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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-43401

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 12 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many devices have been distributed to young people through the Connecting Scotland programme in 2025-26 to support digital inclusion amongst school-aged children, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S6W-43665

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 February 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 25 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the budget for the Young Patients Family Fund being reduced by almost £2 million since its launch, what action it will take to ensure that sufficient resources are available to expand the fund’s eligibility criteria to include all children and under 25s, as proposed by the charity, Young Lives vs Cancer, and the UK Government accepting the charity’s proposal for a £10 million young cancer patient travel fund.

Question reference: S6W-43664

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 February 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 25 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Young Lives vs Cancer regarding the charity's proposal to expand the Young Patients Family Fund's eligibility criteria to include all children and under 25s with cancer, and whether steps will be taken to expand the criteria for the fund, in light of the UK Government's recent announcement of a £10 million travel fund, based on Young Lives vs Cancer’s proposed model.

Question reference: S6W-43399

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how much additional revenue it expects to raise from the new council tax bands, broken down by local authority area.

Based on Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS)projected 2025 values and Registers of Scotland sales data, it is anticipated that between 13,500 and 17,800 properties will fall within the two new high-value property bands. It is estimated that this will generate between £12 million and £16 million in additional Council Tax revenue each year. The Scottish Government will meet the cost of this targeted revaluation, ensuring that councils will benefit directly from the additional revenue raised.

These figures are based on chargeable dwellings on the Scottish Assessors Council Tax list, with prices based on IFS predicted prices and Registers of Scotland sales data, uplifted by 10% to reflect assumed growth. The property counts are also adjusted to align with chargeable dwellings recorded in Council Tax Base statistics.

We only have aggregate estimates based on scaling up a weighted sample. These are not sufficiently precise to provide breakdowns of the anticipated revenues and number of households.

Question reference: S6W-43398

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 10 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what review it will undertake into the use of the newborn heel prick blood test to screen for childhood dementia.

Scotland relies on advice from the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), an independent expert advisory group which informs decisions across the UK on national screening programmes. Only when it considers whether to recommend screening for a particular condition, the UK NSC has to consider a range of criteria, appraising the viability, effectiveness and appropriateness of a population screening programme. Only once it is satisfied that screening for a particular condition meets its criteria, and the evidence shows that the benefits of screening outweigh any potential harms, will the committee announce a positive recommendation.

The UK NSC has previously considered some genetic conditions, including Metachromatic leukodystrophy, that may lead to severe neurodegeneration in children, often referred to as ‘Childhood Dementia’. A full list of considered conditions, and whether screening for them is recommended, can be found here. To date, the UK NSC has not recommended screening for the genetic conditions that can cause ‘Childhood Dementia’. However, should the UK NSC make a positive recommendation for screening for one or more of these genetic conditions the Scottish Government will take advice on how best to implement any recommendations.

The UK NSC also welcomes proposals to consider new conditions for screening. These can be submitted to the UK NSC during their annual open call for topics. The next open call will be between 1 July 2026 to 30 September 2026, and guidance regarding submitting a proposal can be found here.

Question reference: S6W-43400

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many households will be included in the new council tax bands, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S6W-43553

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 February 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 18 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-34551 by Jenny Gilruth on 6 March 2025, whether it will provide (a) the same information for 2024-25, and (b) real-terms average Additional Support for Learning (ASL) spend per pupil for each year from 2012-13 to 2024-25.

Question reference: S6F-04602

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 January 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 January 2026

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to address the reported issues with teacher job shortages, caused by temporary teacher contracts.

Question reference: S6W-42685

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 15 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what recommendations it has made regarding ratings for gas boilers versus electric heaters on EPC reports.

In October 2025, the Scottish Government published its updated Government Response to the 2023 Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) reform consultation. This set out that the reformed domestic EPC will include three main ratings:

Heat Retention Rating
Heating System Rating
Energy Cost Rating

The type of heating system installed in the building will not impact the Heat Retention Rating.

The updated Government Response set out that the Heating System Rating will reflect the emissions and efficiency of the main heating system. The rating system will see gas boilers achieve up to an ‘E’ rating, determined by their efficiency and emissions, while direct electric heating will achieve a ‘B’ rating.

The updated Government Response also set out that the Energy Cost Rating would be based on the cost of energy to power a home each year, including costs associated with heating. The rating would use standardised factors, such as energy prices and occupancy, to provide a rating based on the modelled cost to run the home.

Question reference: S6W-42655

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 14 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the Student Awards Agency Scotland regarding the recent audit of student loans by the agency, and what its position is on any additional loan balance adjustments discovered as a result of the audit being added to people’s loans retrospectively, including in cases where it was believed that the loan had been paid off.

The Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) have not conducted an audit. They worked jointly with the Student Loans Company (SLC) to conduct a reconciliation exercise. This identified a small number of customers whose loan balances required correction. This exercise relates to the correction of historic Tuition Fee Loan data, and not the creation of new liabilities. The corrective action taken ensured that loan records accurately reflect what customers had borrowed and was due to be repaid under existing loan terms in the declaration signed by the student.

SAAS recognises the sensitivity of retrospective corrections and is working closely with SLC to ensure that affected borrowers are treated fairly, clearly informed, and supported where adjustments are required.

Scottish Ministers are accountable for the use of public resources and the way in which public funds are spent. This includes payment of student loans and repayment of outstanding balances.