Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-43146

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 2 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the finding of the Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation (CSAE) Workforce Learning and Development Subgroup in its initial deep dive report that there is “little evidence that training in Scotland adequately equips professionals with the skills needed to respond to CSAE".

The National Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation (CSAE) Group has been established to increase cross-sectoral coordination and capability to address the risks and harms of CSAE in Scotland. This includes a focus on better equipping frontline staff with the skills and knowledge to identify and disrupt harm and continued training on interagency referral discussions to better share information.

Reflecting this continuing focus, the Group agreed that the Workforce Learning and Development short life working group sub-group should become a permanent sub-group working at pace to implement progress towards the recommendations from their report.

In direct response to the recommendations on improving training standards, the Scottish Government has provided £42,000 to develop a pilot for the Centre for Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse ‘Practice Leads Programme’ in Scotland to further equip professionals to respond to sexual harm. This funding is part of the additional £220,000 to be invested this financial year to enhance support for victims and families impacted by sexual offending and improve access to training for professionals to respond to sexual harm.

Professor Alexis Jay chaired a meeting of the National CSAE Group on 28 January where an update was provided by the workforce subgroup on its engagement with frontline workers. The subgroup intends to provide specific recommendations to the National Group at a future meeting which will inform our approach to any actions required to improve practice and skills which may include further developing or updating training standards to address CSAE and related harms.

In December 2025, I announced the Independent National Review of local responses to group-based CSAE. This work will be led by four independent national inspectorates and will include scrutiny of local areas’ understanding, skills and response to CSAE, including that of frontline workers. This rigorous work is expected to also support identification of further opportunities to enhance workforce knowledge and practice on CSAE.

These activities sit alongside the ongoing improvement work led by the Scottish Government on workforce skills and responsibilities, including continued implementation of the National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland 2021 which was most recently updated in 2023 to provide further information and resources to local areas on approaches to identify, prevent and address children at risk of, or experiencing CSAE.

Question reference: S6W-43147

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 2 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what specific changes to national Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation (CSAE) training standards have been implemented since September 2025, in response to the CSAE Workforce Learning and Development Subgroup's initial deep dive report.

Question reference: S6W-43474

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 January 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 13 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-39235 by Angela Constance on 30 July 2025, whether Malcolm McMillan has concluded his consideration of the conclusions of the peer review; if so, when; if not, and in light of it being six months later, what efforts it has made to assist him in his consideration; what its position is on whether there is "any further action needed"; when the paper will finally be published, and for what reason its expectation that it would be published "no later than the end of [2025]" was not met.

Question reference: S6W-43376

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 11 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on (a) Food Standards Scotland’s guidance permitting the use of alcohol-free labelling on products containing up to 0.5% alcohol by volume (ABV), and whether this adequately protects consumers who are allergic to alcohol, and (b) Alcohol Focus Scotland’s calls for all alcohol substitutes and lower strength alcohol products to feature their ABV content plainly on the front-facing part of the label.

Question reference: S6W-43249

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 28 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-08117 by Jenny Gilruth on 6 May 2022, whether the deliverables listed for the rail improvement project will be completed by the end of 2026; whether any are projected not to be completed, and, if so, which ones, and what the (a) original projected cost was and (b) current projected cost is of each deliverable.

I refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-32369 on 8 January 2025. The Aberdeen to Central Belt Service Improvement Project arose from an agreement between Aberdeenshire Council, Aberdeen City Council, and the Scottish Government which committed to invest an initial £200 million additional funding to help improve journey times and increase capacity on key rail links between Aberdeen and the Central Belt.

A timetable reference group was then established with stakeholders to agree the outputs and scope of the project thereafter.

Cost estimates will be developed through further design and subsequent agreement of the final scope of infrastructure enhancement works selected.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

Question reference: S6W-43177

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 27 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide funding to re-open Bon Accord Baths, Aberdeen, in light of its commitment to provide universal swimming lessons to primary school children.

The Scottish Government places great importance on community sports and leisure facilities, such as swimming pools. They are crucial to the wellbeing of all our country and are essential in providing opportunities for our children and young people to learn to swim.

This universal offer will provide swimming tuition for primary school children in Scotland, based on the School Swimming Framework, which addresses poverty related barriers to access.

The Scottish Government’s policy towards local authorities’ spending is to allow local authorities the financial freedom to operate independently. As such, the vast majority of funding is provided by means of a block grant.

The Scottish Government recognises the financial challenges that local government are facing and that is why the 2026-27 Scottish Budget provides record block grant funding of over £15.7 billion for local government, an increase of 2 per cent in real terms compared to 2025-26.

In 2026-27, Aberdeen City Council will receive over £528.1 million to support day to day services, which equates to an extra £33.2 million or an additional 6.7 per cent compared to 2025-26.

While it is for 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, we will work together to find collective solutions about issues that matter to the people of Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-43020

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 26 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the points made by the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs in the debate on Non-fatal strangulation Laws and intimate partner homicides on 8 January 2026, (a) when the public consultation referred to will (i) be published, (ii) open for responses and (iii) close, (b) when any conclusions and outcomes will be ready to be progressed, and (c) what requirement will be placed on any future government to have regard to or progress the findings of the consultation if it is not completed before the beginning of May 2026.

The public consultation referred to in the debate on 8 January 2026 will be published in the coming weeks. It will be open for responses up to, including and after the pre-election period with the exact closing date yet to be set. It will be for the administration in place after the May 2026 election to consider any next steps arising from the consultation as part of the administration's assessment of priorities.

Question reference: S6W-43004

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 23 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-37327 by Fiona Hyslop on 19 May 2025, whether it will provide an update on how many businesses and individuals it has provided funding to since 1 January 2021 to date “through the LEZ Support Fund to assist small businesses and individuals with the cost of complying with the LEZ requirements", broken down by (a) how much was provided to each recipient and (b) the city location, or nearest city, of each recipient.

Due to the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the privacy policy agreed by applicants to the LEZ Support Fund, we are unable to disclose personal details of the funds recipients.

However, I can advise that in the Aberdeen area 210 households received grants with a total value of £551,427, 73 microbusinesses in the area received a further £156,500 for the disposal of a non-compliant vehicle and 2 microbusinesses received grants totalling £14,066 to retrofit vehicles to meet LEZ standards.

In the Dundee area 261 households received grants with a total value of £646,293, 49 microbusinesses in the area received a total of £107,500 for the disposal of a non-compliant vehicle and 1 microbusiness received a grant of £7,033 to retrofit a vehicle to meet LEZ standards.

In the Edinburgh area 847 households received grants with a total value of £2,203,593, 443 microbusinesses in the area received a total of £1,023,631 for the disposal of a non-compliant vehicle and 146 microbusinesses received grants totalling £1,118,852 to retrofit vehicles to meet LEZ standards.

In the Glasgow area 2241 households received grants with a total value of £5,734,691, 762 microbusinesses in the area received a further £1,723,350 for the disposal of a non-compliant vehicle and 415 microbusinesses received grants totalling £3,345,089 to retrofit vehicles to meet LEZ standards.

Question reference: S6W-43005

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 23 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent on the Aberdeen-Central Belt Service Improvements Project in each financial year since 2021-22, including the current financial year to date.

To 6 December 2025 (End Of Railway Period 09 2025-26) a total of £24.7 million has been spent on schemes to reduce journey times between Aberdeen and the Central Belt.

Further detail is provided in the following table.

	Dundee – Aberdeen Improvements	Barnhill Improvements
Cumulative Spend to 31-3-2022	£3.9m	£2.6m
Cumulative Spend to 31-3-2023	£6.7m	£6.8m
Cumulative Spend to 31-3-2024	£11.7m	£6.8m
Cumulative Spend to 31-3-2025	£17.7m	£6.8m
Cumulative Spend to 6-12-2025 – Railway Period 09	£17.9m	£6.8m

Question reference: S6W-43003

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 23 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has allocated to the Low Emission Zone Support Fund for Households since its introduction; what proportion of that has been allocated to be used for eligible households within the relevant area in Aberdeen, and how much of that allocation has been distributed to eligible households.

The Low Emission Zone (LEZ) Support Fund has allocated £15,414,650 to households and businesses within 20km of any LEZ in Scotland since 2020. To date £9,136,003.87 has been paid out to households in Scotland.

There was no set allocation per city, to households or to businesses. This allowed flexibility to respond to demand dependant on applications received each year.

I can advise that £551,427.13 of this funding has been awarded to households within 20km of the Aberdeen LEZ.

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