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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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S6W-40725

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 7 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the reported 30 schools for which there is no recorded last condition survey date are recorded as being in "Good" condition in its School Estate Statistics 2025.

Schools built within the past five years may not yet have had a condition survey and the condition rating is based on the state of the school at the time of completion of the building works.

In situations where schools were built under PPP (Public-Private Partnerships), PFI (Private finance initiative) or similar arrangements which included school maintenance contracts, local authorities report that the buildings are monitored and maintained by a third party.

It is local authorities’ responsibility to ensure schools built under such arrangements continue to be maintained to a sufficiently high standard, given the maintenance contract that will be in place.

Question reference: S6W-40828

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 26 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 7 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it collects data on which dental practices currently provide preventative treatment for children, and, if so, whether all dental practices currently offer such treatment.

NHS dental preventive care delivery is recorded at population level. Public Health Scotland stats for the quarter to June 2025 NHS dental data monitoring report - Quarter ending June 2025 - NHS dental data monitoring report - Publications - Public Health Scotland show that over half a million enhanced preventive care (including Childsmile) was delivered to NHS dental patients. All patients, including Children may receive preventive advice from the dentist based on the clinical need for such guidance to be provided when visiting the practice.

Question reference: S6W-40827

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 26 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 7 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on which commitments made in the Oral Health Improvement Plan (a) have been delivered to date and (b) remain outstanding.

The Oral Health Improvement Plan (OHIP) remains a relevant and important cornerstone of NHS dental services policy in Scotland. Significant progress has been made on the commitments from the OHIP since its publication, including through the introduction of payment reform in November 2023.

Our recently published Operational Improvement Plan sets out this Government’s current ambitions to further improve NHS dental services both now and into the future, supported by new funding in 2025-26. The Plan can be viewed at

https://www.gov.scot/publications/nhs-scotland-operational-improvement-plan/.

Question reference: S6W-40782

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 26 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 7 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address the reported shortage of pupil support assistants in schools, in light of reported concerns from parents and unions that this is leaving a large number of children unable to attend school full-time.

We continue to work with our partners to ensure that all children and young people get the support that they need to reach their full potential.

Pupil support staff play a vital role in the education of our children and young people. Scottish Ministers have invested £15m per year since 2019-20, helping local authorities to respond to the individual needs of children and young people and to maintain near-record levels of pupil support staff in Scotland. In addition, the Scottish Government are investing an additional £29 million to support the recruitment and retention of the ASN workforce, in a context of record spend of over £1 billion by local authorities on ASN in 2023-24.

Question reference: S6W-40790

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 26 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 7 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to reduce the number of people waiting for urgent NHS dental treatment.

NHS patients requiring urgent care will be seen by practices based on clinical need. Unregistered patients can access emergency and urgent dental care via Public Dental Service clinics. The PDS are NHS Board-run services and therefore the responsibility of the health boards.

Public Health Scotland statistics published in August show that over 7 million courses of NHS dental treatment have been delivered to patients since the introduction of payment reform in November 2023, demonstrating that our policy is delivering on our aims to sustain NHS dental services.

Our recently published Operational Improvement Plan sets out a package of funded actions to bolster the NHS dental workforce and support increased access now and into the future. This includes support to the dental workforce pipeline through i) the immediate expansion of domestic dental student numbers and ii) the development of an innovative new training package to support international dentists in joining the NHS Scotland workforce.

Question reference: S6W-40826

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 26 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 7 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, as part of delivering a circular economy, whether it plans to set a national reuse target, in line with the approach taken by countries such as Spain, Portugal, France and Belgium, and if so, what guidance and financial support it will provide to local authorities to help achieve this.

As set out in the Circular Economy and Waste Route Map to 2030, available on the Scottish Government’s website at https://www.gov.scot/publications/scotlands-circular-economy-waste-route-map-2030/, new circular economy targets will be set by 2027 and will build on the monitoring and indicator framework that will be part of the forthcoming circular economy strategy. Reuse targets will be considered as part of the development of these new targets.

Question reference: S6W-40818

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 26 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 7 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the potential impact of the closure of the Alloa campus of Forth Valley College on (a) students and (b) staff.

While colleges are responsible for their own operational matters, such as their campus footprint, they must consider the needs of the people, region, and the communities they serve. This includes students and staff, for whom I recognise this is a worrying time.

As Forth Valley College’s campus in Alloa plays a vital role in providing access to services for the people in that community, Ministers are keen that everything possible is done to keep the campus open.

Question reference: S6T-02704

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 06 October 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to meet the interim and final child poverty reduction targets, in light of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s finding in its report, Poverty in Scotland 2025, that current levels remain largely unchanged since 2021.

Question reference: S6T-02709

Asked by: Jackie Dunbar, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 October 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update regarding its response to Storm Amy.

Question reference: S6F-04374

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 October 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 October 2025

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s response is to reports that the mental health budget has been reduced in the 2025-26 Autumn Budget Revision.