Question to the Scotland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what assessment he has made of the potential (a) implications for his policies and (b) impact for UK security of the Scottish Government’s Defence Sector Support Policy, set out to the Scottish Parliament on 3 September 2025.

Answered by Kirsty McNeill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Scotland Office)

Defence, national security, foreign affairs and export licensing are reserved matters, and keeping the British people safe is our number one priority. The UK Government continues to assess and manage risks to UK security through established cross-government processes such as the National Risk Register.

The Scottish Government's defence sector support policy will affect Scotland’s expanding defence industry by restricting support to many companies. It is the responsibility of the Scottish Government to explain its position, including how the policy will impact jobs, skills and investment in Scotland.

In the meantime, my department continues to work with the Ministry of Defence (MOD) to support the industry and the highly skilled jobs and investment that it generates. This includes progressing the development of the Defence Growth Deal in Scotland, in line with the UK’s growth, defence and security priorities.

Question to the Scotland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle child poverty in Scotland.

Answered by Douglas Alexander - Secretary of State for Scotland

Poverty scars the lives and life chances of our children.

Tackling child poverty is at the heart of this government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and give every child the very best start in life.

In December, we set out our ambitious and comprehensive Child Poverty Strategy. It sets out the steps we are taking to reduce child poverty in the short-term, as well as putting in place the building blocks we need to create long-term change across the UK. Our decision to lift the two-child cap alone will benefit 95,000 Scottish children.

Question to the Scotland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to support economic growth in Ayrshire.

Answered by Douglas Alexander - Secretary of State for Scotland

The UK Government is investing more than £250 million in economic development and regeneration in Ayrshire including through the Regional Growth Deal, Pride in Place Programme, Local Growth Fund, and Local Regeneration Fund.

We are keen to see Ayrshire fully benefit from that investment. Spending in the Ayrshire Growth Deal is currently lower than expected and so my colleague, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland, has written to local council leaders to stress the need for spending to increase significantly over the remaining lifetime of the Deal.

Question to the Scotland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what estimate he has made of the time it will take to create 1,000 new jobs in the energy sector in Aberdeen.

Answered by Douglas Alexander - Secretary of State for Scotland

Great British Energy published their strategic plan at the end of last year and have committed to directly supporting more than 10,000 jobs by 2030 through GBE-backed and funded projects, including in areas historically dependent on oil and gas.

But of course, this job creation must happen in partnership with industry, and we are seeing major investments from Scottish Power, SSEN and others create hundreds of good quality clean energy jobs in Aberdeen and across Scotland.

Question to the Scotland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, whether he has had discussions with the Scottish Government on support for mountain rescue services.

Answered by Kirsty McNeill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Scotland Office)

I want to pay a warm tribute to the extraordinary commitment and bravery of all mountain rescue teams, particularly volunteers across Scotland and the rest of the UK.

Responsibility for mountain rescue is devolved to the Scottish Government, who have been provided with the largest settlement in the history of devolution. They must answer to the Scottish people on how they are using this record funding.

While Police Scotland holds the statutory responsibility for search and rescue on land, one of the three RAF mountain rescue teams is based at RAF Lossiemouth. This crucial reserved military asset, under the UK Ministry of Defence, regularly works alongside civilian teams to save lives on Scotland’s mountains. It is crucial that the two Governments continue to work together saving lives on Scotland's mountains.

Question to the Scotland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help prevent the overdevelopment of electricity infrastructure in rural communities in Scotland.

Answered by Kirsty McNeill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Scotland Office)

Energy infrastructure projects go through the proper planning process, which involves consulting communities.

Every wind turbine, solar panel and pylon built protects us from future energy shocks.

Installing new electricity infrastructure can mean having to make difficult decisions. But we should not lose sight of the fact that it’s the poorest in our society who are paying the price for expensive energy.

We are also looking at options for how communities can benefit from energy developments.

Question to the Scotland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what the cost to the public purse was of feasibility studies conducted by their Department for projects that did not proceed in the last five years.

Answered by Kirsty McNeill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Scotland Office)

The Scotland Office can confirm that the cost over the last five years of conducting feasibility studies is nil.

Question to the Scotland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, by how much they plan to reduce their Department's budget to help fund the digital ID scheme.

Answered by Kirsty McNeill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Scotland Office)

Digital identity policy is in development, with a dedicated team inside the Cabinet Office working to develop the proposals.

Costs in this spending review period will be met within the existing spending review settlements.

We are inviting the public to have their say in the upcoming consultation as we develop a safe, secure, and inclusive system for the UK. No final decisions will be made until after the consultation.

Question to the Scotland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, if he will publish the dates on which the joint UK Government and Scottish Government taskforce met to discuss the consultation on Alexander Dennis closing their Falkirk and Larbert sites.

Answered by Kirsty McNeill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Scotland Office)

The Scotland Office has priorisited securing the future of Alexander Dennis in Falkirk and Larbert from the moment we were made aware that those sites were at risk.

The previous Secretary of State for Scotland, the Rt Hon Ian Murray MP, had discussions with the Deputy First Minister on 5 June and 21 July 2025, and my officials participated in numerous cross-government meetings throughout summer 2025. The Secretary of State for Scotland has continued this dialogue - most recently on 11 November with the Deputy First Minister - and we will continue to engage closely with the Scottish Government to safeguard these skilled jobs.

This is to ask the UK Government to scrap the Secretary of State for Scotland position as the people of Scotland have a democratically elected First Minister and Government in Scotland and we therefore urge the government to scrap the position and the SO as we feel both are redundant.

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