Parliamentary questions
Stephen Kerr
2,595 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
10 Apr 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many care homes (a) have closed in the last 12 months, and (b) are considered to be at risk of closure.
Answer · Neil Gray: In regards to part A of the question, the best source for care home closure data sits with the Care Inspectorate (CI) via their ‘service cancellations and registrations publication’. The most recent version was published on 22 January 2025, which …
10 Apr 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what contingency measures are in place in the event that a large number of care homes close in the next six to 12 months, in light of reported concerns from the sector regarding potential closures.
Answer · Neil Gray: I would highlight that although we have overall responsibility for health and social care policy in Scotland, the statutory responsibility for delivering, commissioning, providing appropriate social care capacity at a local level lies with local authorities, …
10 Apr 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to reduce the reported overreliance of universities on international student markets for financial stability.
Answer · Graeme Dey: The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) has a statutory duty set out in the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 2005 to secure the coherent provision by the post-16 education bodies (as a whole) of a high quality of fundable further education and fundable …
10 Apr 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Scottish Care and other sector representatives regarding how to prevent a “collapse” in care home provision.
Answer · Neil Gray: The Scottish Government are undertaking a programme of work to understand and respond to the current financial viability pressures facing the care home and wider social care sectors.This work has included collaboration with sector partners and representative …
10 Apr 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the reported warning from Scottish Care that half of all residential and nursing care homes could close within a year, and what urgent action it is taking in response.
Answer · Neil Gray: The projections and warnings from Scottish Care are alarming, and we certainly understand that the current challenges facing the social care sector including the care home sector are significant. Additional pressures have been brought to the sector by the dec…
10 Apr 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish a breakdown of the average cost per bed per day of publicly funded care homes in each local authority area.
Answer · Maree Todd: The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested.The average cost per bed per day of publicly funded care home places is determined at the local authority level and reflects a range of factors including local commissioning arrangements, negotia…
10 Apr 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish the full cost-benefit analysis that was used to approve the retrofit project for the headquarters of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service in Edinburgh.
Answer · Alasdair Allan: Proposals for funding via the Scottish Central Government Energy Efficiency Grant Scheme are reviewed by a panel of technical experts to assess eligibility and value for money. The fund operates on a competitive basis and funding is offered only to projects t…
10 Apr 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that the cost of publicly funded care home beds in Scotland are significantly higher than those in England, and what assessment it has made of the reasons for any such disparity.
Answer · Maree Todd: The Scottish Government is aware of the reports indicating that the cost of publicly funded care home beds in Scotland is higher than in England. This disparity is likely to be influenced by several factors, including differences in service models, staffing l…
10 Apr 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the potential impact of its current climate change plans on (a) rural jobs, (b) transport infrastructure and (c) energy costs for low-income households.
Answer · Gillian Martin: The Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 requires Scottish Ministers to have regard to just transition principles in development of Climate Plans. The upcoming Climate Change Plan will outline how this government will take action to reduce emissions in a way wh…
10 Apr 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it made of alternative, lower-cost options to reduce emissions at the headquarters of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service in Edinburgh.
Answer · Alasdair Allan: The policy direction is that public bodies should retrofit and maintain existing buildings, rather than building new ones, wherever possible. The options of building new and exploring a private lease were therefore not considered as an alternative to retrofit…
10 Apr 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many buildings it plans to provide green upgrades for under its decarbonisation programme, and what the average cost is projected to be.
Answer · Alasdair Allan: To continue to provide the vital services that people need, our public bodies need premises located in our communities. Maintaining these buildings to modern standards – including, but not limited to, climate requirements – will mean ongoing inves…
10 Apr 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what consideration was given to using Scotland-based suppliers to develop the ScotAccount system.
Answer · Ivan McKee: The Scottish Government Digital Identity Beta project contract was awarded to the successful supplier following a competitive tender via the Digital and Technology Services Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) where all suppliers listed on Lot 1 of the DPS were gi…
10 Apr 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many pupils identified as gifted or talented are currently in receipt of targeted support in schools, and how this compares with previous years.
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Statistics on more able pupil as a reason for support are published in the pupil census supplementary statistics. This is available on the Scottish government website here https://www.gov.scot/publications/pupil-census-supplementary-statistics/.Local authorit…
10 Apr 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its justification was for reportedly spending £11.2 million on decarbonising the headquarters of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service in Edinburgh, in light of the building reportedly being valued at £4.75 million.
Answer · Alasdair Allan: The Scottish Government are contributing £9.08 million towards the cost of this project through the Scottish Central Government Energy Efficiency Grant Scheme and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service are contributing the remainder. While the c…
10 Apr 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish a detailed breakdown of the funding sources required to deliver its net zero targets, including the proportion anticipated to come from the private sector.
Answer · Gillian Martin: Scottish Government intends to provide estimates of the costs and benefits of the policies and proposals in the draft Climate Change Plan when that is published later this year. Information on the expected distribution of costs may not be available for all po…
10 Apr 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what legal guarantees are in place to prevent a ScotAccount becoming a mandatory requirement for access to public services.
Answer · Ivan McKee: There are no legal mechanisms in place to mandate the use of ScotAccount for access to public services.
10 Apr 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that cost information for publicly funded care home places is being withheld on the grounds of commercial confidentiality, and what its position is on whether this is acceptable.
Answer · Maree Todd: The Scottish Government understands concerns regarding the withholding of cost information for publicly funded care home places under claims of commercial confidentiality. While commercial interests are protected under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Ac…
10 Apr 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what personal data is held in a ScotAccount; how long this data is retained, and for what purposes it may be accessed or shared across departments.
Answer · Ivan McKee: ScotAccount is designed with privacy in mind. As part of maintaining and securing their account, ScotAccount stores a user’s email address and telephone number. Once users have verified their identity successfully, they can also choose to save their ver…
10 Apr 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what mechanisms are in place to ensure that future public sector decarbonisation projects are not permitted to exceed the asset value of the buildings that they are intended to upgrade.
Answer · Alasdair Allan: The rateable value of the building is not the only measure of value for money and nor is it an indication of the cost to replace with a new building. There are other relevant factors with respect to looking at alternatives for public sector buildings. For ins…
10 Apr 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish a list of all Scottish higher education institutions currently forecasting deficits, broken down by their projected shortfalls for the next academic year.
Answer · Graeme Dey: The Scottish Government does not hold this information. The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) has a statutory duty set out in the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 2005 to secure the coherent provision by the post-16 education bodies (as a whole) of a …
10 Apr 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what guidance is issued to teachers regarding the identification and development of high-ability pupils, and when any such guidance was last updated.
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Highly able learners are entitled to support under the Additional Support for Learning (Scotland) Act 2004.Local authorities oversee the delivery of education and have a statutory duty to identify, provide for, and to review the support that they provide for …
10 Apr 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the potential impact of declining international student enrolments on university finances, in light of reports that applications from overseas students are down by over 10%.
Answer · Graeme Dey: The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) has a statutory duty set out in the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 2005 to secure the coherent provision by the post-16 education bodies (as a whole) of a high quality of fundable further education and fundable …
10 Apr 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what oversight mechanisms exist to monitor the use of personal data held within the ScotAccount system, and whether an independent regulator is (a) currently and (b) planned to be involved in this.
Answer · Ivan McKee: ScotAccount meets the Scottish Government’s legal obligations and requirements under data protection law. Throughout the development of ScotAccount, we have engaged with the Scottish Government’s Data Protection Officer, who is responsible for dat…
10 Apr 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what contingency planning it has undertaken in the event that any anticipated private investment for its net zero strategy does not materialise.
Answer · Gillian Martin: The Scottish Government recognises the investment challenge associated with the transition to a net zero and climate adapted economy and the focus has therefore been on working to deliver a co-ordinated programme to attract investment in priority areas of net…
10 Apr 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what (a) support and (b) funding it has provided to the Vision Schools Scotland project, run jointly by the Holocaust Educational Trust and the University of the West of Scotland.
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Myself and the previous Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills have supported the annual Vision Schools Scotland Awards ceremony by attending and contributing to the ceremonies where achievement of schools and pupils in Holocaust Education are recognised.…
9 Apr 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to review the Curriculum for Excellence to include mandatory teaching of the Holocaust in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools.
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Scotland does not have a mandatory curriculum. Instead, Curriculum for Excellence is a flexible framework for teachers to determine what they wish to teach and how, including providing learning and teaching about the Holocaust.The Curriculum Improvement Cycle…
9 Apr 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it has taken to ensure that all pupils in Scotland are taught about the Holocaust.
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: I refer the member to the answer to questions S6W-36833 on 9 May 2025 and S6W-36835 on 6 May 2025 and S6W-36840 on 6 May 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found…
9 Apr 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether any guidance has been issued by (a) it, (b) Education Scotland and (c) the Scottish Qualifications Authority to teachers and schools on how to teach about the Holocaust.
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: There are a range of resources available to support teachers to teach about the Holocaust. For example, the Holocaust Educational Trust, which receives funding from Scottish Government, have a range of age-appropriate resources, a link can be found at https:/…
9 Apr 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what support it provides to the Lessons from Auschwitz (LFA) project.
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Since 2009, the Scottish Government has provided almost £3.3 million to support the Holocaust Educational Trust’s Lessons from Auschwitz programme.The programme promotes and embeds learning about and remembrance of the Holocaust. Since 2009, 5,595…
9 Apr 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of recent reports of secure assessment materials being compromised, how many Scottish Qualifications Authority staff were aware that this had happened, and what internal accountability mechanisms are in place for such incidents.
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-37086 on 6 May 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-committ…