Question to the Scotland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how many discussions the Government has had with the Scottish Government in each month since the start of the covid-19 outbreak; and how many discussions in each month took place through Ministerial Implementation Groups.

Scotland Office Ministers have regular engagement with Scottish Government Ministers, on a variety of matters in a range of subject areas and are happy to be approached by Scottish Ministers on further engagement. This is supplemented by official engagement between Scottish Government officials and officials in the department.

Scottish Government Ministers attended the vast majority of the UK Government’s Ministerial Implementation Groups on the Economy, Health and the Public Sector. Supplemented by other Ministerial engagement, there have been more than 60 Ministerial meetings and extensive official engagement since March. Ministers from this department also attended those meetings.

My most recent meeting with Scottish Ministers was on Tuesday 23 June ahead of the PM’s statement to the House of Commons. This was attended by, amongst others, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and the First Minister of Scotland.