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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: S6F-03603

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 December 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 December 2024

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's position is regarding any potential risk to the environment of excessive removal of peat during excavation projects.

Question reference: S6F-03593

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 December 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 December 2024

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-03599

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 02 December 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 December 2024

To ask the First Minister when the Cabinet will next meet.

Question reference: S6F-03594

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 02 December 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 December 2024

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-31339

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 15 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 2 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how it measures literacy rates among school pupils.

The Scottish Government uses a range of data and evidence to measure literacy rates among school pupils.

Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence Levels (ACEL), data, which is based on teacher judgement, provides information on the proportion of P1, P4, P7 and S3 pupils achieving the expected Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) levels in Reading, Writing, Listening and Talking. The Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Levels 2022-23 data was published in December 2023.

Data on the reading skills of 15 year olds is also collected every 3 years as part of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Scotland’s results from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA 2022) were published in December 2023.

Annual Summary Statistics for Attainment and Initial Leaver Destinations also contains data on the percentage of school leavers who attained literacy at each SCQF level. Scotland’s Summary statistics for attainment and initial leaver destinations, no. 6: 2024 was published in February 2024.

From 2026 onwards, Scotland will join the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) to gather evidence on the progress in students’ reading achievement of pupils aged 9 to 10 years.

Question reference: S6W-31351

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 15 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 2 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that feedback from pupils and parents regarding the quality of primary school meals is taken into account when developing or improving meal provision.

Local authorities are under a statutory duty to comply with the standards set out in the Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink in Schools (Scotland) Regulations 2020 when designing menus. How they do this is a matter for local decision making taking into account local needs and priorities. The Scottish Government provides advice via ‘Better Eating, Better Learning’ guidance and encourages local authorities to involve pupils, parents and carers in menu development in order to take account of local preferences and feedback as they design new menus and encourage uptake.

Question reference: S6W-31527

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 2 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-31099 by Neil Gray on 15 November 2024, which states that activity levels at Woodend Hospital will increase over the coming months, how long it anticipates it will take for the waiting list for elective surgery at the hospital to clear.

Approximately £1.36 million was initially allocated to NHS Grampian to support 980 additional orthopaedic joint procedures at Woodend Hospital over a 9 month period. However, due to unforeseen circumstances, NHS Grampian were unable to commence activity in the timeline originally anticipated and currently expect to deliver 95 additional joints at Woodend by end of March 2025.

The remainder of the funding from the £1.36 million will be redirected to other priority areas, including orthopaedic capacity at the Golden Jubilee University National Hospital.

We are working with Health Boards, including NHS Grampian, to develop detailed annual delivery plans for 2025/26 to support waiting list reductions and improve productivity, and orthopaedics will be a key priority area.

Question reference: S6W-31491

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 2 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on work to develop its National Transitions to Adulthood Strategy since 23 November 2023.

To support the development of the Strategy since 23 November 2023, we have spent approximately £19k on engagement, and on the publication costs of our analysis of engagement on the Statement of Intent. In addition, staffing costs to develop the Strategy have continued to be met from our operating costs budget for 2023-24 and 2024-25.

During this timescale, the Scottish Government has also continued to provide funding to a number of organisations whose work supports transitions and the development of the Strategy including, but not limited to, the Association for Real Change (ARC) Scotland, Capability Scotland, Enable Scotland, and the Independent Living Fund Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-31467

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 2 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what recent action it has taken to address the reported continued differential in payments per child between local authority and private early learning and childcare settings.

Scottish Government publishes data each year on the rates paid by local authorities to funded providers in the private and third sector, and to childminders, to deliver funded early learning and childcare (ELC). Data for 2023-24 showed that rates increased by on average 4.1% between 2022-23 and 2023-24.

While the average rate has increased, there remains variation in the rates paid across Scotland. That is why work is being undertaken to reform the process for setting sustainable rates. This will see the delivery of the actions set out in the joint COSLA and Scottish Government Sustainable Rates Review, which was published in December 2023 and was informed by evidence from both childcare providers and local authorities.

The review recommends a wide-ranging set of actions to improve the existing sustainable rates process, including updating the Sustainable Rates Guidance with a view to greater standardisation; and working with local government and funded providers to undertake a new cost collection exercise to ensure that our long-term investment to support the setting of sustainable rates is informed by a robust and reliable evidence base.To ensure that providers can input directly into this programme of work a series of Provider Reference Groups have been held this Autumn.

Following the Review, refreshed Scottish Government and COSLA guidance was published for 2024-25 setting out a clear expectation that there should be minimum increase of 7.6%. Data for 2024-25 will be published in early 2025. These rates do not take into account the costs to local authorities of commissioning, administering and overseeing the delivery of funded ELC.

From 2024-25 onwards, funding for ELC has been distributed to local authorities by Scottish Government through the General Revenue Grant. This now includes the previously ringfenced funding for Early Learning and Childcare following the removal of the ringfence as part of the Scottish Government’s commitment under the Verity House Agreement to increase funding flexibilities to local authorities. It is then for locally elected representatives to decide how to deliver services, including ELC, to their local communities, whilst fulfilling their statutory obligations and a jointly agreed set of delivery priorities.

As local authorities have a statutory responsibility to commission services that meet the needs of their population, they may choose to run services that would not be commercially viable for other providers, such as in rural and island communities.

Question reference: S6W-31422

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 2 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many qualified childminders are currently registered in the (a) Argyll and Bute Council, (b) Highland Council, (c) Moray Council, (d) Orkney Islands Council, (e) Shetland Islands Council and (f) Comhairle nan Eilean Siar area.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information, however the data can be found by contacting the Care Inspectorate directly or searching the Care Inspectorate datastore.

Scottish Government is committed to supporting and growing our childminding sector, which is why we launched the Programme for Scotland’s Childminding Future in June 2024, in partnership with the Scottish Childminding Association (SCMA). The programme is supporting the recruitment of new professional childminders across Scotland, offering a package of funded support and training in addition to a £750 start-up grant, providing everything needed to establish a new childminding business from home.

The programme also includes a range of pilot measures to address the retention of the childminding workforce, delivering more practical support to ensure our existing professionals are supported with their workloads and professional development.

The recruitment support is available across 19 local authorities during 2024-25, and 12 local authorities are participating in the retention pilots. SCMA are currently in discussions with local authorities regarding participation for year 2 (2025-26), and we welcome their commitment to supporting the childminding workforce.