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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-02590

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6O-02604

Asked by: Michelle Thomson, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 September 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the social justice secretary has had with ministerial colleagues regarding the support available to families experiencing poverty, including as a result of high energy costs.

Question reference: S6O-02598

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 September 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the provision of health services across the Highlands and Islands region meets the needs of local communities.

Question reference: S6O-02588

Asked by: Rona Mackay, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 September 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how it is helping to provide capacity for community groups to buy any neglected land in their local communities.

Question reference: S6W-21670

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 27 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how it has factored the role of young people into its proposed Agriculture Bill.

Question reference: S6W-21481

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 27 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when the previously ring-fenced £33 million of funding allocated to the agriculture sector as a result of the Bew Review will be returned to its budget for the portfolio covering agriculture.

Question reference: S6W-21238

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 18 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Elena Whitham on 27 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recommendations made in the publication by Camurus, A primary care solution to Scotland’s drug deaths crisis.

The Scottish Government has noted with interest the recommendations made in the publication by Camurus - A primary care solution to Scotland’s drug deaths crisis and is working with local partners to address the challenges highlighted.

We are working with local Health Boards and Integration Authorities to ensure as many primary care providers as possible are actively implementing the MAT standards, including MAT standard 7 which seeks to ensure that people who choose to will be able to receive medication or support through primary care providers. We will ensure that Health Boards appropriately disperse the annual £10 million ring-fenced under the Enhanced Service contract to support the provision of drug services in primary care settings.

Healthcare Improvement Scotland has established a learning system for sharing best practice between local services which will include existing models for implementing MAT standard 7. Public Health Scotland will publish further information on potential best practice models which local areas may wish to consider.

The Scottish Government is supporting Health Boards and local practices to adopt multidisciplinary shared care arrangements wherever appropriate and we remain committed to tackling stigma across all drug services

Question reference: S6W-20894

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 27 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many P1 children have taken (a) one part and (b) both parts of the National Standardised Assessments for Scotland since 20 September 2018, broken down by (i) school year and (ii) local authority area.

The following table provides an overview of P1 learners who have undertaken (a) one or (b) both parts of the Scottish National Standardised Assessments since 20 September 2018, broken down by (i) school year and (ii) local authority.

The row "n/a" denotes publicly-funded schools outwith local authority control.

Table 1 - Number of P1 Children undertaking SNSA since 20 September 2018 - by year and local authority

Year	2018-19		2019-20		2020-21		2021-22		2022-23*
Local Authority	one of	both	one of	both	one of	both	one of	both	one of	both
Aberdeen City	13	1940	301	457	301	1941	19	2034	7	2033
Aberdeenshire	28	2821	27	71	27	2563	42	2709	0	2852
Angus	10	1205	**	**	**	863	16	908	**	1116
Argyll and Bute	5	752	28	49	28	585	8	597	**	646
Clackmannanshire	10	499	46	445	46	555	**	484	4	515
Dumfries and Galloway	7	1321	12	113	12	1252	11	1284	3	1350
Dundee City	5	1389	61	360	61	1216	27	1339	16	1373
East Ayrshire	38	1223	61	59	61	818	9	937	9	1065
East Dunbartonshire		1251	154	403	154	704	7	1154	14	1193
East Lothian	18	1146	23	64	23	977	37	1049	43	979
East Renfrewshire	**	1233				1174	6	1149	**	1246
Edinburgh	45	4340	240	258	240	3790	42	4026	24	3806
Eileanan Siar	**	128		13		97		127	**	95
Falkirk	14	1647				1536	12	1488	**	1576
Fife	16	1855					**	13	14	65
Glasgow City	566	3948	190	235	190	3263	330	3682	171	3856
Highland	35	2077	42	394	42	1926	44	1919	7	1996
Inverclyde	**	698	92	185	92	604	8	702	**	662
Midlothian	14	1090	91	221	91	1112	12	1170	**	1141
Moray	**	942				903	15	895	0	861
North Ayrshire	31	1279	7	37	7	1071	12	1104	**	1119
North Lanarkshire	50	3545	82	193	82	3563	60	3376	25	3525
Orkney Islands	**	220	**	102	**	216	**	190	0	188
Perth and Kinross	21	1357	**	21	**	1267	33	1344	**	1339
Renfrewshire	14	1797		77		1742	12	1775	5	1816
Scottish Borders	**	1081	17	123	17	917	13	922	30	956
Shetland Islands		229	**	29	**	102	**	186	6	151
South Ayrshire	5	1002	60	93	60	1031	5	1015	**	983
South Lanarkshire	45	3282	35	24	35	2758	123	2947	28	3107
Stirling	10	851	103	299	103	820	6	863	**	836
West Dunbartonshire	12	897	91	67	91	864	14	836	**	839
West Lothian	13	2160				2020	85	840	6	1960
n/a		66				65		64	0	66

*Please note figures for 2022-23 are subject to minor changes, pending the completion of the annual assessment closure process, which is currently ongoing.

** Please note that figures less than five have been suppressed to prevent the potential identification of individuals.

Question reference: S6W-20899

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 27 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what it has done to support schools in teaching about the climate emergency.

In Scotland, the climate emergency is taught through the cross curricular entitlement of Learning for Sustainability (LfS). LfS has been a feature of Curriculum for Excellence since 2012 and has gained international interest and recognition, with other countries looking at our concept of LfS as a model.

The Scottish Government published a refreshed LfS action plan in June 2023, which sets a new ambitious aim for all learning settings to become Sustainable Learning Settings by 2030, and clearly teaching children and young people about the climate emergency is an important aspect of this.

The plan contains a significant number of new actions to further support the teaching and learning of LfS. These include the development of a new accessible LfS portal where teachers and educators will be able to find online practical advice, tools and support in one place; the creation of new LfS qualifications and pathways; and the development of a single national approach to LfS within Initial Teacher Education.

This builds on a significant amount of work already underway. For example Education Scotland provides a wide range of advice, resources and support to schools in relation to climate and sustainability education, through their National Improvement Hub, including the Learning for Sustainability Self-Evaluation Framework, Countdown to COP26 resources, Weather and Climate Change video series and a Climate Change Wakelet, a tool for sharing resources.

The Scottish Government also funds Keep Scotland Beautiful to deliver the Climate Action Schools programme. In 2022-23 a total of 1,694 schools took part in the programme which aims to increase climate change awareness, enable young people to have a voice and take action on issues that matter to them, and embed LfS across Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-20900

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 27 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many pupils at Scottish schools currently speak English as a second language.