- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 04 July 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 24 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many police officers subject to allegations of sexual misconduct currently remain in post.
Answer
Addressing allegations of sexual misconduct is an operational matter for the Chief Constable. The information requested is not held by the Scottish Government.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 04 July 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 24 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether it is appropriate for prisoners convicted of sexual violence offences to be allowed to view sexual content while in prison.
Answer
I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-39151 on 24 July 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 04 July 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 24 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what immediate action it will take to address the reported 52% increase in police officer mental health absences over the last three years.
Answer
Officer wellbeing is an operational matter for Police Scotland. I refer the member to my response to S6W-35420 on 17 March 2025 and S6W-37984 on 9 June 2025.
The Chief Constable has stated to the Criminal Justice Committee that the wellbeing of police officers and staff is one of her main priorities. Police Scotland has made a £17 million investment in workforce wellbeing, which includes a 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme and enhanced occupational health services, to support officers and staff wellbeing.
Police Scotland has provided reassurance that they have a healthy recruitment pipeline and has recruited around 1,370 officers since the start of 2024.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 04 July 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Angus Robertson on 24 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the appropriateness of it providing a grant to the Edinburgh International Book Festival shortly after the appointment of the former Chief of Staff to the First Minister as a festival director.
Answer
Funding was approved for the school programme of the Edinburgh International Book Festival on 28 March 2025, some months prior to the appointment referred to.
Edinburgh International Book Festival have confirmed that appointments to their Board for directors, which are unsalaried and unremunerated, follow fully advertised and formal open recruitment processes.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 27 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 24 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the policy recommendations in the University of Manchester report, On Hydrogen, including their potential impact on future (a) policy and (b) publicly funded research on hydrogen in Scotland.
Answer
The Scottish Government recognises that the work of universities, research institutes and industry play a valuable role in the development of the hydrogen sector, and we routinely engage with relevant academic outputs of universities as we continue to develop our policies and assess research needs in this emerging sector.
Hydrogen policy officials met recently with several of the academics from Manchester University who contributed to the collection of papers in their wide ranging ‘On Hydrogen’ report and will take these papers into consideration as part of the broader research landscape in the hydrogen sector. The Scottish Government continues to welcome engagement with universities regarding hydrogen and is fully committed to helping the Scottish hydrogen sector develop and grow.
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 27 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 24 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has undertaken a full carbon lifecycle assessment comparing the environmental impact of domestically extracted coal with that of imported coal, particularly for small-scale and specialist users such as the heritage and manufacturing sectors, in light of the publication of its Coal extraction: policy position on 19 June 2025.
Answer
We have undertaken a full policy development process in order to reach a finalised position of no support for coal extraction in Scotland, in line with statutory requirements. The first step in this process was the launch of a call for evidence which ran from 21 June to 02 August 2022, which invited stakeholders’ views and expanded our evidence base in this policy area.
The call for evidence set coal extraction in its wider context of our statutory emissions targets and just transition and highlighted our work to date in relevant policy areas, including energy security, climate change, and just transition.
Having considered stakeholders’ views and the evidence received alongside wider Scottish Government energy and climate change policies, our preferred policy position of no support for coal extraction in Scotland was confirmed in October 2022.
The policy position was subject to statutory and other assessments, including Strategic Environmental Assessment, before finalisation. This included in our draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan (ESJTP), and our National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4). NPF4 is publicly available here: National Planning Framework 4 - gov.scot.The draft SEA of the draft ESJTP is publicly available here: strategic-environmental-assessment-draft-energy-strategy-transition-plan-environmental-report.pdf.
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 27 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 24 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what definition it applies to its policy of no support for onshore conventional oil and gas extraction, and whether the policy allows for any limited exceptions where production could support local industry or employment, in light of the publication of its Onshore conventional oil and gas: policy position on 19 June 2025.
Answer
We have undertaken a full policy development process in order to reach a finalised position of no support for onshore conventional oil and gas extraction in Scotland, in line with statutory requirements. The policy position was subject to statutory and other assessments, including before finalisation. This included in our draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan (ESJTP), and our National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4).NPF4 is publicly available here: National Planning Framework 4 - gov.scot.The draft SEA of the draft ESJTP is publicly available here: strategic-environmental-assessment-draft-energy-strategy-transition-plan-environmental-report.pdf. The partial Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment of the draft ESJTP is publicly available here: Regulatory Impact Assessment Template.
Our NPF4 makes clear that significant weight will be given to the global climate and nature crises when considering all development proposals. NPF4 Policy 33 sets out a policy of no support for the exploration, development and production of fossil fuels, other than in exceptional circumstances aligned with national policy on energy and targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This includes our policy position on onshore conventional oil and gas.
- Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 18 July 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 24 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what the estimated annual cost to the public purse is of governing the salmon farming industry, including smolt production, in Scotland.
Answer
We are unable to provide the information requested. The aquaculture sector is governed by multiple agencies in both Scotland and the UK, for example APHA (Animal and Plant Health Agency). These agencies provide different legislative functions and charging schemes. The agencies and their respective employees who work on aquaculture undertake a wide range of duties relating to the governance of aquaculture in the round, not only to the salmon sector.
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 July 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 24 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how much funding has been distributed to (a) public, (b) private, (c) third sector and (d) community organisations from the Islands Cost Crisis Emergency Fund since it was established, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
The Islands Cost Crisis Emergency Fund (ICCEF) is distributed to island local authorities, which decide where funding will be directed based on their local knowledge and understanding of the impacts of the cost crisis on their island populations.
The six island local authorities have provided, where possible, a breakdown of how the monies have been distributed.
Several recipients could reasonably be classified as both third sector and community organisations. For the purposes of this question, local authorities have assigned each recipient to the category they consider most appropriate.
In this instance, the Scottish Government has assumed ‘private’ to mean private individuals and families
2022-23 | Public | Private | Third Sector | Community Organisations | Total allocation |
Argyll and Bute | £0 | £169,449 | £0 | £27,551 | £197,000 |
Na h-Eileanan Siar | £0 | £227,800 | £0 | £132,200 | £360,000 |
Highland | £0 | £115,000 | £0 | £32,000 | £147,000 |
North Ayrshire | £43,000 | £10,000 | £10,000 | £17,000 | £80,000 |
Orkney Islands | £0 | £0 | £305,000 | £0 | £305,000 |
Shetland Islands | £85,795 | £47,549 | £158,143 | £19,514 | £311,000 |
Total | £128,795 | £569,798 | £473,143 | £228,265 | £1,400,000 |
2023-24 | Public | Private | Third Sector | Community Organisations | Total allocation |
Argyll and Bute | £0 | £125,000 | £0 | £16,000 | £141,000 |
Na h-Eileanan Siar | £20,000 | £48,000 | £97,000 | £92,000 | £257,000 |
Highland | £0 | £105,000 | £0 | £0 | £105,000 |
North Ayrshire | £25,000 | £10,000 | £0 | £22,000 | £57,000 |
Orkney Islands | £46,000 | £9,600 | £104,400 | £58,000 | £218,000 |
Shetland Islands | £32,815 | £159,900 | £0 | £29,285 | £222,000 |
Total | £123,815 | £457,500 | £201,400 | £217,285 | £1,000,000 |
2024-25 | Public | Private | Third Sector | Community Organisations | Total allocation |
Argyll and Bute | £0 | £125,000 | £0 | £16,000 | £141,000 |
Na h-Eileanan Siar | £0 | £0 | £0 | £257,000 | £257,000 |
Highland* | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | £105,000 |
North Ayrshire | £0 | £0 | £0 | £57,000 | £57,000 |
Orkney Islands | £62,529 | £0 | £105,471 | £50,000 | £218,000 |
Shetland Islands | £13,500 | £195,506 | £0 | £12,994 | £222,000 |
Total | £76,029 | £320,506 | £105,471 | £392,994 | £1,000,000 |
*Note: Information regarding the Highland Council’s 2024-25 distribution of funds has not been provided to date.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 July 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 24 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on any discussions that it has had with the UK Government regarding the introduction of a new offence of misconduct in public office.
Answer
The Scottish Government has been engaging in ongoing discussions with the UK Government regarding the introduction of a “Hillsborough Law”, including a legal duty of candour for public servants and accompanying criminal sanctions. The Scottish Government is considering the extension of this to Scotland and the work in relation to this is ongoing.
The Scottish Government is aware of the Law Commission’s report on the common law offence of misconduct in public office in England and Wales and its recommendation that this is replaced with two statutory offences. The common law offence of misconduct in public office does not exist in Scots law. However, there is a comparable common law offence in Scots law of wilful neglect of duty. The Scottish Government has had some early engagement with the UK Government in relation to the Law Commission’s report.
