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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-42473

Asked by: Audrey Nicoll, MSP for Aberdeen South and North Kincardine, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 5 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide what information it has on the number of English teachers there are in each local authority area, broken down by (a) gender and (b) nationally.

The full-time equivalent (FTE) secondary school teachers with English as their main subject or other subject in 2024, by sex and local authority, is provided in the following table.

	Female	Male	All teachers
Aberdeen City	73	21	94
Aberdeenshire	89	39	128
Angus	44	21	65
Argyll and Bute	36	8	44
City of Edinburgh	145	64	209
Clackmannanshire	17	5	22
Dumfries and Galloway	68	12	80
Dundee City	52	18	70
East Ayrshire	36	17	53
East Dunbartonshire	56	21	77
East Lothian	42	14	56
East Renfrewshire	54	27	81
Falkirk	59	21	80
Fife	128	46	174
Glasgow City	212	78	291
Highland	90	40	130
Inverclyde	23	12	35
Midlothian	45	14	58
Moray	37	6	44
Na h-Eileanan Siar	11	5	16
North Ayrshire	51	19	70
North Lanarkshire	158	36	194
Orkney Islands	c	c	16
Perth and Kinross	47	18	65
Renfrewshire	78	20	98
Scottish Borders	36	18	54
Shetland Islands	c	c	16
South Ayrshire	33	14	47
South Lanarkshire	125	44	169
Stirling	49	11	60
West Dunbartonshire	37	9	46
West Lothian	74	29	103
All local authorities	2,034	710	2,743
Grant aided	c	c	6
Scotland	2,038	712	2,750

c = value suppressed to protect against the risk of disclosure of personal information.

These FTE statistics have been rounded to the nearest whole number so the sum of the rows shown may not match the total shown.

Question reference: S6W-42487

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 5 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the comment by the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills on 3 December 2025 that “the national review [of group-based sexual harm] will provide a more accurate and focused picture of the scale of and response” to the issue, whether it will confirm who the members of the review will be; on what basis they will be selected, and when they will be in place.

The Independent National Review of Group-Based Sexual Abuse and Exploitation will be jointly undertaken by the Care Inspectorate, His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary in Scotland, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education, and Health Improvement Scotland. The four statutory Inspectorates are independent of government and the organisations which they scrutinise. They have powers to compel public authorities to provide information they request.

Professor Alexis Jay will provide expert advice on the Review’s design and at key stages of the process given her extensive knowledge and experience of group-based child sexual abuse and exploitation.

Question reference: S6W-42447

Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 5 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many families in the (a) Clackmannanshire and (b) Stirling local authority area have received support through the Scottish Child Payment since it was introduced.

As of 30 September 2025, 2,110 parents or carers in the Clackmannanshire local authority area, and 2,320 parents or carers in the Stirling local authority area were actively in receipt of Scottish Child Payment.

These figures are available in the latest Scottish Child Payment statistics publication which can be found at: Scottish Child Payment to September 2025 Publication.

Social Security Scotland publish statistics on the overall number of individual people to have been paid since Scottish Child Payment launched, but do not report a local authority area breakdown of this information.

Question reference: S6W-42455

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 5 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether Police Scotland's record-keeping practices, including the absence of a list of governance groups attended, comply with the requirements of the Public Records (Scotland) Act 2011.

The Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 stipulates that the Chief Constable of Police Scotland is responsible for the policing of Scotland and is accountable to the Scottish Police Authority for this, rather than to Scottish Ministers directly.

These arrangements are in place to ensure that the police act independently, free from unwarranted Ministerial interference. Police Scotland’s record keeping is an operational matter for the Chief Constable who is accountable to the Scottish Police Authority for this, rather than to Scottish Ministers directly.

It would therefore be inappropriate for the Scottish Government to comment on operational matters.

Question reference: S6W-42424

Asked by: Stephanie Callaghan, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 5 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding pupils with additional support needs and disabilities, what data is available to compare requests for, and provision of, additional assessment arrangements in and across local authorities.

Question reference: S6W-42456

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 5 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of recent freedom of information correspondence in which Police Scotland states that it does not hold a list of the meetings staff attend, whether it will publish a list of all governance groups, boards and oversight forums that Police Scotland participates in.

Question reference: S6W-42786

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 5 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that adults with phenylketonuria (PKU) who are identified as responsive to sapropterin are able to access the medicine through the NHS.

Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) and the Inherited Metabolic Disorders (IMD) service in Scotland produced a statement on the use of sapropterin in individuals of all ages with phenylketonuria (PKU), including details of the clinical pathway to be followed. This advice was communicated to Health Boards in August 2022 and is supported by Health Board Area Drug and Therapeutics Committees (ADTCs).

Health Boards are responsible for considering national advice through their local medicines governance processes. Prescribing decisions regarding sapropterin are ultimately the responsibility of the clinician in charge of the person’s care having considered their clinical condition and any relevant clinical guidance.

Question reference: S6W-42690

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 19 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 5 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the decision to amend the mackerel and herring Economic Link requirement was announced on 18 December 2025, in light of the change coming into force on 1 January 2026.

Following the publication of pelagic TAC advice for 2026 a period of intensive engagement and consultation with key stakeholders across the pelagic supply chain was undertaken by Marine Directorate officials.

International negotiations between relevant Coastal states (including the UK) agreed specific significant quota reductions for key pelagic species on 16 December, which then allowed the Scottish Government to finalise the detail and scope of its planned emergency intervention for 2026.

In order to be effective the revised licence condition had to be implemented from 1 January 2026 given it is crucial to business planning for the January mackerel fishery.

Question reference: S6W-42691

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 19 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 5 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what consultation took place with pelagic catching sector representatives regarding the revised mackerel and herring Economic Link requirement, and when that consultation concluded.

Question reference: S6W-42693

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 5 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide information regarding the clinical risk assessment that underpins the reported proposal to downgrade five neonatal intensive care units, and whether it will publish that assessment in full.

A full EQIA was carried out covering the implementation of The Best Start as a whole thematically, as some of the individual recommendations are more complex and multi-faceted than others. In this way, implementation of each of the 76 recommendations is considered in a proportionate manner.

Continuity of carer.
Person-centred maternity and neonatal care.
Multi-professional working.
Safe, high quality and accessible care.
Re-designing neonatal care and services.
Supporting the changes.
Wider implications.

For the implementation of recommendations which were led locally, it is expected that Health Boards will undertake their own Impact Assessments to satisfy their local requirements. This EQIA therefore takes national implementation as its primary focus. The EQIA was commenced in 2020 and remains a live document as implementation of the Best Start continues.

The recommendations for the new neonatal model of care are underpinned by strong clinical evidence that population outcomes for the most premature and sickest babies are improved by delivery and care in units looking after a “critical mass” of these babies.