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-21341

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 4 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-20774 by Fiona Hyslop on 12 September 2023, whether it will provide the information requested regarding the milestones for the Aberdeen to Central Belt 2026 Enhancement project, as set out on page 11 of the Scotland's Railway July 2022 publication, Enhancements Delivery Plan, as has been done by the previous Minister for Transport, and, if it will not, for what reason there has been a change in approach; whether the target date for "Approval in principle" of August 2023 has been "Achieved", or whether this target has been "Missed"; whether the target date for "Entry into Service" of December 2026 remains "On Schedule"; for what reason it did not provide the information requested in its answer; and if it is not able to provide the information requested, what its position is on whether this represents a (a) loss of control and (b) lack of awareness by the Scottish Government of progress on this route to the north east.

Question reference: S6W-21422

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 4 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what procurement guidance has been given to local authorities regarding the purchase of laptops and other digital devices, in light of its commitment to provide every school pupil with their own laptop or other digital device.

Any decisions on device procurement are taken by individual local authorities, to ensure they can be used in line with local digital learning strategies.

To support local authorities, Scottish Procurement provide a range of national procurement frameworks which offer a direct route to market for the purchase of digital devices and other digital products.

Alongside this work, we are developing a digital strategy for education, to ensure that digital provision supports the broader aims of the education system.

Question reference: S6W-21484

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 3 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it has taken to encourage partners in the college sector’s collective bargaining process to implement the recommendations of the report, Lessons Learned – resetting national collective bargaining in the colleges sector.

Question reference: S6W-21486

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 3 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, as part of its move towards parity of support for part-time students that it announced in its Programme for Government 2023-24, whether it plans to implement the recommendation contained in the report of the independent review of student financial support in Scotland that “the Scottish Government works in collaboration with other interested parties, to look at how the key principles of this Review should be best implemented for part-time students and those currently receiving Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA)”.

Question reference: S6W-21487

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 3 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on when the next round of the Flexible Workforce Development Fund will be announced.

Question reference: S6W-21485

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 3 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government which partners in the college sector’s collective bargaining process have yet to provide a formal response to the report, Lessons Learned – resetting national collective bargaining in the colleges sector.

Question reference: S6W-21483

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 3 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to take forward the recommendations of the report, Lessons Learned – resetting national collective bargaining in the colleges sector, in particular the recommendation that "full consideration should be given to appointing an Independent, non-voting Chair for the [National Joint Negotiating Committee]".

Question reference: S6W-21423

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 2 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-20228 by Jenny Gilruth on 22 August 2023, whether it will provide the number of probationers that were bid for, and the number allocated, broken down by local authority.

The total bid figures reflect bids made by local authorities in February 2023. The total allocation figures reflect the allocation of probationers in May 2023.

Local Authority	Total Bid	Total Allocation
Aberdeen City Council	231	136
Aberdeenshire Council	166	116
Angus Council	50	36
Argyll and Bute Council	24	22
City of Edinburgh Council	244	215
Clackmannanshire Council	35	26
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar	20	15
Dumfries and Galloway Council	80	59
Dundee City Council	139	101
East Ayrshire Council	93	69
East Dunbartonshire Council	148	135
East Lothian Council	93	72
East Renfrewshire Council	147	140
Falkirk Council	143	120
Fife Council	283	218
Glasgow City Council	360	368
Highland Council	108	78
Inverclyde Council	64	49
Jordanhill School	3	7
Midlothian Council	71	49
Moray Council	85	67
North Ayrshire Council	72	63
North Lanarkshire Council	310	183
Orkney Islands Council	9	7
Perth and Kinross Council	58	45
Renfrewshire Council	104	116
Scottish Borders Council	61	55
Shetland Islands Council	12	9
South Ayrshire Council	98	70
South Lanarkshire Council	221	219
Stirling Council	72	74
West Dunbartonshire Council	68	75
West Lothian Council	146	147
Totals	3818	3161

Question reference: S6W-21421

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 2 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of all school pupils have been provided with a digital device, in line with its commitment to do so, as of the end of the 2022-23 academic year.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that every school aged child has access to a device by the end of this Parliamentary term and we continue to work with COSLA and local authority partners to develop delivery plans. Information provided by local authorities in early 2022, indicated that by that point almost 280,000 devices had been distributed. We will work with local authorities to provide further updates on the rollout in due course.

Question reference: S6W-21420

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 2 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what consequences there are for local authorities that do not meet its commitment to provide every school pupil with their own laptop or other digital device.

We are committed to ensuring that every school-aged child has access to a device to support their learning by the end of this parliament in 2026.

We continue to work with COSLA and local authority partners to develop delivery plans. This includes consideration of funding, monitoring and reporting, as well as the development of a digital strategy for education to ensure that digital provision supports the broader aims of the education system.