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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: S6O-04632

Asked by: James Dornan, MSP for Glasgow Cathcart, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to improve support for disabled people, including when seeking employment.

Question reference: S6O-04613

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to figures showing that farm incomes are at a five-year low.

Question reference: S6O-04610

Asked by: Annabelle Ewing, MSP for Cowdenbeath, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to promote horticulture.

Question reference: S6O-04637

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what further consideration it has given to increasing or removing the earnings limit for recipients of the Carer Support Payment.

Question reference: S6O-04622

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the work that it is doing to improve women’s health outcomes.

Question reference: S6O-04612

Asked by: Audrey Nicoll, MSP for Aberdeen South and North Kincardine, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the introduction of Quota Management Groups and whether they would benefit fishers and coastal communities.

Question reference: S6O-04608

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how it is challenging the UK Government’s proposed inheritance tax changes for farmers.

Question reference: S6W-36178

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-15187 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 7 March 2023, whether it will provide the complete figures for (a) 2023-24 and (b) 2024-25.

Table 1 provides information on average gross revenue expenditure in Scotland per child attending pre-school, and primary and secondary pupil alongside allocations (accounting for teaching and tuition fees funding) per college and university place.

2024-25 figures for Pre-School, Primary and Secondary School will be available after the publication of the 2024-25 Scottish local government finance statistics in February – March 2026.

Indicative University and College funding allocations for 2025-26 were published by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) earlier this month. These include a cash terms increase in teaching funding for colleges, and a cash terms increase to the Main Teaching Grant (and teaching price) for Universities, compared with last year. These indicative figures have not been included in this table as the underlying calculation requires further details, including the number of controlled and non-controlled funded places, which are not yet available to SFC.

Further detail of College and University Indicative Funding Allocations for 2025-26 can be found at:

College Indicative Funding Allocations 2025-26 - Scottish Funding Council

University Indicative Funding Allocations 2025-26 - Scottish Funding Council

Table 1: Average Expenditure Per Place for each Education Level (Cash Terms)

Education Level	2023-24	2024-25
Pre-School	£12,000	-
Primary School	£7,487	-
Secondary School	£9,276	-
College	£5,506	£5,506
University	£7,613	£7,635

Sources:

1.Local Financial Returns – Education (LFR 01) statistical return provided by local authorities to the Scottish Government: Local government finance statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

1.Pupil Census – published annually - for further details go to: Pupil census: supplementary statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

2.Scottish Funding Council

Methodology

The methodologies used to determine the average expenditure per place for each education level are provided in more detail below.

Pre-school: average gross revenue expenditure per child in pre-primary education is arrived at by taking the total gross revenue expenditure on pre-primary education, adjusted for inter-authority transfers, as reported by local authorities to the local financial return. These figures are then divided by the number of pupils in funded early learning and childcare as per the statistics reported in the early learning and childcare (ELC) census. The figures for per child expenditure on pre-primary education are likely to be overestimates due to the fact that September (when the figures for the ELC census are collected) is a point in the academic year when ELC registrations are at their lowest. This is because children starting funded ELC (usually when they turn three) start at the beginning of the term which starts after their birthday – so, in the Autumn term only some of the children who will become eligible for funded ELC during that academic year have already taken up their funded place. However, this issue applies every year, meaning that the above time-series comparison is reasonable.

Primary and Secondary schools: average gross revenue expenditure per pupil in primary and secondary education respectively is arrived at by taking the total gross revenue expenditure adjusted for inter-authority transfers, reported by local authorities on primary and secondary education to the local financial return, divided by the number of pupils in primary and secondary education as per the statistics reported in the pupil census.

Colleges: The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) have supplied detail of the average cost of a College place (expenditure per full-time equivalent (FTE)). This is calculated by taking funding provided to Colleges for core teaching and assumed tuition fee income (see supplementary note 3) and dividing this by the number of student places.

Universities: The cost of an average University place, also provided by the SFC, is estimated by taking the total teaching grant awarded to Universities (excluding teaching grant associated with rUK students studying expensive strategically important subjects, who are not eligible for funding) and assumed tuition fee income associated with those places (see supplementary note 3) and dividing this by the total number of SFC funded places for Scottish and EU domiciled FTEs. Expenditure figures exclude funding for student support, and SFC’s research and strategic funds. Total FTE figures are SFC/SG funded places and do not include fees only and international places.

Supplementary notes:

1.“-“ indicates that there is no available data for this year.

2.Assumed tuition fees include income from SAAS, SDS, employers and students paying their own tuition fees for SFC funded programmes.

3.For college and university figures, the funded places/weighted SUMS/credits figures used are taken from the final published main grant letters or outcome agreements, and do not take account of any subsequent adjustments.

Question reference: S6W-36988

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it will take in response to the 2025 conservation assessment, which suggested that 72% of Scotland’s rivers are now classed as “poor” for wild salmon.

We recognise that wild salmon populations are now at crisis point in Scotland. Although the pattern of decline is repeated across the salmon’s North Atlantic range, caused at least in part by the effect of climate change on survival during its marine phase, there remains much that we can do in our rivers and coastal waters to build resilience and transform the fortunes of this iconic fish for the better.

The Scottish Government’s Wild Salmon Strategy sets out Scotland’s vision for flourishing populations of wild Atlantic salmon. The accompanying Implementation Plan identifies collective action to achieve this vision.

Action to date includes the introduction by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) of a new risk assessment framework for managing the interaction of sea lice from farmed fish and wild salmon; the opening up of 1400 kilometres of previously inaccessible habitat to migratory fish, by removal and easing of barriers to migration through SEPAs River Basin Management Planning process; restoration of 75,000 hectares of degraded peatlands, contributing to regulating the quantity and quality of water courses and bodies; and since 2021, our £65 million Nature Restoration Fund has awarded over £8 million to support projects to improve Scotland’s freshwater environment.

Going forward, the Wild Salmon Strategy Delivery Group which includes representatives from both public and private sector organisations, will continue to oversee delivery of the Strategy. The 2025 annual progress report, which details the ongoing work of the Implementation Plan, will be published shortly.

Question reference: S6W-36649

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its policy not to provide support for the manufacture of munitions through its enterprise agencies, how it defines "munitions".