Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-35046

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 5 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the potential financial impact of the reported council tax freeze on local authorities.

As part of the 2024-25 Scottish Budget, Scottish Government made available £144 million to councils who chose to maintain Council Tax liabilities at 2023-24 levels. This funding, equivalent to a 5 per cent increase nationally, ensured that councils agreeing to maintain rates were fully funded for that decision thereby protecting both local government budgets and household incomes.

Throughout engagement with COSLA, Councils and opposition parties ahead of the 2025-26 Scottish Budget, there was a clear consensus that Councils should have full flexibility for decisions on council tax rates. The Scottish Budget delivered that ask in full as part of a record Local Government Settlement worth over £15 billion including real terms protection of General Revenue Grant, another key ask of COSLA and opposition parties.

Decisions on Council Tax are therefore a matter for Local Authorities to take in consultation with local communities.

As councils apply that discretion and the impact on low and middle-income households becomes clearer, the most financially vulnerable will continue to be protected through the Council Tax Reduction (CTR) Scheme. The CTR scheme exists to ensure that nobody in Scotland should have to meet a council tax liability they cannot be expected to afford, and reduces a household’s liability based on an assessment of their income, capital, and other circumstances. Over 460,000 households receive some level of CTR, and on average recipients save over £850 a year.

Question reference: S6W-35047

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 5 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that local authorities are being forced to introduce significant council tax increases due to budgetary pressures.

Question reference: S6W-35049

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 5 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it will implement to prevent any service reductions in local government as a result of reported funding shortfalls.

The 2025-26 Scottish Budget will deliver record funding of over £15 billion for Local Authorities, a 4.7 per cent real terms increase, along with full discretion over Council Tax.

More frequent and meaningful budget engagement with COSLA and Councils was fundamental to informing the record funding settlement made available to Local Government in the Scottish Budget 2025-26.

Ultimately it is the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them, on the basis of local needs and priorities but Scottish Ministers remain committed to ongoing meaningful engagement to ensure the sustainability of local services.

Question reference: S6W-34848

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 5 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many public services have been transferred from local authorities to its agencies or non-departmental public bodies since 1999, and which services have been affected.

Question reference: S6W-35050

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 5 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will review the local government funding model to ensure that local authorities have a sustainable financial settlement.

More frequent and meaningful budget engagement with COSLA and Councils was fundamental to informing the record funding settlement made available to Local Government in the Scottish Budget 2025-26. Scottish Ministers remain committed to deepening and broadening that partnership to ensure the sustainability of local services.

The needs-based formula used to distribute the funding available for local government is agreed with COSLA on behalf of all 32 local authorities each year. Scottish Ministers are open to exploring the funding formula through that meaningful engagement but any proposals for a formal review should properly come through COSLA in the first instance.

Question reference: S6W-35048

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 5 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has conducted on the potential consequences of rising council tax rates on low and middle-income households.

Question reference: S6W-34847

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 February 2025
Current Status: Holding Answer by Shona Robison on 5 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of its budget is allocated to local authorities, and how this compares with 1999-00.

Question reference: S6W-35056

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 5 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to support local heritage organisations, such as Friends of Kinneil, in their efforts to safeguard and promote key historical sites in the Central Scotland region.

The Scottish Government values both museums and heritage sites as important assets and recognises the undoubted benefits they bring to communities across Scotland.

We will continue to support Museums Galleries Scotland, the dedicated national development body that supports museums and galleries, and Historic Environment Scotland, our lead public body for the historic environment. Both these organisations deliver direct and indirect support to heritage projects and groups across Scotland by providing expert advice and guidance, as well as through their grant schemes – details of which can be found on their respective websites.

Question reference: S6W-35062

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 4 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many requests for the closure of rural schools it has received from each local authority in each of the last four years.

Local authorities are responsible for the management of their school estate including decisions about the closure of schools. Scottish Ministers do not receive requests for school closures from local authorities.

Local authorities are however required by the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010 (“the 2010 Act”) to submit school closure decisions for Ministerial review. Ministers can then “call-in” the decision for review by an independent school closure review panel if it appears to Scottish Ministers that the local authority may have failed, in a significant regard, to comply with the requirements imposed on it by the 2010 Act, or to take proper account of a material consideration relevant to its decision.

The following table sets out the number of school closure decisions for rural schools only, received by Scottish Ministers for their review from each local authority over the last four years.

Local Authority	No. of rural school closure decisions under the 2010 Act received by Scottish Ministers
Year	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
Aberdeen City	0	0	0	0	0
Aberdeenshire	1	1	1	2	0
Angus	0	0	0	0	0
Argyll and Bute	0	1	0	4	0
Clackmannanshire	0	0	0	0	0
Dundee	0	0	0	0	0
Dumfries and Galloway	0	0	0	1	0
East Ayrshire	0	0	0	0	0
East Dunbartonshire	0	0	0	0	0
East Lothian	0	0	0	0	0
East Renfrewshire	0	0	0	0	0
Edinburgh City	0	0	0	0	0
Falkirk	2	0	0	0	1
Fife	0	0	0	1	0
Glasgow City	0	0	0	0	0
Highland	1	1	2	1	0
Inverclyde	0	0	0	0	0
Midlothian	0	0	0	0	0
Moray	0	0	1	0	0
North Ayrshire	0	0	0	0	0
North Lanarkshire	0	0	0	0	0
Orkney Islands	0	0	0	0	0
Perth and Kinross	0	0	0	0	0
Renfrewshire	0	0	0	0	0
Scottish Borders	0	0	0	0	0
Shetland Islands	0	0	0	0	0
South Ayrshire	0	0	0	0	0
South Lanarkshire	0	0	0	0	0
Stirling	0	1	0	0	0
West Dunbartonshire	0	0	0	0	0
West Lothian	0	0	0	0	0
Western Isles (Eilean Siar)	0	0	0	0	0
Total	4	4	4	9	1

Question reference: S6W-35063

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 4 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what regulations and checks are made regarding any local authorities that are seeking to close rural schools, in relation to the veracity of their decision-making processes, including the consultation process.

Local authorities are responsible for the management of their school estate including decisions about the closure of schools. Local authorities are required by the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010 (“the 2010 Act”) to carry out a full public consultation where they are proposing a permanent school closure.

Local authorities must also undertake specific additional steps when they propose to close a rural school. These include clearly demonstrating that they have considered alternatives to closure, an assessment of the likely impact on the community and impact on travel to school arrangements for local pupils. The local authority must also set out the educational benefit of the closure which is subject to an independent report by HM Inspectors. The local authority must respond to HM Inspectors’ assessment of the educational impact on those affected. If a proposal to close a school is rejected, then the local authority cannot repeat the process for five years, providing stability for the local community. These protections are intended to ensure that local authorities think very carefully before closing a rural school and consult extensively with the local community about their proposal.

Where it appears to Scottish Ministers that the local authority may have failed, in a significant regard, to comply with the requirements imposed on it by the 2010 Act, or to take proper account of a material consideration relevant to its decision they may “call-in” the decision for review by an independent School Closure Review Panel.

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