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-39155

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 12 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the importance of naval contracts for shipyards in Scotland, and how it reconciles this with its policy to not use public money to support the manufacture of munitions or weapons.

Question reference: S6W-39192

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 11 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 8 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many police officers have been refused permission to work second jobs in the past five years.

Question reference: S6W-38943

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 11 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will launch an independent public inquiry into the operation of grooming gangs in Scotland.

The Scottish Government will give every consideration to the need for an independent public inquiry into the operation of “grooming gangs” in Scotland, should it be deemed necessary following the completion of evidence-gathering activities currently underway by Police Scotland and its partners.

Police Scotland has advised that there are no current investigations in Scotland involving offences against children which would mirror the investigations described in Baroness Casey’s Audit as being perpetrated by “grooming gangs”.

However, there is absolutely no place for complacency. That is why Police Scotland are carrying out a deep dive into previous investigations of the type referred to in the Baroness Casey Audit. This is expected to be completed in a matter of weeks, and we will review the findings as soon as they become available.

While Police Scotland’s deep dive is ongoing, the Scottish Government is considering the findings and recommendations of the Casey Audit to understand how they might apply to Scotland. The Casey Audit will also be considered by the National Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Strategic Group, as it considers opportunities to improve our response to child sexual abuse and exploitation in Scotland.

As you will be aware, the current Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry is ongoing and is one of the widest ranging ever undertaken in Scotland. While the primary aim of the inquiry is to investigate the extent and nature of abuse in care settings from 1930 to 2014 it is also conducting an extensive review of current child protection policy and practice in Scotland, to consider whether changes are required to better protect children from abuse in future.

Question reference: S6W-38946

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 11 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what contact it has had with the UK Government regarding potentially expanding the recently announced inquiry into grooming gangs in England and Wales to include Scotland.

The UK Government has made clear that the scope of it’s inquiry into grooming gang activity is limited to England and Wales. Scottish Government officials have met with UK Government officials to discuss the UK Government’s response to Baroness Casey’s audit and underline our commitment to supporting the inquiry and engaging on any matters relevant to Scotland.

The Scottish Government continues to engage with UK Government counterparts to identify opportunities for improved collaboration to tackle harm against young people including child sexual abuse and exploitation. As part of this approach, the Minister for Children, Young People and The Promise and The Minister for Community Safety and Victims will be meeting with Jess Philips MP, UK Government Minister for Safeguarding in the coming months to discuss issues related to child sexual abuse and exploitation, violence against women and girls and online safety of children and young people.

Question reference: S6W-39297

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 7 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on what proportion of new cars registered in Scotland in 2024 were acquired through the Accessible Vehicles and Equipment Scheme.

Question reference: S6W-39296

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 7 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has provided to the International Commission of European Citizens (ICEC) in each of the last 10 years.

Question reference: S6W-39168

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 10 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether prostitution is a form of violence against women, and what legislative steps it is taking to address this issue.

The Scottish Government’s Strategic Approach to challenge demand for prostitution and improve support for those with experience of it reinforces the clear message that there is no place for the exploitation of any individual, and that prostitution is recognised as a form of violence against women and girls, as was also set out in our Equally Safe Strategy.

There are a number of specific offences which make certain activities associated with prostitution illegal, including trading in prostitution of others, the running of a brothel, procuring for the purposes of prostitution, as well as publicly soliciting or loitering for the purpose of purchasing sex, and trafficking persons for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Current legislation is clear that no one can be forced into sexual activity without their consent.

Our joint work with Police Scotland forms a key element of our strategic approach and we support their national approach on prostitution, Operation Begonia, which takes a victim-centred trauma-informed approach routing women to support, whilst ensuring that Police more evidently use the powers currently available to them to challenge men’s demand.

Question reference: S6W-38928

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 10 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what safeguards exist to ensure that victims and the courts are aware of an offender’s full history in gender identity cases.

Victims are not provided, in whole or in part, the criminal record of any offender in the context of a prosecution.

Prosecutors may present an accused person’s previous convictions to the court for specific purposes, including the consideration of bail and bail conditions, or in determining the most appropriate sentence. This information is obtained from Police Scotland using the accused person’s Scottish Crime Records Office (SCRO) number, which is a unique identifier used across the justice system in Scotland. This ensures that relevant information is accurately linked to the individual, regardless of any change of name or gender identity.

Question reference: S6W-39049

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 27 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 9 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of whether employee ownership is a sustainable business ownership model, and on what evidence its assessment of this matter is based.

The independent review, ‘Developing Scotland’s Economy: Increasing the Role of Inclusive and Democratic Business Models’, looked at a range of inclusive and democratic business models (IDBMs), including employee ownership, and outlined their important contributions to the Scottish economy. The Economic Democracy Group was formed following the review and will examine the review’s recommendations with the objective of devising a workplan to realise their implementation where this is feasible.

Question reference: S6W-38938

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 9 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many buses have been ordered by Transport Scotland or the Scottish Government from manufacturers in China in the past five years.

Neither Transport Scotland nor the Scottish Government have ordered any buses in the past five years.

Since 2020, Transport Scotland has supported the Scottish bus sector with over £150 million of grant funding to support operating companies to acquire 800 zero emission buses and their supporting charging infrastructure. This is a rapid increase from the 20 zero emission buses on the road in 2020, and we have been right to set ambitious targets for the sector.