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Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S6O-03809

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 September 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met with senior representatives from the Scottish hospitality industry.

Question reference: S6W-29903

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 24 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the budget provision to provide 100% rates relief for hospitality businesses on islands and specific remote locations; what consultation has taken place regarding the impact of applying this relief at that level, and what plans it has to maintain it.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission’s forecasts from December 2023 estimate the cost of Hospitality Relief for Islands and Specified Remote areas to be £4 million in 2024-25. An Island Communities Impact Assessment, published alongside the Non-Domestic Rates (Islands and Remote Areas Hospitality Relief) (Scotland) Regulations 2024 which deliver this relief, considers the impact of this relief.

Scottish Ministers have, and continue to have, regular engagement with representatives of the hospitality sector on non-domestic rates matters, including relief, through quarterly roundtables as well as the New Deal for Business Non-Domestic Rates sub-group which includes a task team considering the impact of non-domestic rates reliefs.

Decisions on non-domestic rates and reliefs for 2025-26 will be considered in the context of the Scottish Budget.

Question reference: S6W-29503

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 18 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many full-time equivalent teachers there were in 2023-24.

Question reference: S6W-29497

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 18 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of how many full-time equivalent teachers there will be in 2025-26.

Question reference: S6W-29494

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 18 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of how many full-time equivalent nurses there will be in 2025-26.

Scottish Government do not hold an estimate of the number of full-time equivalent nurses there will be in 2025-26.

Student number targets are set after extensive engagement with key stakeholders to provide stability across partners including higher education institutes.

Nursing Students graduate after 3 years, some take 4 or even 5 years, and as with all educational courses there is some attrition which makes it difficult to forecast the exact numbers of graduates.

Question reference: S6W-29492

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 17 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of how many full-time equivalent police officers there will be in 2025-26.

The recruitment of officers and staff is a matter for the Chief Constable, The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested.

The Chief Constable confirmed that our investment will enable Police Scotland to recruit enough officers to increase numbers back to the region of 16,500 to 16,600 officers in 2024-25. Throughout this financial year the Scottish Government budget has allowed for planned intakes of around 1300 recruits, which is more than at any time since 2013.

Police Scotland has commenced transformative work to develop a new operating model and three-year business plan. It is important the Chief Constable has the flexibility to develop her workforce in a way that responds to the challenges she faces and ensures Police Scotland can continue to tackle high threat, harm, and risk in all of Scotland’s communities.

Question reference: S6W-29498

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 17 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many full-time equivalent police officers there were in 2023-24.

The Scottish Government publish full-time police officer numbers on a quarterly basis. The statistics published provide a snapshot of police strength at the end of each quarter. Police officer quarterly strength statistics Scotland - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The following table shows the number of full-time equivalent police officers at the end of each quarter during 2023-24.

Q2 2023	Q3 2023	Q4 2023	Q1 2024
16,600	16,613	16,363	16,356

Source: Police officer quarterly strength statistics

Question reference: S6W-29499

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 17 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many full-time equivalent prison officers there were in 2023-24.

Question reference: S6W-29493

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 17 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of how many full-time equivalent prison officers there will be in 2025-26.

Question reference: S6W-29501

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 12 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many full-time equivalent civil servants there were in 2023-24.

To answer this question both sets of data refer to the full time equivalents (FTE) at March 24 as the end point of FY2023-24.

Data is provided from both the Scottish Government core workforce information and the devolved Scottish Civil Service employment information.

This information is published quarterly as part of the Scottish Government statistics on workforce information and the Public Sector Employment in Scotland Statistics.

The links are attached and FTE refers to March 24 published statistics.

Scottish Government workforce information - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Public sector employment in Scotland: web tables - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

In relation to 2023-24, at end March 2024, the Scottish Government core employed 8,843 FTE directly employed staff including permanent and fixed term staff.

In relation to 2023-24, at end March 2024, the Scottish Government devolved civil service employed 26,800 FTE.