Questions and answers

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-35756

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 personal skills development, including employability, 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-35751

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 rural school closures have taken place in each year since 1999, also broken down by local authority.

In 2003 there were 1,025 publicly funded schools in Scotland classed as being in either an 'Accessible Rural Area' or 'Remote Rural Area'. In 2023 there were 853 publicly funded schools in Scotland with this classification.

Local Authority	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Aberdeen City	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	2	2	2	2	2	1	1	2	3	3	3	2	2	4
Aberdeenshire	128	127	125	125	123	122	121	121	121	121	120	120	119	120	119	116	115	117	114	113	113
Angus	37	36	35	36	33	31	31	29	29	29	29	29	29	28	27	28	28	28	28	28	28
Argyll & Bute	80	79	79	79	78	80	81	81	80	81	81	80	73	74	73	73	72	71	69	68	68
Clackmannanshire	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	4	3	3	3	3	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4
Dumfries & Galloway	84	83	81	81	80	79	78	76	75	75	74	74	74	72	72	73	72	72	72	72	69
Dundee City	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
East Ayrshire	21	21	19	21	22	22	21	20	20	18	20	20	21	21	21	21	21	21	21	21	21
East Dunbartonshire	5	5	5	6	6	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
East Lothian	17	17	17	18	19	19	19	19	17	17	17	17	17	17	17	17	18	18	19	19	20
East Renfrewshire	4	4	4	4	5	5	5	4	4	4	5	5	4	5	5	4	5	5	5	5	5
Edinburgh	4	4	4	4	2	2	3	3	3	3	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Falkirk	13	13	13	14	14	12	11	12	13	12	11	12	12	11	11	11	9	9	9	9	9
Fife	57	56	56	56	47	47	47	46	47	47	51	49	46	46	46	44	42	42	45	44	43
Glasgow City	2	2	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Highland	159	158	164	159	159	158	157	157	156	150	149	150	151	148	146	144	144	144	144	139	138
Inverclyde	2	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
Midlothian	16	15	13	13	13	9	9	9	8	9	8	8	7	8	9	8	7	7	7	6	6
Moray	31	31	32	31	31	31	31	31	30	30	30	30	30	30	29	29	29	29	29	29	28
Na h-Eileanan Siar	45	45	47	44	47	44	43	41	37	30	26	26	25	23	23	23	22	22	21	21	21
North Ayrshire	14	14	14	14	15	12	12	12	12	13	13	13	13	15	13	15	14	15	15	16	16
North Lanarkshire	20	20	20	20	19	14	15	15	16	16	16	16	19	18	18	18	18	18	18	19	19
Orkney Islands	24	24	24	24	24	24	24	23	22	22	22	22	22	22	21	21	21	21	23	23	23
Perth & Kinross	57	56	56	56	56	54	55	54	53	53	52	52	52	51	49	50	50	50	50	50	50
Renfrewshire	6	6	6	6	6	4	4	5	5	5	5	5	5	4	4	4	4	4	5	5	6
Scottish Borders	51	48	45	45	45	44	43	44	45	44	41	41	41	40	41	41	40	40	40	39	39
Shetland Islands	39	39	38	38	38	38	38	37	37	36	36	34	34	32	32	33	33	33	33	32	32
South Ayrshire	21	21	21	21	20	20	20	20	18	18	17	17	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16
South Lanarkshire	38	38	37	37	36	36	35	34	36	33	34	34	33	31	31	31	31	31	31	30	30
Stirling	30	30	28	28	29	27	27	26	25	25	25	26	26	25	25	24	23	23	23	23	23
West Dunbartonshire	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
West Lothian	15	15	16	16	14	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	9	10	10	10	10	13
All local authorities	1025	1014	1008	1005	989	958	954	945	934	916	910	907	894	882	874	868	859	861	861	852	853

Data is only available from 2003 onwards and is based on schools which were classed as either 'Accessible Rural Areas' or 'Remote Rural Areas' according to the Urban Rural Classification at the time. Note that an area's Urban Rural Classification may change over time, therefore a decrease in the number of schools classed as rural over the years could be due to this area being reclassified, rather than being due to school closures. The table shows how many rural schools were open in each local authority in each year since 2003.

More detailed information about school openings, closures, mergers and instances where a school has been mothballed can be found on the school contact details spreadsheet in the 'Schools opened or closed' tab: School contact details - gov.scot, but recording of this data is only available from 2007 onwards.

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.

Question reference: S6W-35755

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 training 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-35761

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 much has been spent on additional support needs provision as part of the Pupil Equity Fund in each year since its introduction.

The information requested is not held centrally. Headteachers know their learners best and they decide how to invest their Pupil Equity Funding, based on their local context. Pupil Equity Funding must enable schools to deliver activities, approaches or resources which are clearly additional to universal local improvement plans.

Scottish Attainment Challenge funding, which includes annual Pupil Equity Funding of £130 million to 97% of schools, supports up to 3,000 additional staff, including up to 700 FTE teachers.

Spending on additional support for learning by local authorities reached a record high of over £1 billion in 2023-24 – the latest figure available – an increase from £540m in 2012-13. The 2025/26 budget sets out that a further £29m of additional investment will enhance support for children with additional support needs in our schools. This will include an allocation for local and national programmes to support the recruitment and retention of the Additional Support Needs workforce and enable us to build on the work being delivered through our Additional Support for Learning Action Plan. Details of the national programme of work will be set out in due course.

Seòmar agus comataidhean