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-37541

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 22 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on the Baird and Anchor project in the current parliamentary session to date, and how much it estimates it will have spent in total by the end of the current parliamentary session.

The most recent budget forecast of £261.1 million for the Baird and ANCHOR project remains under pressure until design changes and completion strategies for both buildings are addressed. A full update on project costs is expected by late summer pending the scope of work being developed and agreed.

An important part of any large capital project, is the ongoing testing and refinement of the design. This process is informed by a range of internal and external experts and subject to independent review led by NHS Scotland Assure, and is intended to provide assurance of compliance with the most up to date standards and also that learning from recent large projects is incorporated appropriately.

Question reference: S6W-37537

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 22 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on rail improvements in the current parliamentary session to date, and how much it estimates it will have spent in total by the end of the current parliamentary session.

Question reference: S6W-37540

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 22 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on supporting community-led regeneration and town centre revitalisation in the current parliamentary session to date, and how much it estimates it will have spent in total by the end of the current parliamentary session.

Question reference: S6W-37528

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 22 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has allocated to national challenge competitions in the current parliamentary session to date, and how much it plans to allocate by the end of the current parliamentary session.

While the term National Challenge Competition is very broad, there are a range of policy initiatives which publicly seek new ideas and/or issue funding on a competitive basis. Funds and initiatives of this kind exist across the Scottish Government and it is therefore difficult to provide a comprehensive list without further clarification. However, examples of such initiatives include:

The work of the Chief Scientist for Health, whose office periodically launches open innovation calls focussed on health challenges facing the Scottish population. Examples of such challenges include drugs deaths and mental health.
The Civtech programme, which, on an ongoing basis, supports new, small and medium size companies to win public sector contracts by solving key innovation challenges.
Other forms of pre-commercial procurement in which public bodies contract for services to develop new and innovative solutions.
Entrepreneurship policy, where funding is regularly issued on a competitive basis. Examples include the recently launched Ecosystem Fund, focussed on backing organisations who support and mentor start-up founders and the Entrepreneurial Education Fund, which invests in projects focussed on embedding entrepreneurial thinking across the Scottish education system.

Question reference: S6W-37526

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 22 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is its policy to provide arts funding through a Percentage for the Arts scheme for public capital projects, and, if so, how it has implemented any such policy.

The Scottish Government has committed through its 2024 Programme for Government to review the way the culture sector is supported. This ongoing culture sector support programme will, amongst other things, explore alternative and additional funding mechanisms to grow the overall funding pot for culture in Scotland. A Percentage for the Arts scheme is one of the mechanisms that will be considered as part of this programme.

Question reference: S6W-37520

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 22 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it remains committed to its Young Person’s Guarantee policy; whether it is tracking progress on this policy, and what its success conditions are for this objective.

was published in March 2023 and outlines the outcomes and opportunities provided by the funding from the Young Person’s Guarantee.

of No one Left Behind and Young Person’s Guarantee was published in Autumn 2023 which explores how well they had been implemented, the experiences of service providers and service users, and lessons from early delivery.

Since April 2023, the Young Person’s Guarantee has been mainstreamed across Government, with activity across education, skills and employability supporting young people into opportunities.

Question reference: S6W-37521

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 22 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much it (a) spent in Session 5, (b) has spent in the current parliamentary session to date and (c) estimates it will spend in Session 6 on (i) supporting new jobs and (ii) reskilling people for the jobs of the future.

We are unable to provide specific information on expenditure that exclusively supported new jobs. Successive budgets within the current parliamentary session have prioritised expenditure to support economic growth, including business growth and the jobs they generate.

In terms of ensuring people have the skills for jobs of the future, our 2025-26 Scottish budget allocates over £2 billion for colleges, universities, and the wider skills system, prioritizing support for students and ensuring access to education. We are focussing on maximising high-quality apprenticeships with an investment of over £185m to deliver 25,500 new Modern Apprentices, 5,000 Foundation Apprentices and 1,200 Graduate Apprentices, while continuing to support around 38,000 apprentices already in training.

Through the Just Transition Fund we've also spend £9.7 million on a package of skills interventions, including a digital offshore energy skills passport and the Energy Transition Skills Hub.

As part of the Falkirk and Grangemouth Growth Deal, we have committed £4 million for a Skills Transition Centre at Forth Valley College – to ensure that people can get the training they need for jobs in new and emerging sectors, including at the Grangemouth site. We have also allocated of up to £450k to support those workers who have been made redundant at the Grangemouth Refinery into new in-demand jobs. We are committed to ensuring that those highly skilled people continue to contribute to businesses in Grangemouth and the wider Scottish economy.

The support referenced about is not exhaustive. A diverse array of national, regional, and local support services are available across the public and private sectors, making a comprehensive overview impractical and information not all held by SG.

Question reference: S6O-04726

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the education secretary has had with NHS boards and local authorities regarding the levying of fees for hospital teaching costs for children who routinely attend independent schools.

Question reference: S6W-37525

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 21 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it (a) monitors and (b) estimates the number of jobs supported by its infrastructure spending.

Our current Infrastructure Investment Plan (IIP) which was published alongside the last Capital Spending Review, estimated that annually, around 45,000 construction and maintenance jobs would be supported through the associated total capital investment. This information is not centrally monitored, however as part our annual reporting on the progress of the IIP, we include information on major capital projects and their contribution to local economic development.

Our annual IIP Progress Reports are published on the Scottish Government website and can be found by way of the following link

Question reference: S6W-37531

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 21 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on rural entrepreneur funds in the current parliamentary session to date; how much it plans to spend by the end of the current parliamentary session, and whether it is its policy to create a £20 million rural entrepreneur fund.

This Government is committed to building a vibrant, sustainable, and inclusive rural economy.

We are widening participation in entrepreneurship, giving more people the opportunity to start, grow and scale their business. To date we have supported a range of programmes, including the South of Scotland Enterprise regional Pathways Pre-Start programme and the Pathways Funds. We are investing a record £6 million to support further Pathways implementation in the current financial year, transforming the number of women who start and scale businesses and widening participation in entrepreneurship.

Alongside this, we are supporting rural entrepreneurs through our Ecosystem Fund, which has invested a total of £2.6 million across 75 innovative projects since 2021, through our Techscaler network, through our wider support for our enterprise agencies, and through delivery of our National Innovation Strategy.

The Rural Entrepreneur Fund was a 2021-22 Programme for Government commitment to invest £20 million over the lifetime of the current parliament. However, in light of the challenging financial environment, the Scottish Resource Spending Review prioritised investment plans to ensure that they were deliverable, impactful and affordable. Consequently, there has been no money invested in the Rural Entrepreneur Fund to date.