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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: S6F-03999

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 April 2025

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-04001

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 April 2025

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-04008

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 April 2025

To ask the First Minister, in light of the reported issues arising from proposed rural nursery closures or mothballing, including the potential impact on the sustainability of rural communities and the operation of primary schools, whether the Scottish Government will review the relevant legislation and the guidance on criteria for protecting rural primary schools from closure.

Question reference: S6F-04000

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 April 2025

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-36607

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 22 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what costs have been incurred through the discretionary housing payments that were aimed at mitigating the so-called bedroom tax in the (a) Dumfries and Galloway and (b) Scottish Borders local authority area since 2013.

The Scottish Government became responsible for funding discretionary housing payments in 2017 and only holds data on costs from April 2017 onwards. Data prior to this has been obtained from the UK Government website: Discretionary Housing Payments statistics - GOV.UK.

Since 2013, a total of £17.16 million has been invested in Dumfries and Galloway and £10.81 million in Scottish Borders to support these local authorities to mitigate the UK Government’s bedroom tax policy.

Tables 1 and 2 provide a breakdown of spending (or funding) in the past 13 years, including the current financial year.

Table 1 – bedroom tax mitigation spending (or funding) from 2013 onwards, broken down by financial year in Dumfries and Galloway

2013-14	2014-2015	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20
£0.78m	£0.90m	£0.95m	£0.97m	£0.98m	£1.07m	£1.40m
2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25*	2025-26**	TOTAL
£1.37m	£1.66m	£1.62m	£1.68m	£1.80m	£1.98m	£17.16m

*This reflects allocated or forecasted funding, spending data is not yet available.
**As above.

Table 2 – bedroom tax mitigation spending (or funding) from 2013 onwards, broken down by financial year in Scottish Borders

2013-14	2014-2015	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20
£0.37m	£0.56m	£0.51m	£0.57m	£0.66m	£0.72m	£0.70m
2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25*	2025-26**	TOTAL
£0.88m	£1.09m	£1.05m	£1.13m	£1.23m	£1.34m	£10.81m

*This reflects allocated or forecasted funding, spending data is not yet available.
**As above.

Overall, £712 million has been invested by the Scottish Government in discretionary housing payments since they were devolved in 2017, helping to reduce poverty, safeguard tenancies and prevent homelessness.

Question reference: S6W-36589

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 22 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many children and young people have been reported missing in each local authority area in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S6W-36582

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 22 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many care-experienced people have (a) requested and (b) received independent advocacy in each local authority area in each year since 1999.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

Individual local authorities manage and monitor the provision of independent advocacy to meet local needs, including ongoing provision for care experienced people.

The Scottish Government is currently working with advocacy service providers and key partners, including The Promise Scotland, COSLA and Who Cares? Scotland to further develop our understanding of current advocacy provision and areas where needs are not being met.

The Scottish Government published an independent evaluation of the Children’s Hearings advocacy scheme in September 2024.

In addition, the Scottish Government provides grant funding to Who Cares? Scotland to operate their National Helpline which provides lifelong support to care experienced people.

Question reference: S6W-36591

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 22 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to implement a presumption against children moving schools when they are placed in temporary accommodation.

The Scottish Government recognises the disruption a homeless household can experience when placed in temporary accommodation and is aware of the issues that can arise if accommodation is located too far from the household’s employment, education and support services.

The Unsuitable Accommodation Order states that accommodation is unsuitable if it is not in the locality of facilities and services for the purposes of education which are being used, or might reasonably be expected to be used, by members of the household. The exception to this is if those facilities are reasonably accessible from the accommodation, taking into account the distance of travel by public transport or transport provided by a local authority.

It can be challenging for local authorities to place homeless households close to existing family and social networks due to the location of available properties and the high demand in particular areas. The risk assessment conducted as part of the housing support service and allocation process informs the offers of accommodation made. While it is preferable for households to continue to access the same facilities as they have previously, this is not always possible. The Scottish Government’s code of guidance on homelessness makes clear that it is acceptable for local authorities to offer households access to similar facilities.

A new temporary accommodation standards framework, which built on the 2019 advisory standards, was published by the Scottish Government in 2023. Local authorities and social landlords are expected to work towards meeting the framework before it becomes legally enforceable. The framework requires accommodation to be in a location that allows access to school either by foot, by public transport or by transport provided.

Question reference: S6W-36568

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 04 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 22 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that people across Scotland are able to exercise their legal rights to (a) assembly, (b) demonstrate and (c) peacefully protest, without fear of undue harassment or victimisation by law enforcement.

The Scottish Government is fully committed to supporting people’s rights to public assembly and protest. The operational policing of protests and demonstrations is rightly a matter for Police Scotland and their priority will always be maintaining public safety. The Scottish Government supports Police Scotland, as a rights-based organisation, to take appropriate and proportionate action in response to any criminal offences and to maintain public order at, and around, such events. We have funded the Centre for Good Relations to run training courses to upskill stewards and marshals involved in facilitating marches, parades and protests. This training is available free of change and has received very positive feedback in 2024-25, which is why we are continuing to support this in 2025-26.

Question reference: S6W-36558

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 22 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it has issued regarding the use of AI in schools.

Decisions about the use of AI are currently determined by Local Authorities and schools. Guidance for teachers regarding the use of AI is available through Education Scotland: Teaching and Learning with Artificial Intelligence (AI) | Resources | Education Scotland.

Guidance around the use of Generative AI in assessments is available through the SQA: Generative artificial intelligence (AI) in assessments - SQA. This guidance is currently under review and will be updated in the near future.

The Scottish Government is actively considering the role of AI in schools. Following the recent International Summit on the Teaching Profession, we have committed to consider carefully the guidance produced by the OECD and Education International, and to create an equivalent set of guidelines and guardrails for the Scottish context.