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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.

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Question reference: S6W-41629

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 31 October 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 14 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the costs of illicit drug use since the publication in 2009 of its report, Assessing the scale and impact of illicit drug markets in Scotland, and what comparable research it has produced or commissioned since the publication.

Question reference: S6W-41617

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 31 October 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 14 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-30681 by Paul McLennan on 8 November 2024, how many live homeless applications there were in each local authority area on Christmas Day in 2024, and how many (a) adults and (b) children these related to.

Question reference: S6W-40974

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 28 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has established remediation pathways for all buildings over 18m that were included in the High Rise Inventory and highlighted through other data sources, as set out in the Cladding Remediation Programme: Next Phase Plan of Action, and how many such buildings required direct intervention by the Scottish Government to bring them onto a funded and trackable remediation pathway.

We have made substantial progress in establishing remediation pathways for buildings over 18 metres in height that were included in the High-Rise Inventory and highlighted through other data sources, irrespective of tenure.

We continue to work closely with partners to determine, prioritise and drive the necessary action on assessment and mitigation, on which the Scottish Government is offering substantial financial support to the sector.

We expect to conclude the work to establish remediation pathways for high-rise buildings with known cladding by the end of October 2025.

Question reference: S6W-40593

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 30 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what further evaluation it is carrying out of the 1,140 hours early learning childcare expansion, and by what date any reports regarding this work will be published.

Working with our Monitoring and Evaluation Working Group, we published our Evaluation Strategy on the impacts of the 1140 expansion on outcomes for children, parents and families over the 2018-2025 period in October 2022.

The Scottish Study of Early Learning and Childcare (SSELC) is the main vehicle for collecting evaluation evidence on child and parent outcomes. Baseline data for the SSELC were collected during 2018 and 2019 from children and their parents accessing up to 600 hours of funded ELC. Reports on the first three phases were published in 2019-20. Data collection for the post-expansion phases of the SSELC took place during 2023 and 2024 with reports published across 2024-25. Independent contractors ScotCen are now analysing this data and preparing their overall report.

In August 2024 we published the ELC Expansion to 1140 hours: Interim Evaluation report, which considered progress against the intermediate outcomes of quality, flexibility, accessibility and affordability. I previously informed Parliament that a full report on the ELC 1140 expansion evaluation for the period 2018-2025 would be published in late 2025, however we now expect to publish this in early 2026. This report will draw together findings from across all the strands of the evaluation, including the SSELC and parent and carer surveys carried out before, during and after the ELC expansion.

Question reference: S6W-40580

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 25 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that the University of Aberdeen is considering suspending the student intake for its Diploma in Dental Technology programme for (a) 2025-26 and (b) 2026-27.

While we are disappointed about the University of Aberdeen’s decision to pause the student intake for their dental technology programme in 2025-26 and 2026-27, the Scottish Government remains committed to the provision of dental technology training in Scotland to support this vital part of the dental workforce. We will continue to work closely with the dental schools at universities and with stakeholders on the NHS Dental Workforce National Strategy short-life working group, to develop a comprehensive plan to ensure the provision of high quality and sustainable education for the dental workforce.

Question reference: S6O-05017

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 September 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will change the college and university funding frameworks to reflect the hybrid nature of Scotland's Rural College, which has both higher and further education provision.

Question reference: S6T-02680

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 22 September 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recommendation made by the Commission on School Reform report, Behaviour in Schools, that teachers should be able to suspend or exclude pupils who exhibit persistent behaviour issues.

Question reference: S6W-40264

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 16 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it completed its information-gathering exercise to verify the cladding status of buildings between 11 and 18 metres in height by the end of August 2025.

There has been a strong response to our information-gathering exercise on social housing. This is allowing us to work with partners to determine, drive and prioritise the necessary action on assessment and mitigation, on which the Scottish Government is offering substantial financial support to the sector. In the minority of cases where information is yet to be received, I have written to ask owners to respond as a matter of urgency. We will publish further information in due course on this information exercise.

Question reference: S6W-40441

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 16 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-40340 by Fiona Hyslop on 5 September 2025, whether it plans for battery-electric trains procured for routes in Fife to be used in the operation of services in the North East Fife constituency.

Question reference: S6W-40263

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 12 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether all priority Single Building Assessments via its assessment process were completed and returned by the end of August 2025.