Questions and answers

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 ��˿�� 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-38554

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

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking in response to a reported 1,090% rise in cybercrime scams since 2021.

Question reference: S6W-38557

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

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting schools to include online safety and scam awareness in the curriculum.

Question reference: S6W-38108

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 10 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the detailed Project Willow report by EY-Parthenon, what its position is on whether it is feasible to use approximately 240,000 hectares of agricultural land for the production of cover crops for Project 6 (HEFA), as set out at page 124, and, if it considers it to be feasible, whether it has any concerns regarding competition with food production.

Question reference: S6W-38105

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 10 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the detailed Project Willow report by EY-Parthenon, what Government decisions that are to be made before the end of 2025 in respect of Project (a) 5, (b) 6, (c) 7, (d) 8 and (e) 9 are being referred to at page 44.

Question reference: S6W-38106

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 10 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the statement at page 21 of the detailed Project Willow report by EY-Parthenon that "across all scenarios, the direct GVA impact in total across projects is negative", how it plans to keep the nine projects identified in the Project Willow report operational.

The Scottish Enterprise and UK Office for Investment have established the Grangemouth Investor taskforce which is focussed on identifying and attracting investment in the proposals outlined in Project Willow, with a particular focus on opportunities that the Grangemouth Just Transition Fund could support to ensure they become market investible.

The Scottish Government is not the developer nor owner of any of the nine potential projects suggested through Project Willow. The responsibility for assessing the commercial viability of a project rests solely with the project developers.

Question reference: S6W-37153

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 10 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason For Women Scotland was reportedly only offered a brief 15-minute meeting with the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, following the Supreme Court ruling on For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers.

Question reference: S6W-38080

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 10 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many new social homes will be delivered in 2025-26, and how this compares with 2021-22, in light of the reported reduced budget allocation for social housing in 2025-26 compared with 2021-22.

We remain focused on delivering 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, with at least 70% of these for social rent and 10% in rural and island areas, including new build, rehabilitation and acquisitions.

Backed by £768 million of investment this year, we are continuing to work with partners to increase the delivery of more affordable homes. We will report on all homes delivered through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme via our quarterly official statistics. Official statistics for the Affordable Housing Supply Programme are available on the Scottish Government website at .

Local authorities, as strategic housing and planning authorities, are responsible for assessing affordable housing needs in their area and setting out their investment priorities in their Strategic Housing Investment Plans (SHIPs). These plans set out planned proposals for affordable housing supply over a five year period, and should be available on each local authority’s website.

From 23 March 2022 to 31 December 2024, a total of 26,039 affordable homes have been delivered towards the target of 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, consisting of 19,945 (77%) homes for social rent, 3,644 (14%) for affordable rent, and 2,450 (9%) for affordable home ownership.

Question reference: S6W-38098

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 10 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to promote modern forestry methods, in light of the recommendations in the Project Willow report.

Forestry in Scotland is guided by the principles of sustainable forestry management set out in the UK Forestry Standard (UKFS) requirements and guidelines and must also operate within the legal requirements regarding biodiversity and wider environmental impacts. Scottish Forestry is the Scottish Government’s agency tasked with regulation and policy advice for forestry. Any felling must either comply with a felling permission granted by SF or be carried out as part of an approved long term management plan. Techniques, such as whole tree harvesting, are only suitable on certain sites and guidance is available to ensure that it is carried out in a sustainable manner. All new woodland creation projects are assessed against the evidence-based UKFS which represents the governments approach to sustainable forestry.

Question reference: S6W-38099

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 10 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what studies for cover crop viability it plans to support, in light of the recommendation in the Project Willow report.

Question reference: S6W-38100

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 10 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what wholesale power market price reforms it plans to introduce, in light of the recommendations in the Project Willow report.

The power to undertake reforms to the wholesale market is reserved to the UK Government.

The Scottish Government has been consistently been clear with successive UK Governments, NESO, Ofgem and industry that reforms must reduce costs for Scottish consumers, ensure our communities feel the benefit of the energy transition, protect investment in our renewables industry and support decarbonisation.

The Scottish Government is clear that the current wholesale electricity market is not fit for the delivery of our net zero ambitions, nor our aims to tackle fuel poverty.