Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-37370

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 14 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its latest understanding is of the timetable for UK Government decisions on zonal electricity pricing, and what preparatory work it is undertaking in response to this.

Question reference: S6W-37367

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 14 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government which stakeholder organisations its ministers and officials have met to discuss zonal electricity pricing since 1 January 2024, broken down by (a) organisation, (b) date of meeting, (c) attendees and (d) purpose of discussion.

Question reference: S6W-37363

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 14 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has carried out of any distributional impacts of zonal electricity pricing in Scotland across (a) geographic regions, (b) income deciles and (c) protected characteristic groups, and what the findings were of any such work.

Question reference: S6W-37650

Asked by: Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 May 2025
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Angus Robertson on 14 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made on the Festivals Strategic Partnership since it began in August 2024.

In August, I launched a Strategic Partnership for Scotland’s arts festivals through an open letter to boost their support and promotion. I’m pleased to announce a new open letter has been published on the Scottish Government website.

This letter, developed with arts festivals and other key partners, reflects conversations across the sector and work undertaken to date. It outlines how the partnership will be pragmatic and solutions focused, drawing upon the expertise across the sector and beyond, ensuring it can be in place for the long term.

The first step of delivery was the Scottish Government’s 2025-26 Budget which delivered the biggest increase in culture spending in the history of this Parliament, after Covid recovery support. For Scotland’s arts festivals specifically, the Budget provides £4 million of additional support to develop and deliver work under this Strategic Partnership.

Question reference: S6W-37374

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 14 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what potential zonal boundaries for electricity pricing have been considered by its officials, and what criteria were used to define each such boundary.

Question reference: S6W-37373

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 14 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what evidence it has supplied to the UK Government to inform the Review of Electricity Market Arrangements on the specific circumstances of Scotland’s electricity network and generation profile.

Question reference: S6W-37307

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 02 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 14 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any potential benefits of introducing a price cap for the use of agency staff in healthcare positions, such as that introduced by NHS England in April 2023.

The Scottish Government is clear that all nurse agency workers should be accessed via the relevant national procurement framework operated by NHS National Services Scotland unless in exceptional circumstances. This approach supports efforts by NHS Scotland Boards to ensure that all engagements involving nurse agency workers represent value for money and contribute towards the delivery of high quality patient care.

With regards to the engagement of medical agency workers, our recently concluded Medical Locum Task and Finish Group considered the experience of NHS England in adopting price caps and concluded that such a step was unlikely to aid efforts to ensure best value in respect of such engagements. Instead, all NHS Scotland Boards are asked to operate robust governance processes in respect of decisions concerning the engagement of medical agency workers, ensuring that such workers are only used as a measure of last resort. Where this is the case, steps should be taken to ensure best value is secured in relation to such engagements, including through the development of clear exit strategies where possible.

Question reference: S6W-37369

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 14 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the compatibility of potentially introducing zonal electricity pricing with the objectives of its forthcoming Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan.

Question reference: S6W-37170

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 14 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many hours of social care support could have been delivered with the £30 million that was reportedly spent on developing the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill.

We are delivering much needed social care reform through the National Care Service, and it is a complex programme of change. The reported £28m reflects the funding allocated to developing National Care Service proposals since August 2021. The vast majority of the allocation is funding for existing Scottish Government staff and co-design work.

To put the £28m spent on the NCS into context, that is just 0.2% of the total health and social care budget on a system that we agree isn’t currently working. This is not unreasonable or a waste of investment. It includes co-design and engagement work ensuring people with lived experience of accessing and delivering social care services, social work and community health are partners in developing the National Care Service proposals.

Question reference: S6W-37375

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 14 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what internal correspondence it holds between the Energy Strategy and Markets Unit and the Directorate for Budget and Public Spending regarding the potential fiscal implications of zonal electricity pricing, since 1 January 2024, and whether it will publish a summary of any such correspondence.

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