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-35457

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 18 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-34365 by Shona Robison on 28 February 2025, whether it will provide a breakdown of its annual spend on contingent workers since 2021-22 by (a) project, (b) directorate and (c) contract name.

The Scottish Government does not hold all data in a way that can meet this request. The Scottish Government can provide you with a breakdown of its annual spend on contingent workers by Directorate, but is unable to provide this by Project and/or Contract name as it cannot be consistently categorised in this way.

The table containing the breakdown of expenditure by Directorate on contingent workers was too large to be incorporated into the PQ response. This has therefore been recorded as bib 65692 held in The Scottish Parliament Information Centre. To note, this data has been extracted from a different system to that which retains records on contingent worker numbers and cannot be viewed as inter-related, due to the dependency on different hierarchical structures and definitions of contingent worker. This data does not provide a comparable view of the costs attributable to the contingent workforce listed Scottish Government workforce information - gov.scot

The Scottish Government implemented an Oracle Cloud enterprise resource planning system in Autumn 2024, replacing our legacy HR and Finance systems. Though the data capture of contingent workers remains an area requiring some further development, the implementation of a combined HR and Finance system will improve the data we hold on workforce costs.

The Scottish Government has prioritised a reduction in the contingent workforce such as contractors and consultants, as it has reduced its workforce size. This approach has been in partnership with recognised Trade Unions. The number of contingent workers is now 39% lower than in March 2022.

Question reference: S6W-34991

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 18 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether it is responsible for ensuring that clear, legally robust definitions are consistently applied across all public bodies and publicly funded organisations, particularly in relation to the fundamental definitions of “woman” and “child”, and whether it will make adherence to such definitions a condition of public funding to prevent any unnecessary costs to the public purse and any erosion of public trust as a result of potential safeguarding failures being exposed through whistleblower-led legal challenges.

Public bodies and organisations operating in Scotland can be affected by a wide range of law in both devolved and reserved areas, with differing statutory mechanisms for enforcement. The Scottish Ministers may, in some cases, be subject to statutory duties to issue guidance to affected organisations and groups. However, other public bodies will have a statutory roles in regulating enforcement and issuing guidance about areas of law, including those reserved to the UK Parliament.

For payments made by the Scottish Government to public bodies and publicly funded organisations in Scotland, the Scottish Government expects those bodies to comply with the full range of legal obligations imposed on them by all relevant legislation. This includes duties under the Equality Act 2010, where key provisions on matters such as discrimination and the various protected characteristics, including sex, are reserved, or under health and safety workplace regulations, which are also reserved.

Question reference: S6W-35423

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 18 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish a breakdown of all local government funding allocations since 2013-14, including real-terms reductions.

Local Government funding allocations are routinely published in Local Government Finance Circulars. The allocations in question are available at:

2013-14 - Circular 2/2013

2014-15 - Circular 2/2014

2015-16 - Circular 2/2015

2016-17 - Circular 1/2016

2017-18 - Circular 1/2017

2018-19 - Circular 4/2018

2019-20 - Circular 2/2019

2020-21 - Circular 4/2020

2021-22 - Circular 5/2021

2022-23 - Circular 1/2022

2023-24 - Circular 3/2023

2024-25 - Circular 2/2024

2025-26 - Circular 1/2025

Question reference: S6W-35456

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 18 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-35094 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 5 March 2025, whether it has the capacity to (a) identify the number of distinct recipients removed from the claimant count for Adult Disability Payment in a given time frame and (b) break such data down by cause of removal.

Social Security Scotland has the capacity to identify the number of distinct recipients removed from the client count for Adult Disability Payment in a given time frame. Social Security Scotland do not hold the breakdown of such data by cause of removal.

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.

The latest Adult Disability Payment official statistics publication can be found at: Social Security Scotland - Statistics. The next release of Adult Disability Payment statistics, covering the period to the end of January 2025, is due to be published on 18 March 2025.

Question reference: S6W-35385

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 18 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what work it has undertaken to expand the supply chain for natural construction materials, such as hemp and wood fibre.

The Scottish Government is working with industry through the ministerially-led Construction Leadership Forum (CLF) to support the green energy transition, embracing the opportunities to grow Scotland’s economy, and as part of this work to explore natural material use. In addition, Scottish Government fund Built Environment – Smarter Transformation (BE-ST), who have undertaken extensive research into innovative construction materials.

Construction Leadership Forum

In 2023, the Construction Leadership Forum (CLF) published a report commissioned by construction innovation centre, Built Environment – Smarter Transformation (BE-ST), which identified and analysed the five highest value and highest growth low carbon energy supply chains in Scotland, and included natural construction materials. The report can be found online.

The CLF’s Transformation Action Plan was launched on 25 Jan 2024. Actions on key areas such as skills, net zero, and supply chains are now being implemented by eleven CLF working groups, overseen by a Transformation Board.

The CLF Net Zero working group, chaired by Stephen Good, CEO of BE-ST, and Gordon Nelson, Federation of Master Builders, has been meeting regularly and work is currently progressing. The group is focussed on driving a just transition to being net zero in embodied carbon, industry operations, and over asset life cycles, which was a commitment in the Construction Accord.

Built Environment – Smarter Transformation

The Scottish Government provide funding to Scotland’s construction innovation centre, BE-ST, who have undertaken extensive research into innovative construction materials.

BE-ST and Zero Waste Scotland asked the University of Edinburgh to prepare a report looking into the availability, performance, manufacturing supply chains, and market analysis of Natural Fibre and Circular Insulation options. Published in 2023, the report can be accessed online.

BE-ST have undertaken a number of other projects supporting and expanding the supply chains for natural construction materials, including:

Sylvan Stuart Integra House: funded by BE-ST (then CSIC) with academic support from Robert Gordon University, exploring the application of (imported) blown wood fibre insulation. In order to consider this type of insulation as a valid method for Integra House, a series of blowing trials were undertaken at BE-ST to understand the potential of incorporating blown wood fibre insulation into the manufacturing process.
MDF-R: blown-in recycled MDF (product now fully commercialised and available). Settlement testing was carried out at BE-ST to determine the optimum density with no settlement in accordance with British Standards. Testing also investigated the settlement of the installed product under vibration and the optimum density to remove the chance of settlement.
Sisaltech: Developing Sisalwool product (product now fully commercialised and available). Product prototyping support – Sisal fibre and textile waste material blending on BE-ST’s Spike Former and Thermobonding line, with further prototype development on BE-ST’s Stonemaker casting press. BE-ST also provided consultancy on type testing, product certification and route to market.
IndiNature: Developing the IndiTherm product (now fully commercialised and available). Product prototyping support – Hemp fibre blending on BE-ST’s Spike Former. BE-ST also provided consultancy on type testing, product certification, and route to market, and supported the certification process with an equipment loan to IndiNature, who have been supported financially through Zero Waste Scotland and the Scottish National Investment Bank.

Question reference: S6T-02425

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the reported decision to award phase 1 of the Small Vessel Replacement Programme to a Polish shipyard.

Question reference: S6T-02422

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will review public sector guidance on single-sex spaces, in light of reported concerns about the Care Inspectorate and the Scottish Prison Service.

Question reference: S6T-02426

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason hospitals are reportedly still using MRI scanners, CT scanners and X-ray machines that are decades old, in light of reported warnings by experts that equipment over 10 years old should be replaced.

Question reference: S6F-03926

Asked by: Michelle Thomson, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 March 2025

To ask the First Minister what assessment the Scottish Government has made of the recent UK Living Standards Review 2025, from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, and any implications for its work to grow Scotland’s economy.

Question reference: S6F-03915

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 March 2025

Question to be taken in Chamber.