Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-35743

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 15 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many exclusions of (a) primary and (b) secondary school pupils have taken place in each year since 1999, broken down by (i) local authority area and (ii) pupil year group.

The number of exclusions in primary and secondary schools broken down by local authority from 2005-06 is set out in Table 1 and Table 2.

Statistics on the number of exclusions in primary and secondary schools broken down by pupil stage for 2002-03-2022-23 are published in Table 1.5 of the school exclusions 2022-23 statistics.

Table 1. Cases of exclusion in primary schools by local authority since 2005-06

Local Authority	2005- 06	2006- 07	2007- 08	2008- 09	2009- 10	2010- 11	2012- 13	2014- 15	2016- 17	2018- 19	2020- 21	2022- 23
Aberdeen City	392	335	385	310	343	316	349	293	c	276	77	73
Aberdeenshire	191	223	162	182	175	102	124	118	c	c	94	c
Angus	123	172	194	134	173	94	36	29	71	84	55	65
Argyll and Bute	37	48	33	64	30	50	35	27	29	36	6	c
City of Edinburgh	390	293	339	294	265	311	245	233	268	261	137	179
Clackmannanshire	76	72	54	66	c	40	45	134	76	c	c	0
Dumfries and Galloway	82	118	121	113	94	130	84	91	132	97	38	128
Dundee City	344	376	358	255	277	264	293	205	142	80	34	40
East Ayrshire	261	148	173	143	115	94	140	201	199	185	47	c
East Dunbartonshire	50	57	49	41	43	30	47	18	25	45	17	21
East Lothian	56	111	116	148	159	110	104	94	103	38	39	86
East Renfrewshire	48	55	39	20	26	7	0	0	c	0	c	c
Falkirk	90	85	97	90	89	69	71	113	132	122	c	c
Fife	398	478	379	307	307	237	269	233	324	319	169	c
Glasgow City	874	814	794	685	530	537	420	351	520	195	79	79
Highland	137	107	163	194	189	143	138	114	c	113	78	c
Inverclyde	116	131	126	123	127	92	45	13	c	17	c	8
Midlothian	109	136	182	115	109	127	104	83	121	125	51	33
Moray	92	85	61	75	158	172	175	151	128	99	21	20
Na h-Eileanan Siar	c	9	12	c	c	c	c	0	c	c	8	c
North Ayrshire	222	170	166	148	62	101	58	42	62	c	21	50
North Lanarkshire	357	451	376	352	252	261	285	240	379	287	128	c
Orkney Islands	c	11	c	c	0	c	c	0	c	6	c	0
Perth and Kinross	309	301	232	189	136	114	153	94	97	80	58	40
Renfrewshire	213	206	151	196	149	121	65	38	81	87	35	60
Scottish Borders	134	144	179	125	133	170	170	46	85	37	7	12
Shetland Islands	10	10	c	c	c	c	c	0	0	c	c	c
South Ayrshire	46	87	83	73	41	51	32	37	38	27	15	c
South Lanarkshire	174	166	192	174	146	151	142	145	239	112	63	59
Stirling	49	84	44	80	57	62	29	55	48	53	11	8
West Dunbartonshire	127	175	102	78	54	75	55	65	92	95	37	57
West Lothian	267	356	240	164	151	144	137	215	271	130	c	c

Table 2. Cases of exclusion in secondary schools by local authority since 2005-06

Local Authority	2005- 06	2006- 07	2007- 08	2008- 09	2009- 10	2010- 11	2012- 13	2014- 15	2016- 17	2018- 19	2020- 21	2022- 23
Aberdeen City	1,237	1,426	1,157	885	1,059	951	725	579	726	945	331	573
Aberdeenshire	979	1,045	982	762	734	699	642	613	654	755	423	965
Angus	612	761	701	641	541	340	235	207	268	322	122	290
Argyll and Bute	684	729	697	534	353	334	261	191	134	169	139	c
City of Edinburgh	1,681	1,436	1,297	1,085	1,315	1,048	794	692	693	525	374	540
Clackmannanshire	366	463	488	463	402	178	100	183	121	c	c	0
Dumfries and Galloway	677	869	967	864	564	524	338	360	260	336	260	263
Dundee City	1,927	1,912	1,646	1,552	1,689	1,534	1,300	960	545	357	185	333
East Ayrshire	1,073	1,053	668	709	629	610	577	443	486	90	123	222
East Dunbartonshire	658	721	699	606	454	454	298	167	137	108	101	116
East Lothian	568	706	631	531	569	532	374	398	379	205	106	234
East Renfrewshire	144	140	118	140	142	101	47	18	c	53	c	c
Falkirk	785	801	576	547	455	426	461	293	271	226	161	150
Fife	2,385	2,645	2,341	1,943	1,677	1,573	1,255	973	868	643	469	659
Glasgow City	6,180	6,329	5,460	3,989	3,012	2,685	1,852	1,612	1,276	642	314	495
Highland	630	620	612	706	565	558	558	514	551	521	315	587
Inverclyde	826	860	805	621	559	487	328	171	154	172	121	135
Midlothian	501	566	514	526	423	476	333	401	428	269	77	165
Moray	399	411	451	281	250	282	276	280	268	172	151	227
Na h-Eileanan Siar	68	86	104	93	62	86	83	19	c	c	71	c
North Ayrshire	1,916	1,895	1,613	1,154	898	705	529	367	300	178	152	320
North Lanarkshire	2,794	3,165	2,470	2,408	2,254	1,817	1,530	1,189	1,152	1,293	603	500
Orkney Islands	16	18	23	39	41	21	9	c	c	11	c	43
Perth and Kinross	655	703	552	465	501	457	354	386	346	411	181	328
Renfrewshire	1,533	1,406	1,200	1,048	948	852	609	348	408	553	446	638
Scottish Borders	383	422	501	486	522	375	479	239	228	255	58	116
Shetland Islands	43	38	39	42	32	21	16	c	21	c	c	c
South Ayrshire	1,126	1,157	818	594	415	329	246	230	213	216	198	c
South Lanarkshire	2,329	2,224	2,302	1,763	1,763	1,517	1,254	929	986	802	472	721
Stirling	246	217	217	154	165	134	162	138	156	168	78	124
West Dunbartonshire	1,376	1,120	816	732	520	574	338	295	437	276	180	181
West Lothian	1,492	1,519	1,440	1,341	1,152	1,008	743	889	859	602	410	330

These statistics include temporary exclusions only. These statistics relate to cases of exclusion so due to pupils being excluded multiple times, some pupils may be double-counted.

The Scottish Government does not hold exclusion data from before 2005-06.

Since 2010-11, the Scottish Government has collected exclusion data every two years, meaning data is only available for odd-numbered years after this point.

Question reference: S6W-35744

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 15 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent from Pupil Equity Funding (PEF) on mental health in schools in each local authority area in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S6W-36386

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 15 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the average pupil-teacher ratio has been in schools in each local authority area in each year since 1999, also broken down by (a) primary, (b) secondary and (c) special schools.

Question reference: S6W-36579

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 11 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many health visitors have been employed in each local authority area in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S6W-35997

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 21 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 8 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications each year for a high hedge notice under the High Hedges (Scotland) Act 2013 have have been (a) accepted and (b) rejected, broken down by local authority; how many rejections have been subsequently subject to an appeal to its Directorate for Planning and Environmental Appeals (DPEA), and how many appeals were (i) upheld and (ii) rejected.

Question reference: S6W-35732

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 2 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of pupils left school with no qualifications in each year since 1999.

The following table provides information from 2009-10 to 2023-24. Information is not available on a comparable basis for earlier years.

Leavers with no passes in National Qualifications at SCQF Level 3 or better.

	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17
Number of leavers with no passes in National Qualifications at SCQF 3 or better	1,493	1,231	901	772	863	1,108	1,066	1,047
Number of whom left with other qualification(s) and unit(s)	69	64	73	75	87	163	187	164
Number of whom left with unit(s) only	763	615	451	392	415	522	481	482
Number of whom left with no other qualifications or units	661	552	377	305	361	423	398	401
Number of leavers	53,134	53,394	49,745	51,647	51,416	52,491	52,305	51,300

Percentage of leavers who left with no other qualifications or units	1.2%	1.0%	0.8%	0.6%	0.7%	0.8%	0.8%	0.8%

	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24
Number of leavers with no passes in National Qualifications at SCQF 3 or better	1,092	1,113	964	1,045	1,139	1,220	1,351
Number of whom left with other qualification(s) and unit(s)	188	215	145	154	171	190	223
Number of whom left with unit(s) only	471	477	378	401	432	450	521
Number of whom left with no other qualifications or units	433	421	441	490	536	580	607
Number of leavers	49,748	49,765	47,454	50,746	55,237	54,743	55,988

Percentage of leavers who left with no other qualifications or units	0.9%	0.8%	0.9%	1.0%	1.0%	1.1%	1.1%

Source: Summary Statistics for Attainment and Initial Leaver Destinations, No. 7: 2025 edition. Supplementary Tables: Table N1.4b

Question reference: S6W-35946

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 2 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to increase the number of hours of government-funded childcare.

High quality, accessible and affordable early learning and school age childcare is critical to keeping children in Scotland out of poverty. That is why we continue prioritise investment of around £1 billion per year in delivering funded ELC to all eligible children, despite the significant financial challenges facing the Scottish Government as a result of budget choices made at Westminster.

Families across Scotland have been benefitting from the provision of 1140 hours of high quality ELC since 2021. We also committed in the 2024 Programme for Government to work with local authorities to maximise the uptake of funded early learning and childcare for eligible two-year-olds.

The Scottish Government is committed to taking the time needed to deliver a childcare expansion that is both fair and affordable, giving children the best possible start in life and supporting parents and carers to work, train and take up education opportunities. Our approach is backed by international evidence which shows that high quality ELC is critical to giving children the best start in life, especially those experiencing poverty.

In this Parliament, we are working with six councils on childcare early adopter communities (EAC), backed by £16 million over 2024-25 and 2025-26. The EACs are supporting the development of affordable childcare for low-income families with children from the early years through to the end of primary school and evaluating the difference this can make.

The engagement and targeted delivery that takes place for younger children in the EACs this year will be a key element in developing our evidence base to inform a future expansion. We will also be drawing on research to understand what different approaches to early learning and childcare are best for younger children and piloting new approaches via projects funded by the Whole Family Wellbeing Fund.

We are continuing to support the Extra Time Programme, investing £4 million in a partnership with the Scottish Football Association to deliver before, after school and breakfast clubs, providing 3,000 targeted free places each week for children and their families. We have also invested close to £1 million to deliver free or subsidised school age childcare services through our Access to Childcare projects. These projects consider specific challenges for families, including remote and rural childcare provision, and specialist provision for children with disabilities or complex additional support needs.

Question reference: S6W-35754

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 1 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many young people have been recorded as moving into employment as a positive destination in each year for which data is available, also broken down by local authority.

The latest data showing the number of school leavers in each initial destination (three months after the end of the school year) by local authority and nationally for each year since 2009-10 can be found in Table L2.1a in the supplementary tables published alongside the Summary Statistics for Attainment and Initial Leaver Destinations, No. 7: 2025 edition. The supplementary tables with data on initial destinations are available here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/summary-statistics-for-attainment-and-initial-leaver-destinations-no-7-2025-edition/documents/.

The latest data showing the number of school leavers in each follow-up destination (nine months after the end of the school year) by local authority and nationally for each year since 2009-10 can be found in Table L2.2 in the supplementary tables published alongside the Summary statistics for Follow-Up Leaver Destinations, No. 6: 2024 Edition. The supplementary tables with data on follow-up destinations are available here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/summary-statistics-follow-up-leaver-destinations-no-6-2024-edition/documents/.

Question reference: S6W-35752

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 1 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many young people have been recorded as moving into higher education as a positive destination in each year for which data is available, also broken down by local authority.

The latest data showing the number of school leavers in each initial destination (three months after the end of the school year) by local authority and nationally for each year since 2009-10 can be found in Table L2.1a in the supplementary tables published alongside the Summary Statistics for Attainment and Initial Leaver Destinations, No. 7: 2025 edition. The supplementary tables with data on initial destinations are available here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/summary-statistics-for-attainment-and-initial-leaver-destinations-no-7-2025-edition/documents/.

The latest data showing the number of school leavers in each follow-up destination (nine months after the end of the school year) by local authority and nationally for each year since 2009-10 can be found in Table L2.2 in the supplementary tables published alongside the Summary statistics for Follow-Up Leaver Destinations, No. 6: 2024 Edition. The supplementary tables with data on follow-up destinations are available here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/summary-statistics-follow-up-leaver-destinations-no-6-2024-edition/documents/.

Question reference: S6W-35759

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 1 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many in-school counsellors have been employed in each year since 1999 in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools, also broken down by local authority.

The mental health and emotional wellbeing of children and young people in Scotland is of paramount importance. Since 2021 we have provided our local authority partners with £16 million a year in funding to ensure that all school pupils aged 10 and above and all secondary schools in Scotland have access to school counselling services.

It is for local authorities to determine how they deliver the counselling service in their area. Our local authority partners have confirmed that access to counselling support services are in place across Scotland. Information on the number of counsellors employed is available in summary reports, for the time periods January to June 2021, July to December 2021, January to June 2022, July to December 2022 and January to June 2023. This information can be found on the Scottish Government website at: Access to counsellors in secondary schools and children and young people’s community mental health services – summary reports - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Information prior to 2021 is not held. From April 2024 counselling reports moved from six-monthly to annual reporting and information for the July 2023 to March 2024 period is currently being analysed.

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