Seòmar agus comataidhean

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

Criathragan Hide all filters

Displaying 42727 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6W-35953

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 27 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many meetings the National Bairns’ Hoose Governance Group had between February 2023 and June 2024.

Question reference: S6W-35731

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 27 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many young people have received music tuition in schools in each local authority area in each year since 1999.

Whilst data from 1999 is not held by Scottish Government, the Improvement Service’s annual Instrumental Music Survey of local authorities contains data on the number of pupils that participated in instrumental music lessons from academic year 2013-2014 to 2023-24.

The most recent Instrumental Music survey published in January 2025 confirmed that uptake in 2023-24 was the highest proportion of the school roll participating in IMS since 2017. Page 9 of the document contains a table with the number of instrumental music pupils per authority from 2016-17 until 2023-24.

In order to access data from 2012-13 you can access the 2021 Instrumental Music survey report.

Question reference: S6W-35739

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 27 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent on school bus transport by each local authority in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S6W-35622

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 27 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to backdating the 36-month time limit to claim an Additional Dwelling Supplement repayment to 1 October 2022.

Increases to the timelines relating to the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax Additional Dwelling Supplement were introduced with prospective effect from 1 April 2024, following a process of consultation.

The Scottish Government made clear in the initial December 2021 call for evidence and views on the Additional Dwelling Supplement that any changes arising from the process would not be made retrospective. The subsequent consultation on draft legislation published in February 2023 confirmed that the proposed changes, including to the relevant timelines, would have prospective effect only.

In this context, the Scottish Government has not considered backdating the 36 month time limit to claim an Additional Dwelling Supplement repayment to 1 October 2022.

Question reference: S6W-35675

Asked by: Roz McCall, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 27 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that care experienced young people receive (a) appropriate housing and (b) financial support as they transition into adulthood.

The Scottish Government’s Continuing Care and Aftercare policies provide the framework for supporting young people transitioning from care on to more independent living. Through the Local Government Settlement, the Scottish Government funds local authorities to provide this support.

Continuing Care enables eligible young people from age 16, living in foster, kinship or residential care to remain in their care setting with the same level of support until their 21st birthday, maintaining and building on the strong and positive relationships developed with their carers and offering a pathway to safe, sustainable and affordable accommodation. Aftercare provision is available to all young people leaving care from age 16, regardless of their care setting, and enables them to request support, assistance and advice, based on individual need, from their local authority up to age 26, and beyond in some cases.

The type of accommodation that a young person leaving care is provided with should be informed by the Aftercare pathways assessment and plan, undertaken with a holistic and person centred approach. The pathway plan will set out the type of accommodation which best meets the needs of the young person and how this is to be obtained. Some young people will need more support than others on a range of matters and therefore the provision of suitable accommodation should also be accompanied by appropriate levels of support, bespoke to the individual needs of each young person.

Care leavers in receipt of Universal Credit Housing Element or Housing Benefit who find that their benefit does not cover all their rent can apply to their local authority for a Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP). DHPs can also be used where local housing allowance (LHA) rates for benefits recipients in the private rented sector are insufficient.

The Scottish Government provides a broad package of financial support for those leaving care. Section 30 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 sets out financial assistance available through Aftercare.

A Care Experience Bursary of £9000 is available for care experienced young people in Further and Higher education. In addition, a Summer Accommodation Grant of up to £1,330 is available to support Care Experienced students with their accommodation costs through the summer break. Some institutions may also offer discretionary support for childcare and travel costs or rent guarantees for private accommodation. The ‘Care Leavers Council Tax Exemption’ means that young people leaving care are not liable for Council Tax until their 26th birthday.

Work is also currently underway to develop the Care Leaver Payment. The Care Leaver Payment as currently proposed will provide a one-off payment of £2,000 to young people leaving care, with the intention of helping to reduce some of the financial barriers young people face whilst transitioning into adulthood and more independent living.

Following the publication of the analysis of our ‘Moving On’ from care into adulthood consultation on the current and potential package of support for young people leaving care, work is underway across the Scottish Government and with our partners to ensure that our response to the changes called enables young people to access the support they need to thrive in young adulthood

Question reference: S6W-35694

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 14 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 27 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) ages and (b) prior qualifications, by SCQF level, were of people starting a graduate apprenticeship in each year since 2017-18.

The latest Graduate Apprenticeship statistics are available on the Skills Development Scotland website covering the 2021-22 academic year - https://www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk/publications-statistics/statistics/graduate-apprenticeships

Information broken down by age can be found within the publication in Table 4.

Prior qualification by SCQF level is not held centrally by the Scottish Government or included in the above publication.

Question reference: S6W-35615

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 27 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the efficiency and productivity of the Scottish civil service workforce, in light of its reported expansion over the last decade.

The core Scottish Government has grown its workforce in the last decade in order to respond to newly devolved powers, such as Social Security, the impact of exiting the European Union, and the Covid-19 pandemic.

Since March 2022 the core Scottish Government has enhanced its recruitment controls and has been reducing its total workforce. This has decreased in each financial year, including the current financial year to date, with the reduction reaching 4% for the period from March 2022 to December 2024. In this period the workforce has been deployed to new priorities such as the establishment of ScotWind and to respond to the conflict in Ukraine and the cost of living crisis.

The Scottish Government reviews the workforce size routinely in governance forums, alongside information on the delivery of the organisation and the financial position both of the portfolio and more specifically the operating cost. The delivery reviewed is both in terms of progressing the Programme for Government, as well as activities such as responding to Freedom of Information requests. It also includes the delivery of corporate services that are resourced from the core Scottish Government, and provided to many different public bodies.

These regular reviews ensures that there is an ongoing assessment of the efficiency and effectiveness of the workforce.

Question reference: S6W-35998

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 21 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 27 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the use of so-called "fire-and-rehire" practices in the public sector in Scotland, in light of the proposed Employment Rights Bill by the UK Government.

The Scottish Government has been consistently clear that it opposes fire and rehire practices.

The vast majority of employers consult and reach agreement with their employees when they have to consider making changes to contracts and will only consider using fire and rehire practices as an exceptional and pressing business necessity. In such cases, we are clear that there must be meaningful dialogue between employers and employees and their trade unions, to ensure transparency and that employees are treated fairly.

The Scottish Government welcomes the Employment Rights Bill, which is an opportunity to put on a statutory footing some of the progress we have made already in Scotland through our Fair Work approach with the levers at our disposal. Scottish Ministers are clear, however, that the best way to provide long term protection for Scotland’s workers is by devolving employment law.

Question reference: S6W-35617

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 27 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has any plans to reduce the size of the civil service workforce, and, if so, what the anticipated impact would be on (a) government efficiency and (b) service delivery.

The Budget has established the total operating cost for the next financial year and workforce plans will be adjusted accordingly, with an expectation that there will be reductions in the workforce.

The Scottish Government continually monitors the cost of its operations. This aligns resources to our Programme for Government commitments, whilst ensuring our workforce is fiscally sustainable. This is achieved through prioritisation, effective vacancy management and recruitment controls and adapting to changing needs.

Investments in technology, as well as wider public service reform, seek to drive efficiency and effectiveness of public services.

Question reference: S6O-04533

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of the reported rising childcare costs on families, particularly those on low and middle incomes, in light of recent research by the Coram Family and Childcare charity.