Parliamentary questions
Stephen Kerr
2,595 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
16 Nov 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how many children in each local authority area are eligible to receive a free laptop or tablet, and, of those, how many (a) have received and (b) are yet to receive a free laptop or tablet.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: Our commitment is for all pupils to have access to a digital device by the end of this Parliament. The following table shows how many devices have been distributed by each local authority using the £25m digital inclusion funding made available by Scottish Gov…
9 Nov 2022 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of the removal of funding for the Scotland’s Winter Festivals Fund.
1 Nov 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a list of all the examination bodies in Scotland.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) is the statutory body for qualification awarding and regulation in Scotland. As an awarding body, SQA develops, maintains, and improves a range of SQA qualifications. These can be gained through learning at Scotland…
31 Oct 2022 · First Minister's Question
To ask the First Minister what plans the Scottish Government has to increase and improve the provision of mental health services in Scotland's universities.
26 Oct 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its response to the FOI request FOI/202200316022, for what reason three independent schools could be inspected in the last two years while no primary, secondary or special schools were inspected during the same period.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The inspection of independent schools as outlined in the question were carried out for the following reasons:"special inspections" which are generally in response to concerns being raised over the quality of provision for children and young people or safeguar…
26 Oct 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many conversations it has had with local authorities since May 2022 regarding the promotion of active travel.
Answer · Patrick Harvie: Since May 2022, the Sustainable and Active Travel Team has held 104 strategic conversations with local authorities on the promotion of active travel. These were primarily in relation to their Cycling, Walking and Safer Routes active travel infrastructure gran…
26 Oct 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of any compensation payments made by each NHS board in each year since 2017.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-02957 on 12 October 2021 . 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-commit…
26 Oct 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, regarding any compensation payments made by NHS Scotland since 2017, whether it will provide a breakdown of the (a) reasons for and (b) amount of each of any such payments.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-02957 on 12 October 2021. 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…
26 Oct 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the total amount is of any compensation that NHS Scotland has paid out, broken down by year since 2007.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-02957 on 12 October 2021 . 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-commit…
26 Oct 2022 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions ministers have had with the UK Government regarding making MSPs prescribed persons under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 and extending parliamentary privilege.
19 Oct 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to publish the 2020-21 Scottish Crime and Justice Survey results.
Answer · Keith Brown: Along with the other large household surveys that rely on face-to-face interviews, the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) was suspended in March 2020 to restrict social contact during the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, no SCJS interviews were conducted dur…
19 Oct 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-10792 by Neil Gray on 3 October 2022, whether it will provide the information requested regarding how many nights' accommodation have been booked for Ukrainian refugees under the Super Sponsor scheme with Booking.com since 1 March 2022, and for any …
Answer · Neil Gray: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-11675 on 8 November 2022. 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…
19 Oct 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-10791 by Neil Gray on 3 October 2022, whether it will provide the information requested regarding how many nights' accommodation have been booked for Ukrainian refugees under the Super Sponsor scheme with eboooking.com since 1 March 2022, and for an…
Answer · Neil Gray: The Scottish Government has not booked any temporary accommodation for displaced people from Ukraine through eboooking.com.
19 Oct 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-10790 by Neil Gray on 3 October 2022, whether it will provide the information requested regarding how many nights' accommodation have been booked for Ukrainian refugees under the Super Sponsor scheme with Hotels.com since 1 March 2022, and for any s…
Answer · Neil Gray: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-11675 on 8 November 2022. 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…
19 Oct 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-10789 by Neil Gray on 3 October 2022, whether it will provide the information requested regarding how many nights' accommodation have been booked for Ukrainian refugees under the Super Sponsor scheme with Expedia.co.uk since 1 March 2022, and for an…
Answer · Neil Gray: Corporate Travel Management (CTM) source and provide the majority of our travel-related services for displaced people from Ukraine, including accommodation in hotels. However, due to the popularity of the Super Sponsor Scheme, the Scottish Government also boo…
19 Oct 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-10788 by Neil Gray on 3 October 2022, whether it will provide the information requested regarding how many nights' accommodation have been booked for Ukrainian refugees under the Super Sponsor scheme with LateRooms.com since 1 March 2022, and for an…
Answer · Neil Gray: The Scottish Government has not booked any temporary accommodation for displaced people from Ukraine through LateRooms.com
19 Oct 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-10787 by Neil Gray on 3 October 2022, whether it will provide the information requested regarding how many nights' accommodation have been booked for Ukrainian refugees under the Super Sponsor scheme with Trivago.co.uk since 1 March 2022, and for an…
Answer · Neil Gray: The Scottish Government has not booked any temporary accommodation for displaced people from Ukraine through Trivago.co.uk.
19 Oct 2022 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given in its planning policy to the role of mixed energy generation methods.
6 Oct 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it made the decision to terminate the contract with Serco to run the Caledonian Sleeper service.
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Serco Caledonian Sleepers Limited (SCSL) chose to submit a rebasing proposal in accordance with the provisions of the Franchise Agreement. An alternative commercial proposal was also submitted. Following careful analysis, review and negotiation with SCSL, a f…
5 Oct 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the job description is for a community planning partnership place director.
Answer · Tom Arthur: Place Directors are senior civil servants (directors or deputy directors) who volunteer for the role alongside their day-to-day responsibilities. Each Place Director represents Scottish Government in one of Scotland’s 32 local authority and Community Planning…
5 Oct 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government who has been appointed to the post of place director in each community planning partnership in Scotland.
Answer · Tom Arthur: Place directors are not appointed - these roles are voluntary positions taken on by civil servants at deputy director and director level, alongside their day-to-day responsibilities. A list of current place directors and their local authority and Community Pl…
4 Oct 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a list of all currently operational Scottish Development International offices, broken down by location and staff numbers at each office.
Answer · Ivan McKee: Our Internationalisation Plans take an evidence-led approach to trade and investment policy and delivery, focusing on those sectors and opportunities where Scotland strengths align to global trends in trade and investment. All of our plans were developed in c…
3 Oct 2022 · First Minister's Question
To ask the First Minister what discussions she has had with the UK Government about new investment zones for Scotland.
26 Sep 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of (a) past and (b) planned spending on the Scottish Independence Referendum Bill, and whether this money is from the £20 million earmarked for spending on a referendum in 2023-24 in the Resource Spending Review set out on 31 May 2022.
Answer · Angus Robertson: In answer to part (a), information on spending on the Lord Advocate’s reference to the Supreme Court was published on 22 September, at: www.gov.scot/publications/independence-referendum-supreme-court-referral-legal-costs . In answer to part (b), as is usua…
23 Sep 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-10960 by Angus Robertson on 22 September 2022, whether the money being spent on the referral to the Supreme Court is from the £20 million set aside for preparations for an independence referendum.
Answer · Angus Robertson: The £20 million referred to is a provisional estimate from the Resource Spending Review for the financial year 2023-24. The costs of the Supreme Court referral are being met from the 2022-23 Government Business and Constitutional Relations budget line.
22 Sep 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what factors it has identified as being the cause of the reported drop in life expectancy for (a) men and (b) women in Scotland.
Answer · Maree Todd: The National Records of Scotland published the latest life expectancy statistics on 22 September 2022. The report shows that COVID-19 deaths accounted for the vast majority of the fall in life expectancy in 2020 and 2021, in both men and women. However, there…
21 Sep 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many staff currently working in the overseas offices network are also employed by the UK Government's overseas embassies.
Answer · Angus Robertson: There are no Scottish Government staff working within our international offices, who are also employed by the UK Government. Scottish Government international offices are staffed by Civil Servants and Country Based Staff. Civil Servants are appointed to re…
21 Sep 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government for what reasons Scotland’s Winter Festival Fund for the 2022-23 season is no longer in operation, and what support exists for winter events in Scotland in 2022.
Answer · Neil Gray: Following the emergency budget review announced by the First Minister on 11 August 2022, the Scottish Government took the difficult decision not to provide funding for the Scotland’s Winter Festivals Fund in the 2022-23 season. This decision was considered ca…
7 Sep 2022 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the Scottish Police Authority about improving the accountability of policing in Scotland.
7 Sep 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the expected cost of its current case in the Supreme Court regarding the Scottish Independence Referendum Bill.
Answer · Angus Robertson: We published the costs incurred by the Lord Advocate’s reference to the Supreme Court on 22 September, which can be found here: www.gov.scot/publications/independence-referendum-supreme-court-referral-legal-costs . We will continue to publish costs on a qua…