Question to the Scotland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, whether he has made representations to the Scottish Government on support for listed places of worship in Scotland, including Sacred Heart Parish Church in Cumbernauld, that have been unable to access equivalent funding to that available in England.

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

We want to see Scotland's building and cultural heritage protected for future generations. Whilst heritage policy is a devolved matter, both Scotland Office and Department for Culture, Media and Sport Ministers are due to discuss this matter with officials from the Church of Scotland in the coming weeks.

Question to the Scotland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, with reference to paragraph 88 of the UK Government Resilience Action Plan, how many meetings Ministers in their Department have attended related to the Home Defence Programme.

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

The Secretary of State for Scotland has regular discussions with officials, external experts and ministerial colleagues on a range of national security, defence and resilience issues.

The Home Defence Programme was established in August 2024 to provide defence, security and resilience planning, focused on aligning military and civil effort in the event of a period of crisis and international hostilities affecting the UK. It is informed by and reflects the recommendations from government strategies, including the Strategic Defence Review, National Security Strategy and Resilience Action Plan.

The Scotland Office is actively supporting this by working closely with other UK Government Departments to ensure effective delivery in Scotland and coordination with the Scottish Government where responsibilities for resilience are devolved.

Question to the Scotland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, whether his Department has held recent discussions with the Scottish Government on a Section 104 order to bring relevant components of the Trusts and Succession (Scotland) Act 2024 into force.

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

Scotland Office and Scottish Government officials meet regularly to discuss Scotland Act Orders. My officials have engaged Scottish Government officials to discuss a proposed Section 104 order under the Scotland Act 1998 in consequence of the Trusts and Succession (Scotland) Act 2024 and will continue to liaise with their counterparts on the matter.

Question to the Scotland Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Scottish Government has requested that agricultural and fisheries funding not be ringfenced and therefore subject to the Barnett Formula from 2024–25 onwards; and if so, whether they will publish any details relating to this request.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Cluny - Advocate General for Scotland

Agriculture and fisheries funding was added to the Scottish Government’s baseline funding from 2025-26. The funding is no longer ringfenced. The application of the Barnett formula and removal of the ringfence is in line with the Fiscal Framework agreed by both the UK and Scottish Governments. This decision respects the key principle of devolution, granting the Scottish Government full flexibility to determine its spending priorities.

The Scottish Government has received the biggest settlement in the history of devolution and can provide additional funding on this devolved issue if it so chooses.

Question to the Scotland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, whether his Department was invited by the Office for National Statistics to provide input into its review of the ethnicity harmonised standard.

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

The Scotland Office does not employ staff directly. All staff that join do so on an assignment, loan or secondment for other Government departments, who remain the employers.

As information relating to the demographics of staff is held by the employing departments, the Scotland Office is not able to provide evidence into the review of the ethnicity harmonised standard.

Question to the Scotland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, with reference to page 92 of the Strategic Defence Review, how many meetings officials from their Department have attended on the national conversation on defence and security; which directorate in their Department is responsible for the departmental contribution to that national conversation; and what the job title is of the official responsible.

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

The conversation on National Defence was a recommendation in the 2025 Strategic Defence Review (SDR), which the Government accepted. The MOD is the lead department for delivering the SDR, with support from the Cabinet Office, and particularly from the National Security Secretariat.

This will be a multi-year, cross-departmental effort designed to deliver on the whole-of-society approach to national security and defence allowing Government, the private sector and public to play their part in strengthening the UK’s resilience to any potential future shocks. This work addresses the risks and threats the UK faces, including those below and above the threshold of an armed attack.

The Scotland Office is actively supporting this by working closely with the MOD, as well as on the development of a Defence Growth Deal in Scotland and wider engagement with industry, local authorities and academia to support jobs, investment, and skills development in Scotland’s defence sector.

Question to the Scotland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what discussions he has had with the Scottish Government on financial support for listed places of worship in Scotland unable to access the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme.

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

Whilst heritage policy is a devolved matter, we recognise the importance of places of worship to Scotland’s communities. Scotland Office Ministers have had a number of discussions with Scottish Government Ministers covering a range of topics. Additionally, Ministers from both Scotland Office and Department for Culture, Media & Sport Ministers are due to discuss this matter with officials from the Church of Scotland in the coming weeks.

Question to the Scotland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, with reference to paragraph 88 of the policy paper entitled UK Government Resilience Action Plan, published on 14 July 2025, how many meetings have been attended by civil servants within their Department in relation to the Home Defence Programme; which directorate in the Department owns the Departmental contribution to the Home Defence Programme; and what the job title is of the civil servant leading and cohering the Departmental contribution to the Home Defence Programme.

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

The Resilience Action Plan sets out the Government’s strategic approach to how we will strengthen our domestic resilience and invest to protect the nation. Scotland Office officials regularly attend meetings to discuss the implementation of the Resilience Action Plan as well as matters of national security and defence.

The Scotland Office is actively contributing to this work and is working closely with other UK Government Departments to ensure effective delivery in Scotland, as well as coordination with the Scottish Government where responsibilities for resilience are devolved.

Question to the Scotland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how many staff within his Department are reliant on a visa for employment.

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

The Scotland Office has the information that you have requested. However, if a request is made for information and the total figure amounts to five people or fewer, the Scotland Office must consider whether this could lead to the identification of individuals and whether disclosure of this information would be in breach of our statutory obligations under the General Data Protection Regulation and/or the Data Protection Act 2018.

We believe that the release of this information would risk identification of the individual/s concerned. For this reason, the Scotland Office has chosen not to provide the information requested. However, it should not be assumed that the actual figure represented falls at any particular point within this scale; 'five or fewer' is used as a replacement value from which it would be difficult to isolate or extract any individual data.

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