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The Scottish government does not hold information on the number of nurseries which are closed or mothballed.

Decisions relating to local ELC provision are for local authorities to make, in consultation with the local community. Mothballing should only be for a temporary period and should be subject to regular review, at least annually, against the same requirements which led to the original decision to mothball.

The Care Inspectorate publish a monthly list of all service closures which can be found here: Changes to registration, variations and cancelled services

The annual Care Inspectorate Early Learning and Childcare Statistics publication (Early learning and childcare statistics 2023) sets out information on the availability and quality of registered daycare of children and childminding services for children and families across Scotland. This also includes data on annual service cancellations across the sector.

The Scottish Government spend with Amazon Web Services in each of the last 3 financial years is detailed in the following table:-

Glasgow Airport is a commercial business owned and operated by AGS Airports. I welcome the announcement that, following AGS’ acquisition by AviAlliance, £350 million is to be invested in AGS Airports over the next five years. This investment shows confidence in Aberdeen and Glasgow airports, and in Scotland’s aviation sector and the wider Scottish economy.

The Scottish Government’s Aviation Statement sets out the strategic importance of aviation and how we will aim to support, rather than downgrade, airports in Scotland. The National Planning Framework 4, our national spatial strategy for Scotland, is also supportive of airports as a key part of Scotland’s national connectivity.

We recognise the importance of international connectivity and want to see it grow at all Scotland’s main airports.

The Scottish Government’s Aviation Statement commits to working with Scotland’s airports and airlines to help grow connectivity to the international markets that are important for inbound tourism, business connectivity and the economy as a whole.

We take a national, Scotland wide, approach to route development and our work with airlines is carried out strictly on an “airport-neutral” basis, leaving airlines to decide which Scottish airport to use.

In relation to aviation resilience, the Scottish Government has no role in day-to-day operations at airports in Scotland. These are regulated, where appropriate, by the UK Government and its associated agencies.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-36926 on 7 May 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.

Children’s Parliament was established in 1996. Their organisational mission is to lead the development of a rights-based culture in Scotland and ensure that children’s voices are actively engaged in shaping our world. They support the Scottish Government, local authorities, and other public bodies to fulfil their legal obligations to promote and protect the human rights of everyone and fulfil their duty of care toward children. Through their rights-based, creative practice, they provide children up to age 14 years old from diverse backgrounds across Scotland, with opportunities to share their experiences, thoughts, and feelings so that they can influence positive change in their lives at home, in school and in the community.

The purpose of the annual Cabinet Takeover meeting with children and young people, is for decision makers at the highest level of government to listen to the voices of and hear issues that matter most to children and young people.

The meetings are an opportunity to demonstrate Scottish Government’s commitment to meaningfully engage with children and young people with the aim of improving the development and implementation of policy and legislation to help make Scotland the best place in the world to grow up. The meetings also support Scottish Ministers to comply with the compatibility duty in section 6 of the UNCRC (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024, and to secure better or further effect of the rights of children, including the right under Article 12 to express their views, feelings and wishes in all matters affecting them, and to have their views considered and taken seriously.

Since 2017, the Children’s Parliament and Scottish Youth Parliament have been involved in the co-design of an annual meeting of Cabinet Ministers with children and young people. At each meeting the children and young people bring their Calls to Action which become tangible commitments to be taken forward by the Scottish Government.

Progress reports from previous Cabinet Takeover Meetings can be accessed via the following links:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/children-young-peoples-voices-matter-progress-report-march-2023/

Children and Young People’s Voices Matter: Progress Report - March 2022

https://www.gov.scot/publications/annual-cabinet-meeting-with-children-and-young-people-fifth-meeting-16-march-2021/

Children’s Parliament was established in 1996. Their organisational mission is to lead the development of a rights-based culture in Scotland and ensure that children’s voices are actively engaged in shaping our world. They support the Scottish Government, local authorities, and other public bodies to fulfil their legal obligations to promote and protect the human rights of everyone and fulfil their duty of care toward children. Through their rights-based, creative practice, they provide children up to age 14 years old from diverse backgrounds across Scotland, with opportunities to share their experiences, thoughts, and feelings so that they can influence positive change in their lives at home, in school and in the community.

Ministerial time spent on individual matters such as the number of hours spent on matters relating to the Children’s Parliament, is not recorded.

Although there has been increases in homelessness applications and non-compliance with statutory duties in some areas, 12 local authorities reduced the number of households in temporary accommodation in 2023-24 compared to 2022-23 and 20 councils reduced the number of children in temporary accommodation.

Increasing housing supply is key to reducing levels of homelessness. As part of our £768 million investment in affordable housing in 2025-26, we are providing targeted funding of £40 million in 2025-26 to the local authorities with the most sustained temporary accommodation pressures. 80% of this funding has been targeted to five local authorities in the central belt experiencing the most sustained temporary accommodation pressures to help increase the supply of social and affordable homes through acquisitions, including, where appropriate, properties suitable for larger families.

We continue to work with our partners to increase the delivery of more affordable homes, the majority of which will be for social rent. We are taking all possible actions to help deliver more high quality, permanent homes, providing the right homes in the right places, and ensure a settled home for everyone.

We have a strong track record in affordable housing by supporting the delivery of more than 136,000 affordable homes since 2007, with more than 97,000 of those being for social rent. We remain focused on delivering 110,000 affordable homes across Scotland by 2032 with at least 70% for social rent and 10% in our rural and island communities.

The Scottish Government does not produce projections of nursery closures.

As with other sectors of the economy the childcare sector – which operates as a mixed economy model with services delivered by public, private and third sector services, including childminders – experiences continued changes in the number of services operating. In a given year there will be new services entering the market and other services leaving the sector, as well as other changes to registrations (e.g. to increase capacity or changes in ownership).

Care Inspectorate data published in September 2024 shows that overall capacity within daycare of childcare services increased from 176,130 registered places at 31 December 2020 to 178,890 registered places at 31 December 2023.

The rateable value of the building is not the only measure of value for money and nor is it an indication of the cost to replace with a new building. There are other relevant factors with respect to looking at alternatives for public sector buildings. For instance, the local property market and availability of alternative properties and land. It is also imperative that public bodies have good quality, efficient premises which reduce energy costs. As well as this, a key consideration for public bodies will be ensuring that they are located in areas that meet the needs of the essential services they provide.

In many cases, public bodies are not looking to unlock the value of the building through a sale and will retain buildings over the long term, necessitating their upgrade over time. Applicants to the Scottish Central Government Energy Efficiency Grant Scheme must therefore evidence that all buildings included in an application will be retained over the blended useful life of all measures installed as part of the project.