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Information is not held centrally. Courses ran by colleges are decided by colleges, as such individual colleges would have this information.

Under the Education (Scotland) Act 1980, the statutory responsibility for the provision of education in Scotland rests with individual local authorities.

School catchment arrangements are a matter for individual local authorities, which have the responsibility to manage their own school estates in consultation with local communities.

Any proposal to redraw school catchment areas is subject to the requirements of the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010, which sets out clear procedures for public consultation to ensure that local communities have the opportunity to express their views.

There have been no discussions between Scottish Ministers and COSLA about the redrawing of school catchment areas – that is because a decision pertaining to changing catchment areas for Schools in Scotland is a matter for Local Authorities, not Scottish Ministers.

The following table provides information on the number of patients under 18 years admitted to hospital where a diagnosis of tooth decay was recorded, from April 1999 to March 2024, in Scotland, by financial year.

Table 1: Number of patients under 18 years admitted to hospital where a diagnosis of tooth decay was recorded, from April 1999 to March 2024, in Scotland, by financial year.

Information on the number of carers at Scottish universities and colleges is published by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) in their report for widening access.

Latest publication: Report on Widening Access 2022-23 - Scottish Funding Council

Carer information can be located in the background tables, for universities (table 16) and for colleges (table 17).

Further information can be requested directly from the SFC.

Information on the number of pupils accessing colleges courses is collected by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC). Data on the number of enrolments by category of student, which includes school based students in S4, S5 and S6, is published in the SFC annual College Statistics publication.

Latest publication: College Statistics 2023-24 - Scottish Funding Council (sfc.ac.uk)

Available in background table 13. No data is published by local authority.

Further information can be requested directly from the SFC.

The number of Care Experienced Bursaries that have been awarded in each year since the establishment of the support in the 2017-2018 academic year is as follows:

The Scottish Government does not hold this information, as teachers’ absence is a matter for local authorities as the employer.

The Scottish Government does not collect information on the amount spent by local authorities on school bus journeys for pupils travelling to school.

Whilst data from 1999 is not held by Scottish Government, the Improvement Service’s annual Instrumental Music Survey of local authorities contains data on the number of pupils that participated in instrumental music lessons from academic year 2013-2014 to 2023-24.

The most recent Instrumental Music survey published in January 2025 confirmed that uptake in 2023-24 was the highest proportion of the school roll participating in IMS since 2017. Page 9 of the document contains a table with the number of instrumental music pupils per authority from 2016-17 until 2023-24.

In order to access data from 2012-13 you can access the 2021 Instrumental Music survey report.

While some schools or local authorities may run localised campaigns, Scottish Government paid-for marketing channels are not used within the school setting. Therefore, there is no recorded spend for Scottish Government marketing for drugs campaigns within schools during this time frame.

We want all young people to be appropriately educated about the harms of substance use, both to themselves and others.

In 2016 the Scottish Government published ‘What works in drugs education and prevention’: 'What Works' in Drug Education and Prevention? - gov.scot

The What Works review advises against mass campaigns about illegal drugs and instead recommends that: … wider programmes that are delivered in schools, which target multiple risk behaviours, help build self-esteem and life skills are more likely to be effective in preventing drug use. This suggests a departure from drug specific education. Generic programmes, such as the Good Behaviour Game, which do not focus on drug/substance use, can be effective in reducing substance use and other problematic behaviours in the long term.

This is why children and young people learn about a variety of substances including alcohol, medicines, drugs, tobacco and solvents in a way that focuses on identifying safe and unsafe behaviours, and learning about the impact that ongoing use can have on a person’s health, future choices and options.

Through application of Curriculum for Excellence they learn that alcohol and drugs can affect people’s ability to make decisions. The aim is to help children and young people make informed personal choices which will help them lead healthy lifestyles now and in the future.