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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-33502

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 28 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much (a) it and (b) each of its departments and directorates has spent on professional memberships in each of the last five years, broken down by organisation.

Professional memberships are funded by each Directorate - i.e. the home location of the job and the person.

Our financial systems do not hold central or aggregable data on how much each Directorate or Division spends on memberships.

In most cases this would be an element of their local learning and development budgets and not a distinct, identifiable budget component. The information requested could therefore only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Question reference: S6W-33396

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 28 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many hospital admissions there have been in Aberdeen in each of the last five years of pedestrians injured in collisions with (a) pedal cycles and (b) two- or three-wheeled motor vehicles.

Question reference: S6W-32874

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 28 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6T-02268 by Natalie Don-Innes on 7 January 2025, what action in response to child sexual exploitation it has taken to support the care sector in eradicating victim-blaming attitudes and language by (a) delivering training, (b) supporting internal audits and reflection and (c) measuring progress in dealing with the issue.

Question reference: S6W-33309

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 28 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to introduce a child and young person exploitation offence.

The Scottish Government is currently awaiting the UK Government’s proposals on introducing new child criminal exploitation (CCE) offence as part of the upcoming Crime and Policing Bill in England and Wales.

My officials are in regular contact with Home Office officials on the progress of these plans, and when the finalised proposals are made available, we will be in the position to assess the potential to extend this measure to Scotland through the Legislative Consent process.

Question reference: S6W-33295

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 28 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many students from (a) Scotland have accessed further and higher education courses in English institutions and (b) England have accessed further and higher education courses in Scottish institutions in each year since 1999.

UCAS data can be used to look at the number of Scottish and English domiciled applicants securing university places across the UK, typically at full-time undergraduate level. Data is available in background tables back to 2006: https://www.ucas.com/data-and-analysis/undergraduate-statistics-and-reports/ucas-undergraduate-end-cycle-data-resources-2024

Information on the number of Scottish domiciled students enrolling at English Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), and English domiciled students enrolling at Scottish HEI courses, covering all levels, years and modes of study is published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). Data, covering 2014-15 to 2022-23, is available on HESA’s website:

https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/table-59

Earlier university data can be found in the publication archive under the “Students in Higher Education” section: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/publications. Between 2009-10 and 2013-14 information can be found in table 7g. Between 1999-2000 and 2008-09 information can be found in tables 5a and 5b. HESA data prior to academic year 2013-14 counted all enrolments at the Open University, regardless of domicile, as at English Providers, so data is not fully comparable.

Data for Scottish domiciled students enrolling at English colleges is not held by the Scottish Government. Data for English domiciled students enrolling at Scottish colleges is collected by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), and provided below:

English domiciled students (headcount) at Scottish colleges by academic year

Academic year	Further Education (headcount)	Higher Education (headcount)
1999-00	1,300	385
2000-01	1,120	425
2001-02	1,730	640
2002-03	1,310	530
2003-04	1,260	535
2004-05	1,505	490
2005-06	1,490	450
2006-07	1,630	415
2007-08	1,835	360
2008-09	1,505	315
2010-11	1,065	250
2011-12	820	165
2012-13	755	190
2013-14	640	125
2014-15	675	105
2015-16	620	115
2016-17	640	160
2017-18	570	190
2018-19	930	325
2019-20	920	370
2020-21	1,400	405
2021-22	1,425	380
2022-23	1,735	315

Source: SFC, Further Education Statistics (FES), Secondary Analysis

Note: The data above covers headcounts, however some students may have enrolled on an FE and an HE course in the same year. There is also a potential for double counting where an individual undertook more than one enrolment at different points in the academic year.

Question reference: S6W-32875

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 28 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6T-02268 by Natalie Don-Innes on 7 January 2025, what models of safeguarding in terms of policy and practice are being embedded across sectors involving children to respond to the risks and vulnerabilities children face with regard to sexual exploitation.

Question reference: S6T-02302

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce the number of unauthorised absences from schools.

Question reference: S6F-03745

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 January 2025

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-03751

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 27 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 January 2025

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

Question reference: S6F-03746

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 27 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 January 2025

Question to be taken in Chamber.