Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-37964

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 5 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is a statutory requirement for local authorities to collaborate with (a) healthcare professionals and (b) independent mobility assessors in the administration of the Blue Badge scheme.

While there is no statutory requirement, the decision on whether an applicant should have further assessment is a decision for the local authority to make. Blue badge administrators may use desk-based screening tools to inform decisions and identify which applicants should be referred to regulated health care professionals.

Transport Scotland considers it good practice for local authorities to refer applicants for an independent mobility assessment, if that is required to make a clear and robust decision on eligibility.

Question reference: S6O-04732

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when it will meet with the Equality and Human Rights Commission regarding its recently published consultation on updating the Code of Practice for services, public functions and associations, following the recent Supreme Court ruling.

Question reference: S6W-37406

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 19 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to introduce information on the dangers of methanol poisoning to the school curriculum.

We are committed to ensuring that children and young people have the opportunity to learn about substance use and its impact on life choices and health. Curriculum for Excellence already provides the opportunity to explore the risks associated with a variety of substances including alcohol, medicines, drugs, tobacco and solvents. We recognise that education alone will not resolve the harmful abuse of substances, but it is an important strand within a broad range of measures across communities that are designed to tackle this issue.

There are no plans to introduce information on the dangers of methanol poisoning to the school curriculum. We do not take a prescriptive approach to the curriculum in Scotland and it is up to individual schools and local authorities to design approaches to help them deliver relevant and engaging learning.

Following the announcement in December 2023, Education Scotland has been leading on development and delivery of the new Curriculum Improvement Cycle (CIC). This represents a planned and systemic approach to strengthening the curriculum to ensure it remains forward looking, and supports more consistent teaching and learning experiences and improved attainment and achievement of our children and young people. The CIC, which covers all curricular areas including Health and Wellbeing (HWB), is considering all curricular areas and key aspects – including the subject area of HWB, where work is already underway, drawing on robust interrogation of evidence and a co-design process with practitioners and wider stakeholders.

Question reference: S6W-37355

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 19 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its ongoing review of the guidance on mothballing.

Statutory responsibility for decisions about the learning estate, including mothballing, rest with local authorities. The Scottish Government issues guidance to support local authorities’ implementation of their statutory responsibilities.

As the First Minister stated on 24 April, we are reviewing current guidance on the mothballing of schools and nurseries to provide greater clarity on whether it is an appropriate action to take. Scottish Government officials have regular engagement with local authorities and their representative bodies on a range of issues, including mothballing, and Ministers are considering a range of local government and stakeholder views on mothballing through the review process.

We will update Parliament further on this work in due course. While the review is underway, the existing guidance on mothballing (which is included in the Statutory Guidance on the Schools Consultation (Scotland) Act 200) remains in place.

Question reference: S6W-37357

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 19 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what communication it has had with local authorities regarding its review of the guidance on mothballing, and whether it has advised any local authorities to pause any mothballing proposals until they receive updated guidance from it.

Statutory responsibility for decisions about the learning estate, including mothballing, rest with local authorities. The Scottish Government issues guidance to support local authorities’ implementation of their statutory responsibilities.

As the First Minister stated on 24 April, we are reviewing current guidance on the mothballing of schools and nurseries to provide greater clarity on whether it is an appropriate action to take. Scottish Government officials have regular engagement with local authorities and their representative bodies on a range of issues, including mothballing, and Ministers are considering a range of local government and stakeholder views on mothballing through the review process.

We will update Parliament further on this work in due course. While the review is underway, the existing guidance on mothballing (which is included in the Statutory Guidance on the Schools Consultation (Scotland) Act 200) remains in place.

Question reference: S6W-37356

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 19 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to publish the outcome of its review of the guidance on mothballing.

Statutory responsibility for decisions about the learning estate, including mothballing, rest with local authorities. The Scottish Government issues guidance to support local authorities’ implementation of their statutory responsibilities.

As the First Minister stated on 24 April, we are reviewing current guidance on the mothballing of schools and nurseries to provide greater clarity on whether it is an appropriate action to take. Scottish Government officials have regular engagement with local authorities and their representative bodies on a range of issues, including mothballing, and Ministers are considering a range of local government and stakeholder views on mothballing through the review process.

We will update Parliament further on this work in due course. While the review is underway, the existing guidance on mothballing (which is included in the Statutory Guidance on the Schools Consultation (Scotland) Act 200) remains in place.

Question reference: S6O-04641

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recent report by Scottish Borders Council on the future of Live Borders, regarding any impact on cultural services, community engagement and libraries across the Borders.

Question reference: S6W-36615

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 2 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the National Energy System Operator (NESO) regarding battery energy storage system quotas in Scotland.

The Scottish Government regularly engages with the National Energy System Operator (NESO) and the UK Government in relation to the actions set out in the Clean Power Action Plan, as well as the development of the Strategic Spatial Energy Plan (SSEP), which will set out a long-term view of what energy sources are needed to reach net zero, and their most optimal locations across Great Britain (GB) on a zonal basis.

NESO modelling was a contributing factor to the development of the technology capacity scenarios set out in the Action Plan which includes an outline of GB-wide measures to support the development of energy storage.

Question reference: S6W-36612

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 1 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-35639 by Maree Todd on 27 March 2025, which NHS boards will be supported to provide suicide bereavement support.

We are continuing to work closely with partners to design and plan the expansion of suicide bereavement support across Scotland, taking account of the evaluation findings and existing local provision.

In addition to delivering suicide bereavement support services in Highland and Ayrshire & Arran Health Boards, Suicide Prevention Scotland has progressed discussions to establish suicide bereavement support which connects to existing local and national provision in several NHS Board areas. These are: Borders, Tayside, Fife, Shetland, Dumfries & Galloway and Greater Glasgow & Clyde.

We will continue our discussions with the remaining health boards over the coming months.

Question reference: S6W-36614

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 1 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish its next Creating Hope Together suicide prevention action plan.

The first three year Creating Hope Together action plan was published in 2022 and covers the period 2022-2025.

As outlined in the answer S6W-35639 on 27 March 2025, we are starting to develop our next three-year action plan which we intend to publish in early 2026. This will build on the existing suicide prevention work and the significant insights gathered over the lifespan of the current action plan, as well as reflecting emerging and new evidence on suicide prevention. We will be engaging with our key stakeholders, our lived experience panels and others in the coming months so that they can help shape the next action plan.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

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