Asked by: Kerr, Stephen (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - Central Scotland)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of there being a reported over 40,000 live applications for homelessness assistance, what urgent measures it is taking to reduce homelessness.
Answered by McAllan, Màiri - Cabinet Secretary for Housing
In my statement to Parliament on 2 September, I set out a suite of urgent actions to be taken in response to the housing emergency. Some of the measures to reduce homelessness include:
I called on partners across the housing sector and beyond to support work to accelerate the delivery of high-quality homes of all tenures, with a focus on the delivery of affordable and social homes. I have also set out the government’s expectation that local authorities, in compliance with ALACHO guidance, should contact every family in good quality temporary accommodation to explore opportunities to convert those temporary tenancies to permanent tenancies.
Asked by: Sweeney, Paul (Scottish Labour - Glasgow)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how it promotes a higher birth rate, in light of reports that the number of births in Scotland in 2024 dropped to its lowest number in 169 years.
Answered by Stewart, Kaukab - Minister for Equalities
Falling birth rates are a trend across many high-income countries, with significant implications for our economies, communities and public services. It is not for government to dictate or influence whether an individual should have children, which is rightly a matter for individuals and couples.
Our 2021 Population Strategy sets out our ambition that Scotland is the ideal place to raise a family, and that people are enabled to have the number of children they wish to. In December 2024, the Ministerial Population Taskforce considered potential lessons from family friendly policy interventions internationally, and officials are currently exploring next steps in the Scottish context, including scoping further research into the role of parental leave uptake on decisions to have children.
Asked by: Sweeney, Paul (Scottish Labour - Glasgow)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government when the next round of the Investing in Communities Fund (ICF) will be announced.
Answered by Forbes, Kate - Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Gaelic
Decisions concerning future Scottish Government funding programmes will be considered and addressed through the Scottish Budget and Scottish Spending Review processes.
Asked by: Eagle, Tim (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - Highlands and Islands)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to integrate AI into its Rural Payments and Services website, and if so, how it will do this.
Answered by Fairlie, Jim - Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity
At this time, there are no defined plans to incorporate AI into the RP&S platform. The Agriculture Reform Programme is currently leading the development of a Future Operating Model for ARE which is carefully considering the capabilities required to deliver the Vision for Agriculture/policy objectives. This will include fully exploring the use of appropriate digital capabilities and technologies which can improve our services and the customer experience of our users however as stated at this time, there are no plans to incorporate AI into the RP&S platform.
Asked by: Villalba, Mercedes (Scottish Labour - North East Scotland)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-39428 by Gillian Martin on 28 July 2025, what consideration it has given to introducing additional criteria for Crown Estate Scotland to void any application or terminate agreement with companies in relation to (a) offshore wind development and (b) other marine renewable energy developments.
Answered by Martin, Gillian - Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-40144 on 10 September 2025. 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.
Asked by: Villalba, Mercedes (Scottish Labour - North East Scotland)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-39428 by Gillian Martin on 28 July 2025, what consideration it has given to barring companies repeatedly convicted of unlawful activity, including corruption, bribery, fraud, and human trafficking and exploitation, in the last five years, from applying to Crown Estate Scotland for seabed leasing for (a) offshore wind development and (b) other marine renewable energy developments.
Answered by Martin, Gillian - Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy
I refer to the answers I provided to questions S6W-39428 on 28 July 2025 and S6W-39996 on 3 September 2025 and confirm that Crown Estate Scotland is responsible for managing seabed leasing for offshore wind and other marine renewable energy developments. Therefore, the process for leasing the seabed, as well as the criteria underpinning it, is a matter for Crown Estate Scotland.
Companies applying for a seabed lease are required to demonstrate appropriate experience, financial robustness, and overall suitability. The leasing process is designed to prevent companies from being offered a lease option if they are in breach of laws governing corruption, bribery, and fraud as well as human trafficking and exploitation. This includes companies convicted repeatedly for these crimes. Detailed guidance notes setting out the criteria underpinning the ScotWind process are published for the purposes of transparency and accountability on the Crown Estate Scotland website.
Crown Estate Scotland are committed to taking all appropriate action to prevent the Scottish seabed from being used by any company that does not meet its terms of lease, and reserves the right to void any application (or terminate any agreement) in relation to companies which are found to have provided false information.
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.
Asked by: Sweeney, Paul (Scottish Labour - Glasgow)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-39238 by Richard Lochhead on 18 August 2025, whether it will seek consent from firms to publish the name of their businesses in future publications and rankings, such as Businesses in Scotland, to improve the quality of analysis, in a similar manner to the annual published list of the 300 highest income charities on the Scottish Charity Register.
Answered by Lochhead, Richard - Minister for Business and Employment
The Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR), the source of the Businesses in Scotland publication, is not a public register. The IDBR is a statistical register, built from a range of survey return data, administrative data and estimated data.
The IDBR data are held by the Scottish Government on behalf of the United Kingdom Statistics Authority and are classified as ‘personal information’ according to the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007. The 2007 Act requires that the Scottish Government must not disclose the personal information, held on behalf of the United Kingdom Statistics Authority, unless directly authorised by the UK National Statistician. Authority will only be given in exceptional circumstances.
Asking businesses permission to publish the information they return on a named basis would very likely result in reduced overall response rates. Additionally it may affect the quality of the data response.
Information on businesses in Scotland is publicly available from the Companies House register. A downloadable snapshot containing basic data for live companies on the Companies House register is available at:
Asked by: Eagle, Tim (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - Highlands and Islands)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many new spaces for community growing have been created in each year since 2021 as a result of direct funding.
Answered by Fairlie, Jim - Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity
Whilst the Scottish Government does not provide direct funding to create community growing sites, since 2012 we have awarded nearly £2.5 million to expand and encourage food growing skills and access to community growing sites across the country. This includes £100,000 awarded to Green Action Trust annually since 2021 to deliver the Growing Food Together Fund. On average, around 9 to 10 groups or projects are supported by this funding each year.
To best utilise the funding available and maximise the number of groups it can support, the fund has understandably prioritised expanding existing growing spaces (such as through the addition of new planters, polytunnels or other similar infrastructure) rather than providing funding to establish entirely new sites.
Asked by: McArthur, Liam (Scottish Liberal Democrats - Orkney Islands)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government when it last met with the Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Sustainable Funding Project Board, and what was discussed.
Answered by Stewart, Kaukab - Minister for Equalities
The Scottish Government last met with the Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Sustainable Funding Project Board on 14 November 2024.
The items discussed were the Delivering Equally Safe Fund, the next steps for consideration of the funding recommendations from the Independent Review of Funding and Commissioning of VAWG Services and the future of the Project Board.
Following the meeting, the VAWG Sustainable Funding Project Board was stood down and a short-life working group established to oversee the development of a VAWG Needs Assessment Tool.
Regular updates on progress are provided to the Equally Safe Joint Strategic Board, the advisory and oversight body for the Equally Safe strategy, which is co-chaired by the Equalities Minister and the COSLA Spokesperson for Community Wellbeing.
Asked by: McArthur, Liam (Scottish Liberal Democrats - Orkney Islands)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the conclusions of the scoping exercise that it committed to undertake under the Equally Safe strategy of the qualitative and quantitative data on violence against women and girls that exists locally and nationally, to identify gaps and areas for future improvement.
Answered by Stewart, Kaukab - Minister for Equalities
As part of our Equally Safe governance arrangements, we have a progress reporting cycle in place which will see an annual progress report published by the end of this year, providing updates on the actions it contains and sets out the work that will be undertaken over the next period.
An interim progress report is also compiled for the Equally Safe Joint Strategic Board to monitor progress, the most recent one in February 2025. I would be more than happy to share a copy of this with the elected member.