Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what discussions his Department has had with Highland Council and Police Scotland on the housing of asylum seekers at Cameron Barracks.
Answered by Kirsty McNeill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Scotland Office)
This Government has committed to ending the use of hotels for asylum seekers. Scotland Office officials have been engaging regularly with Home Office officials, who had direct and regular communication with the Scottish Government, Highland Council and Police Scotland in advance of this announcement.
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on the proposed use of Cameron Barracks to accommodate asylum seekers.
Answered by Kirsty McNeill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Scotland Office)
This Government has committed to ending the use of hotels for asylum seekers. The Scotland Office has been engaging with the Home Office regularly on the proposed use of Cameron Barracks. The Home Office continues to engage regularly with representatives from the Scottish Government, Highland Council, the NHS, Police, and local partners, including via Multi Agency Forums, to respond to the concerns of those most impacted by the site and to identify ways to keep them informed.
Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what discussions he has had with Scottish stakeholders regarding the Joint Declaration of Intent on the development of an interconnected offshore renewable energy grid.
Answered by Kirsty McNeill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Scotland Office)
In preparation for the North Sea Summit, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero engaged with the UK energy industry, including Scottish companies, on the development of agreements and deliverables. Scottish Power and SSE were amongst the UK companies that attended the Summit in Hamburg on 26 January, where the Joint Declaration was signed.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, whether they will require their department and agencies to offer payroll deductions to all employees to enable them to join a credit union.
Answered by Kirsty McNeill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Scotland Office)
The Scotland Office does not employ any staff directly. All staff that join do so on an assignment, loan or secondment from other government departments, principally the Ministry of Justice and the Scottish Government, who remain the employers.
Any matters relating to payroll are the responsibility of the employing departments.
Asked by: Euan Stainbank (Labour - Falkirk)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the statutory walking distance for entitlement to home to school transport under section 42(4) of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980.
Answered by Kirsty McNeill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Scotland Office)
The provision of school transport is the responsibility of local authorities in Scotland.
It is for Scottish Ministers and local authorities to consider the adequacy of the statutory walking distance and to determine the policy and operational aspects of home-to-school transport provision.
I note that the Scottish Government undertook a review of this policy and subsequent update of this matter in 2025.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on using funds raised by the expansion of the UK Emissions Trading Scheme to support maritime decarbonisation projects in Scotland.
Answered by Kirsty McNeill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Scotland Office)
The Maritime Decarbonisation Strategy set out the key policies which will together deliver decarbonisation of the sector, including the role of energy efficiency, port decarbonisation and fuel regulation alongside emission pricing through the UK Emissions Trading Scheme. Receipts from the UK ETS are used to fund the government’s spending priorities, including spending and subsidies supporting the Net Zero transition.
In September 2025, the UK Government announced £448m R&D funding for the UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions (UK SHORE) between 2026 and 2030: the biggest government investment ever in our commercial maritime industry. The programme has already allocated £240m to the research and development of clean maritime solutions, with approximately 15% allocated in Scotland. Recently, I visited the Port of Aberdeen where new clean energy infrastructure has been installed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from berthed vessels, as part of its ambitious target to become a net zero harbour by 2040.
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how much the Scottish Government received in Barnett consequential funding from English funding to support stop smoking services in 2025-26.
Answered by Kirsty McNeill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Scotland Office)
At Spending Reviews, devolved governments generally receive Barnett consequentials on changes in overall departmental settlements not on specific policies or programmes. Therefore, the UK Government cannot provide Barnett numbers on specific policy measures funded from within departmental settlements.
The Block Grant Transparency publication from October 2025 shows that the Scottish Government received an additional £930m for 2025/26 as a result of the additional funding for the Department for Health and Social Care.
Asked by: Graham Leadbitter (Scottish National Party - Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, pursuant to the Answer of 4 December 2025 on Question 95787 on the Prime Minister, what is the estimated total departmental spend by his department to supporting the Minister for the Union in their role since the office was established.
Answered by Kirsty McNeill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Scotland Office)
The Scotland Office does not provide any direct financial support to the Minister for the Union.
Asked by: Lord Cameron of Lochiel (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government why they did not consider the rurality of locations as part of the place selection and allocation methodology for the Local Growth Fund.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The UK Government is providing targeted funding to the places in Scotland that need it most, while simultaneously delivering the largest Block Grant settlement for the Scottish Government in the whole history of devolution, which they can use to improve general funding settlements for local government services and priorities.
The Local Growth Fund is targeting five regions that contain the local authorities with the lowest Real Disposable Household Income per capita (RDHI) in Scotland, which is an established metric for measuring spatial disparities in living standards across the country. The local authorities in the Highlands and Islands had higher living standards and so did not meet the threshold for funding from this programme.
The Local Growth Fund is just one UK Government investment programme and the Highlands and Islands region is benefiting from more than £300m in other UK Government investments, including Community Regeneration Partnerships for Argyll & Bute, and the Western Isles; Local Regeneration Fund projects including the Fair Isle Ferry and Elgin Town Centre masterplan; the Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport; Pride in Place Programme funding for Elgin, Sutherland, Orkney, and Lewis; and the completion of the four regional Growth Deals.
Asked by: Lord Cameron of Lochiel (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government why the Highland and Islands region was not allocated funding from the Local Growth Fund.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The UK Government is providing targeted funding to the places in Scotland that need it most, while simultaneously delivering the largest Block Grant settlement for the Scottish Government in the whole history of devolution, which they can use to improve general funding settlements for local government services and priorities.
The Local Growth Fund is targeting five regions that contain the local authorities with the lowest Real Disposable Household Income per capita (RDHI) in Scotland, which is an established metric for measuring spatial disparities in living standards across the country. The local authorities in the Highlands and Islands had higher living standards and so did not meet the threshold for funding from this programme.
The Local Growth Fund is just one UK Government investment programme and the Highlands and Islands region is benefiting from more than £300m in other UK Government investments, including Community Regeneration Partnerships for Argyll & Bute, and the Western Isles; Local Regeneration Fund projects including the Fair Isle Ferry and Elgin Town Centre masterplan; the Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport; Pride in Place Programme funding for Elgin, Sutherland, Orkney, and Lewis; and the completion of the four regional Growth Deals.