- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 August 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom Arthur on 8 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to improve coordination between private and NHS services for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnosis and care, and whether it will consider establishing a national framework for shared care to help reduce waiting times and ease pressure on NHS resources.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not currently have plans to establish a national framework for shared care. However, we are engaging with the Royal College of GPs (Scotland) to understand the current issues around shared care agreements for patients with ADHD.
Officials have also written to all health boards seeking clarification on what neurodevelopmental assessment and support they currently have in place for adults, this included a question on local protocol for patients with a private diagnosis. We are currently collating and considering this information.
- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 August 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 8 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, regarding its policy to not use public money to support the manufacture of munitions or weapons, what its position is on whether an SSN submarine is a weapon in itself, as opposed to a naval vessel that may be used as a platform to carry conventional non-nuclear weapons or munitions.
Answer
As of 3 September 2025, the Scottish Government no longer has a policy prohibiting the use of public funds to support the manufacture of munitions.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 August 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 8 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent in total on prisoner rehabilitation and reintegration programmes in each of the last five years, and what percentage of the total Scottish Prison Service budget this represented in each year.
Answer
I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:
SPS do not currently calculate the total spent on prisoner rehabilitation and reintegration programmes therefore this level of detail is not available in the format requested.
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 August 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 8 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on posting letters abroad in each year since 2021.
Answer
The Scottish Government’s expenditure on international letter postage for each year from 2021 is as follows.
Year | International Letters Postage Spend |
Jan – Dec 2021 | £6,165.00 |
Jan – Dec 2022 | £1,100.75 |
Jan – Dec 2023 | £7,725.60 |
Jan – Dec 2024 | £6,576.75 |
Jan – 26th Aug 2025 | £2,656.90 |
These figures reflect the costs incurred for sending official correspondence overseas and are based on records held by Help Central between January 2021 – July 2023 and records retrieved directly from the franking machines from Aug 2023 – 26 Aug 2025.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 August 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom Arthur on 8 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to reduce adult diagnostic waiting times for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) across Scotland.
Answer
The Scottish Government funds the National Autism Implementation Team (NAIT), which is currently supporting NHS Boards to develop, enhance and redesign existing local adult neurodevelopmental services. We continue scope the work required to improve Adult Neurodevelopmental Pathways nationally, understanding that a stepped care model is needed to reduce waiting times for adult neurodevelopmental assessments and ensure a consistent approach to them across Scotland.
We continue to fund NHS Education for Scotland and NAIT to deliver professional learning on neurodevelopmental conditions. Training is offered at informed, enhanced, specialist, and expert levels, with strong uptake across all tiers.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 August 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 8 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will confirm in writing to the partners of the Project Brave ferry project that it will begin the process of making the necessary legislative amendment to formally authorise Grangemouth as an inland Border Control Post.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-40003 on 8 September 2025. 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.
- Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 August 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 8 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-36754 by Angela Constance on 8 May 2025, whether it will provide an update regarding the specific date on which it plans to lay the SSI to propose adding the characteristic of “sex” to the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021.
Answer
On 28 August 2025 we laid in draft an SSI to add the characteristic of sex to the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021.
If passed, it will make it an offence for a person to stir up hatred against women and girls, and where an offender is motivated by, or demonstrates, malice and ill-will towards women and girls in committing a criminal offence, that offence will be aggravated by prejudice relating to the characteristic of sex.
This SSI is subject to super affirmative process and is therefore subject to consultation prior to the final version being laid in Parliament. The draft SSI, accompanying explanatory note, policy note and consultation paper can be found online at Draft SSI to add 'sex' as a characteristic to the hate crime and public order (Scotland) Act 2021 - gov.scot and the consultation itself can be found online at SSI to add "sex" as a characteristic to the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 - Scottish Government consultations - Citizen Space. The consultation will run until 10 October 2025.
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 August 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 8 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what recent engagement it has had with the tenancy deposit schemes operating in Scotland.
Answer
Scottish Government officials engage regularly with the three approved tenancy deposit schemes on a range of policy and operational matters, including formal engagement as part of monitoring each scheme for compliance with the Tenancy Deposit Scheme (Scotland) Regulations 2011.
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Date lodged: Monday, 25 August 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Fairlie on 8 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many hectares of land were considered to be fully organic in each year since 2007.
Answer
Organic farming statistics for the UK are published annually by Defra. The following table shows the area of fully organic land farmed in Scotland since 2007:
Year | Fully organic land farmed in Scotland (hectares) |
2007 | 193,133 |
2008 | 225,137 |
2009 | 209,256 |
2010 | 176,288 |
2011 | 164,848 |
2012 | 143,662 |
2013 | 139,959 |
2014 | 132,861 |
2015 | 125,307 |
2016 | 119,284 |
2017 | 117,567 |
2018 | 83,112 |
2019 | 85,324 |
2020 | 87,004 |
2021 | 89,636 |
2022 | 92,502 |
2023 | 103,485 |
2024 | 104,975 |
Support for the conversion to, and maintenance of, organic farming practices remains available to land managers through the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme (AECS). Of the £339.9 million committed through AECS since 2015, around £41 million has supported 707 organics contracts.
The area cap for the conversion to, and maintenance of, organic farmland has been lifted since the 2023 round of AECS to encourage Scottish businesses to convert additional land and move their full organic area into AECS management. This has contributed to land entering the two-year organic conversion process increasing by 102% since 2023.
Through the realisation of the Vision for Agriculture and the four-tier framework, farmers and crofters will be incentivised and supported to further incorporate sustainable and regenerative practices, an important aspect of organic principles.
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Date lodged: Monday, 25 August 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Fairlie on 8 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how it supports local authorities to establish new allotments.
Answer
The Scottish Government supports local authorities to meet the statutory duties stemming from Part 9 of the Community Empowerment Act (Scotland) 2015 through a range of guidance and collaborative networks, supporting and strengthening local expertise.
In partnership with the Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE), earlier this year the Scottish Government arranged workshops to provide a high-level overview of the legislative requirements of Part 9 and an opportunity for allotment officers to share best practice and network. As a direct consequence of positive feedback received from these workshops, ongoing networking and mutual support will be facilitated when APSE establish a specific allotment and community growing network in the coming weeks.
The Scottish Government has also published detailed guidance to assist local authorities in fulfilling their Part 9 statutory duties:
While the Scottish Government provides support and guidance, decisions regarding allotment provision ultimately rest with individual local authorities. As per the statutory duties under Part 9, they are expected to take reasonable steps to meet their obligations where specific demand for allotments is met.