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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: S6W-41260

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 13 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 10 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of kinship carers have reported that the financial allowance they receive does not cover the full cost of care since May 2021.

According to the most recent Children’s Social Work Statistics, there are around 4,000 children in kinship care in Scotland. In a recent review of the Scottish Recommended Allowance for Foster and Kinship carers (SRA), of the 131 kinship carers who responded, 41% agreed that the financial support given to carers was fairer since the SRA was introduced, 37% said it had improved their finances, and 22% said it was sufficient to meet the full costs of looking after children in their care.

Since the review, we have committed an additional £1.9 million to uprate the SRA, with increased weekly rates backdated to 1 April 2025. We plan to publish a national vision for kinship care by the end of the year, and it will set out what further action we are taking to support kinship carers.

Question reference: S6W-41252

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 13 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 10 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many families have lodged complaints regarding flexibility of hours in the early learning and childcare system since May 2021.

Question reference: S6W-41250

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 13 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 7 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many children have been temporarily unable to attend a local authority nursery due to staff shortages in the last 12 months.

Question reference: S6W-41264

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 13 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 7 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many Disclosure Scotland permanent job vacancies have remained unfilled for more than six months since May 2021.

I have asked Gerard Hart, Chief Executive of Disclosure Scotland to respond. His response is as follows:

From January 2022 to September 2025, there have been four permanent vacancies at Disclosure Scotland that were unfilled for more than six months (from when advert went live to start date). We cannot access data for the period May 2021 to December 2021 as the iCIMS system that stored this data has been discontinued.

Question reference: S6W-41269

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 7 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact that any delays in the processing of Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) certificates by Disclosure Scotland have had on recruitment in the (a) social care and (b) teaching sector in the last year.

I have asked Gerard Hart, Chief Executive of Disclosure Scotland to respond. His response is as follows:

Disclosure Scotland have undertaken priority work to ensure future planning for high application volume periods is informed by internal reviews and stakeholder feedback from managing summer 2025's increased volumes. This work did not include assessment of the impact of delays on recruitment in social care, teaching or any specific sectors.

Question reference: S6W-41251

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 7 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many funded childcare providers have deregistered since 2021, broken down by (a) voluntary sector, (b) private and (c) council-run settings.

The Scottish Government does not collect this information. However, the Care Inspectorate collects and publishes data on service cancellations and registrations, available on the Care Inspectorate’s website: Statistics and analysis.

Figure 9 of the Care Inspectorate’s Early learning and childcare statistics 2024 shows service cancellations for childminding services and day care of children services for the period 2014 to 2024.

However, the Care Inspectorate do not disaggregate these figures to show differences between funded providers and other childcare providers.

Question reference: S6W-41197

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 7 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that youth work initiatives are aligned with national economic priorities and strategies, such as the Young Person’s Guarantee.

Question reference: S6W-41211

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 7 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on the number of complaints that have been received regarding dampness, mould or ventilation issues in council-run nurseries since 2021.

Question reference: S6W-41266

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 7 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many Disclosure Scotland employees have left their job, including through resignation, within their first year of employment since 2022.

Question reference: S6W-41210

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 7 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on the number of capital projects for early years expansion that remain incomplete or delayed beyond their original target date.

The Scottish Futures Trust (SFT) monitors the 1140 expansion infrastructure programme on behalf of the Scottish Government, and collects progress data periodically from local authorities. The 2025 data collection exercise commenced in September and is expected to conclude in November. The most recent completed data collection showed that in October 2024, 877 (98%) of projects in the programme were complete, and 16 projects were either in construction or had not yet commenced construction.