental protection and the protection of our public services.
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Siobhian Brown on 24 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has had any discussions with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service about providing extra funding for the purchase of new equipment to fight wildfires, and, if so, what the outcome of any such discussions was.
Answer
The Scottish Government’s budget for 2025-26 includes £412.2 million for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) which is an increase of £18.8 million. This will enable SFRS to continue to deliver the high standard of services required to keep communities safe. This includes an increase from £43 million to £47 million in capital funding which will allow the service to invest more in property, fleet and equipment. The allocation of resources is a matter for the SFRS Board.
The Scottish Government is committed to working with SFRS to ensure continuing priority is given to the implementation of its wildfire strategy. The Service’s planned spend is circa £1.6 million over the course of the 3 year roll-out of its strategy. New equipment, vehicles and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) continues to be rolled out and SFRS will fully implement its wildfire strategy during the course of 2025. As part of its strategy SFRS is adopting ‘burn suppression’ techniques such as those in use in the new Mediterranean-style specialist wildfire units. Due to extensive training and the use of new techniques, SFRS’s ability to tackle wildfires has never been so advanced.
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Siobhian Brown on 24 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has had any discussions with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service regarding the condition of fire stations, and, if so, what the outcome of any such discussions was.
Answer
The Minister for Victims and Community Safety regularly meets with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) Chief Officer and Board Chair where a wide range of issues are discussed, including the capital budget allocation and the SFRS estate. The Scottish Government is aware of the condition of fire stations and has increased the capital funding for SFRS from £32.5m in 2023-24 to £43m in 2024-25 and to £47m in 2025-26. The allocation of resources is a matter for the SFRS Board.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 24 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many violent incidents involving weapons have been recorded in schools in each year since 2020.
Answer
Information is not held centrally on the total number of violent incidents within schools that involve the use of a weapon. Some information is available where any such use of a weapon resulted in either the exclusion of a pupil or the recording of a weapon possession (used) crime by the police.
Table One shows those exclusions from school in 2020-21 and 2022-23 which included the reasons of Physical assault using improvised weapon, physical assault using weapon and threat of physical violence using weapon or improvised weapon. This data is published biennially, with the next update covering the 2024-25 academic year. It should be noted that each exclusion can include more than one reason and figures for 2020-21 will have been impacted by the closure of the school estate as part of the Covid-19 lockdown.
Table Two shows the number of weapon possession crimes in school recorded by the police, where the weapon has been used against another person (for example to threaten or assault). This only covers cases that have been reported to the police, and again the relatively lower figures for the year ending December 2020 will likely reflect the pandemic related school closures.
Table One: Reasons for exclusion from school, 2020-21 and 2022-23
Reason for exclusion | 2020-21 | 2022-23 |
Physical assault using improvised weapon | 201 | 311 |
Physical assault using weapon | 183 | 255 |
Threat of physical violence using weapon or improvised weapon | 218 | 296 |
Source: School exclusion statistics
Note: Figures cover all publicly funded local authority schools in Scotland
Table Two: Number of police recorded crimes of weapon possession (used) within a school
| | Year ending December 2020 | Year ending December 2021 | Year ending December 2022 | Year ending December 2023 | Year ending December 2024 |
Possession of offensive weapon in a school used in other criminal activity | 27 | 47 | 69 | 68 | 76 |
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity | 17 | 26 | 30 | 36 | 33 |
Total | 44 | 73 | 99 | 104 | 109 |
Source: Police Recorded Crime in Scotland, Accredited Official Statistics
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Fairlie on 24 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the resilience of power supply infrastructure at Scottish airports, in light of the recent disruption at Heathrow Airport.
Answer
In general, the Scottish Government has no role in day to day operations at airports in Scotland as these are regulated by the UK Government and its associated agencies.
Officials engaged regularly with Scottish airports during the disruption affecting Heathrow Airport in order to understand the impact on Scotland. Whilst no concerns were raised by Scottish airports in relation to power supply, we would of course be happy to engage further with the sector should any issues arise that directly affect Scotland.
- Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 24 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the support that it is giving to NHS Grampian, in light of the NHS board's reported ongoing financial difficulties.
Answer
NHS Grampian were escalated to Level 3 of the NHS Support and Intervention Escalation Framework in January 2025 for financial management and position. The Scottish Government are providing specific tailored support to NHS Grampian in order to help stabilise the financial position. Alongside additional cost improvement programmes, the support package includes a dedicated financial support lead within Scottish Government who frequently meets NHS Grampian Executives challenge their financial position and trajectories and ensure the Board is on track to meet financial improvement milestones.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 24 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland report, Investigation into the care and treatment of Mr TU, published in March 2023, what steps it is taking to address any gaps in throughcare services, particularly for prisoners on remand, and whether this will include revisions to the Sustainable Housing on Release for Everyone (SHORE) standards.
Answer
Throughcare services are in place to support individuals being released from custody to reintegrate into the community, which includes providing support with any accommodation needs. A new national voluntary throughcare service, Upside, with annual funding of £5.3 million from the Scottish Government, launched on 1 April 2025.
Upside replaces the throughcare services provided by the Shine and New Routes Public Social Partnerships (PSPs). The service offers one to one support to individuals leaving short-term sentences and individuals who are being released from periods of remand and who may face unexpected release from court. The support is tailored to the individual and helps to address their specific needs following release from custody, such as accessing benefits, healthcare and suitable housing. As well as helping with these immediate needs, Upside will also help individuals to identify and build any longer-term support required to reintegrate into their communities.
Under the previous PSP provision, men on remand were not eligible for throughcare support. The Upside service addresses this, with support being offered to individuals leaving short sentences or periods on remand. This support is available now for short term prisoners and women on remand, with support for men on remand commencing in the summer. Over the coming months, Upside, SPS, Scottish Government and other partners will develop and refine the service delivery for those individuals who are on remand, to ensure they are supported on their release.
The Sustainable Housing On Release for Everyone (SHORE) Standards, include steps to ensure that any existing tenancies are sustained where appropriate and that housing is available on release, including after a period of remand. Anyone who is homeless or at risk of homelessness, including individuals leaving prison, has the right to approach a local authority for advice and assistance. Local authorities are obliged by law to offer advice and assistance for people who are at risk or who are experiencing homelessness, including providing temporary accommodation if it is needed.
The SHORE standards were refreshed in November 2024 to bring them up to date with legislation and policy changes. A more thorough review of the SHORE standards, which may include the potential to develop further guidance relating to individuals who are released from remand or direct from court, as well as from police custody, is planned to be completed by the end of 2025.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 24 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the finding in the Marine Conservation Society 2024 report, State of our Beaches, which records that over 22,000 wet wipes were found on the beaches surveyed and, in light of this, whether it will provide an update on what progress it has made towards a ban on the supply and sale of wet wipes containing plastic.
Answer
The Scottish Government thanks the Marine Conservation Society and their volunteers for their considerable efforts in gathering the data within the State of Our Beaches 2024 report, and also removing beach litter during these surveys. Their citizen science is vital in helping us prioritise future policy and legislation development.
We recognise that marine litter is an important national and international problem and have prioritised action through the Marine Litter Strategy for Scotland to ensure that the amount of litter entering the marine environment is minimised to bring ecological, economic and social benefits.
We published our refreshed Marine Litter Strategy in September 2022, which sets out a co-ordinated approach to address the amount of litter entering the marine environment, and supports the removal of debris that is already there. The updated strategy contains multiple actions on the most problematic types of marine litter including sewage-related debris and wet wipes. We are working across the four nations to put an end to pollution caused by wet wipes containing plastic, with legislation forthcoming.
