Parliamentary questions
Craig Hoy
1,298 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
5 Mar 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-34349 by Maree Todd on 28 February 2025, whether it anticipates that its reported trend of increases in spend on mental health and child and adolescent mental health services as a proportion of NHS board spending will continue at their present rate,…
Answer · Maree Todd: Decisions around how much is spent on mental health and child and adolescent mental health services is dependent on the financial decisions taken by NHS Boards and their partners, on the continued local investment needed to achieve the targets. It is importan…
5 Mar 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-34366 by Shona Robison on 28 February 2025, for what reason there was a decrease in the number of contingent workers recorded under the Director General for Corporate Services between 2022 and 2023.
Answer · Shona Robison: The use of contractors in SG is largely accounted for by resourcing requirements to strengthen key professional skills such as expanding our digital capabilities. Employing temporary and agency workers provides the flexibility required to meet immediate busin…
5 Mar 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-34347 by Maree Todd on 28 February 2025, what its position is on whether its Psychiatry Recruitment and Retention Working Group (a) is a sufficient response to the reported workforce crisis in psychiatry and (b) will result in the reported workforce…
Answer · Maree Todd: It is important that we work closely with leaders in the Psychiatry profession to address the challenges they are currently facing and the Psychiatry Recruitment and Retention Working Group are currently working towards producing a series of recommendations w…
5 Mar 2025 · Written Question
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.
Answer · Shona Robison: 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 nam…
5 Mar 2025 · Written Question
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 …
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: 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.Socia…
19 Feb 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what research it has conducted or commissioned into the behavioural impacts of income tax policy, and when the reports of any such research were provided to its ministers.
Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Government have published and commissioned several research papers to inform the development of Scottish Income Tax policy, all of which have been shared with Ministers upon conclusion of the work.HMRC has published three pieces of research repor…
19 Feb 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many recipients of the Adult Disability Payment have been removed from the claimant count in 2024-25 due to (a) the claimant removing themselves, (b) a review identifying fraud, (c) a review identifying a change in health circumstances, (d) death and (e) the claimant moving out of Sc…
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: Official statistics for Adult Disability Payment are routinely published by Social Security Scotland, including information on the number of recipients. Social Security Scotland does not publish statistics on clients leaving the Adult Disability Payment casel…
19 Feb 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many staff are currently employed by Social Security Scotland to identify fraudulent applications.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: It is the responsibility of all Social Security Scotland colleagues to identify and prevent fraudulent applications being awarded.Social Security Scotland has a zero tolerance to fraud and use a combination of system controls, processes and colleague awarenes…
13 Feb 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made on any financial impact of the displacement from pupils in Scotland moving from the independent schools sector to the state sector as a result of the imposition of VAT on fees and associated charges.
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Local authorities have statutory responsibility for education in their area. Officials have met with education leads within local authorities to understand the impact on the Scottish state sector to date. Scottish Government has received assurance from local …
13 Feb 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made regarding whether the Treasury has proportionately allocated VAT revenues raised on Scotland's independent schools to the block grant to allow for this revenue to be spent in the education sector.
Answer · Ivan McKee: VAT is a reserved power of the UK Government. Under the Barnett formula the Scottish Government is not entitled to a proportion of revenues raised by the UK Government under reserved powers. Changes to the Block Grant are calculated by reference to UK Governm…
13 Feb 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the Treasury regarding the allocation of VAT revenues raised on Scotland's independent schools.
Answer · Ivan McKee: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-34982 on 26 February 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…
6 Feb 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Institute for Fiscal Studies report, Assessing Scottish tax strategy and policy, and its reported findings that the Scottish Government’s current use of Land and Buildings Transaction Tax and the Additional Dwelling Supplement (ADS) is "an exceptionally …
Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Government has taken a progressive approach to the overall arrangements for Land and Buildings Transaction Tax, prioritising support for first-time buyers and home movers while raising vital revenue to support public services.The Scottish Fiscal …
5 Feb 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it has taken to limit any fiscal burden on local authorities of non-teaching staff in educational services.
Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Government recognise the crucial role councils and their employees play in communities across Scotland. That’s why the Scottish Government has made available over £14 billion to local authorities this year, a real terms increase of 4.…
5 Feb 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what information it has collected regarding the impact of its local government funding policy decisions in the last decade on service outcomes.
Answer · Shona Robison: Local Authorities are democratically accountable to their local communities for the service outcomes they deliver. As independent corporate bodies, local authorities are responsible for managing their own budgets and allocating the total financial resources a…
5 Feb 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to the supplementary to question S6O-04294 by Ivan McKee on 5 February 2025, what information it collects on net movement between Scotland and the rest of the UK, and by what metrics it is equipped to break down the figures of overall movement to and from Scotland …
Answer · Ivan McKee: As part of the Scottish Government’s work with HMRC to develop the evidence base analysis on intra-UK migration has been published by HMRC, showing movements by tax band and age band. This is available at:Intra-UK migration of individuals: movements in …
5 Feb 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what measures it has taken to assess the long-term impact of behavioural responses to its income tax policies.
Answer · Shona Robison: We closely monitor the impacts of our policy decisions on taxpayers, businesses, and the economy using a range of evidence such as real time economic data, formal evaluations and engagement with stakeholders, including the business community.We have also fund…
5 Feb 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether the First Minister’s stated priorities are currently considered as superseding the National Performance Framework where and whether they conflict.
Answer · Kate Forbes: The Government's four priorities, eradicating child poverty, building prosperity, improving our public services, and protecting the planet, are aligned with the current National Outcomes in the National Performance Framework (NPF). The recent decision, in res…
5 Feb 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government to what extent local authorities are fiscally exposed to pay (a) agreements negotiated and (b) decisions made centrally by the Scottish Ministers.
Answer · Shona Robison: Shona Robison: The Scottish Government respects the independence of Local Government and has no formal role in pay negotiations for non-teaching staff; these negotiations are undertaken through the Scottish Joint Council (SJC) which is a bilateral body formed…
4 Feb 2025 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to support the Scottish dairy sector.
29 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many full-time equivalent contractors it has employed in each year from 2021-22 to 2024-25 to date.
Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Government does not hold FTE data on contractors. Information on the headcount of contractor staff whose information is captured in the Human Resources Management Information System statistics are available on the quarterly published statistics o…
29 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many contractors it has employed in each portfolio area in each year from 2021-22 to 2024-25 to date.
Answer · Shona Robison: The following data provides the requested breakdown. Please note, for workforce purposes, the Scottish Government People Directorate defines a contractor as temporary workers, typically brought in under a service contract which has been let to an organisation…
29 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on employing contractors in each year from 2021-22 to 2024-25 to date.
Answer · Shona Robison: The following data shows the expenditure on Contingent Workers, of which Contractor would be a subset, but in conjunction with other categories of contingent workers. It is not possible to isolate Contractor expenditure within this data set.The Scottish Gover…
29 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many Business Improvement Districts currently operate in Scotland.
Answer · Tom Arthur: There are currently 36 operational Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) in Scotland. A full list can be found on the Scotland’s Improvement Districts (SIDs) website - Who they are - Scotland's Improvement Districts
29 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much has been raised in Business Improvement District levies in each of the last five years.
Answer · Tom Arthur: Information on the amount raised through Business Improvement District (BID) levies are not held by the Scottish Government.Local authorities are responsible for administering and collecting the levy on behalf of the BID and would be responsible for providing…
28 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to address the reported workforce crisis in relation to psychiatry, in light of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland Locum Psychiatrist Survey, which states that Scotland’s psychiatric workforce is not growing sufficiently to keep pace with the ris…
Answer · Maree Todd: The Scottish Government established the Psychiatry Recruitment and Retention Working Group as committed in the Mental Health Workforce Action Plan (November 2023) to address recruitment and retention challenges facing psychiatry in NHS Scotland.The working gr…
28 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how it is (a) tracking and (b) providing support for any demand for diagnosis, assessment and support for neurodevelopmental conditions in children and young people, in light of the child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) waiting lists having been separated to remove these co…
Answer · Maree Todd: Published national statistics on CAMHS waiting times captures children who meet the CAMHS criteria. Children who require neurodevelopmental support are not reported in these statistics unless they have co-morbid mental health issues. We do not currently colle…
28 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what steps are being taken to ensure that funds currently being spent on locum psychiatrists are redirected into sustainable, permanent psychiatry roles that will improve workforce conditions.
Answer · Maree Todd: Spend on locum psychiatrists is managed locally by NHS Health Boards. It is our expectation that Boards should always be seeking to secure best value whenever they enter into arrangements regarding use of locums.We recognise that the use of temporary staff in…
28 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how its draft Budget for 2025-26 will (a) address the reported crisis in the provision of services for people with neurodevelopmental conditions and (b) improve the (i) timeliness and (ii) quality of diagnosis, treatment and support for (A) children and (B) adults with neurodevelopmental…
Answer · Maree Todd: This year, we allocated £123 million to NHS Boards to improve the quality and delivery of mental health and psychological services, including neurodevelopmental services, for both adults and children and young people.Baselining this funding within NHS B…
28 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what steps are being taken to ensure that NHS boards meet the target to spend (a) 10% of their budget on mental health and (b) 1% of their budget on child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS).
Answer · Maree Todd: We remain committed to delivery of the 10% and 1% spending targets, for mental health services and CAMHS respectively. Latest data published by Public Health Scotland on 25 February 2025 shows total spend on mental health in Scotland has increased by £1…
28 Jan 2025 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government what factors it considered when determining not to introduce any new bands or increase the rates of Scottish income tax for the remainder of this parliamentary session.