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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-04336

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 September 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 September 2025

To ask the First Minister what urgent action the Scottish Government is taking in light of Public Health Scotland's estimate that dementia in Scotland is set to rise by more than 50% by 2044.

Question reference: S6F-04335

Asked by: Elena Whitham, MSP for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 22 September 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 September 2025

To ask the First Minister what assessment the Scottish Government has made of any implications for its work to address poverty amongst older people of recent findings by the Living Wage Foundation that a majority of people on a low-income pension in the UK are unable to cover basic living costs.

Question reference: S6F-04327

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 22 September 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 September 2025

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s response is to reports that proposed changes to the counting method for NHS waiting lists will result in numbers falling despite no more patients being seen.

Question reference: S6F-04318

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 22 September 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 September 2025

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-04320

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 22 September 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 September 2025

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-04319

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 September 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 September 2025

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-39743

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 22 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the figures by KPMG, which reported that there was a 31% fall in job vacancies in Scotland in the three months to May 2025.

The latest ONS data for Scotland indicates that there were approximately 47,900 new online job adverts posted in July 2025, down 1.1% over the year from July 2024. The data also indicate that the number of new online job vacancies posted in Scotland in July 2025 were 32.5% lower than in July 2021, when online job adverts were at their highest July level following the Covid-19 pandemic.

Scotland’s labour market is resilient, despite economic challenges. The number of payrolled employees in Scotland remains relatively high with 2.45 million payrolled employees in July 2025 while unemployment remains low.

However, sectors like Construction continue to face recruitment difficulties. Business Insights and Conditions Survey (BICS) data for Scotland indicated that 31.0% of Construction sector businesses experienced recruitment difficulties in July, compared to 22.4% of all businesses in Scotland. These challenges will be exacerbated by the ongoing damage of Brexit. The changes introduced in the UK Government’s Immigration White Paper completely fail to meet Scotland’s economic and demographic needs, and the UK Government must work urgently with the Scottish Government to ensure that the immigration system works for our businesses, public services, and communities.

Question reference: S6W-40419

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 22 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the economic impact of beaver introductions on (a) farmland and (b) crop yields.

The economic impact of beavers have been the subject of various reports to date with a focus on impacts on farmers in Tayside. This includes a collation of impacts on land use in the Tayside Beaver Study Group final report 2015 and a Commissioned Report 805: Tayside beaver socio-economic impact study carried out by SRUC (2015).

These reports point to most of the negative impacts occurring in intensively farmed lowland areas, with the costs being variable from a few hundred pounds to £10,000.

The Tayside beaver socio-economic impact study sought to establish a method for assessing the costs and benefits associated with beaver presence. Questionnaire responses from 111 land managers collated costs incurred to farmland and crops.

The study also collated modest figures for economic benefits largely around eco-tourism and found the non-use values may be considerable. They concluded ‘Taking these estimates in aggregate, the benefits of beaver tolerance are likely to outweigh the costs incurred, which can themselves be lowered by appropriate management and mitigation measures’.

Question reference: S6W-40391

Asked by: Davy Russell, MSP for Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 08 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 22 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding (a) how many and (b) what proportion of care experienced people have enrolled in (i) the Open University and (b) other university education in each of the last 10 years.

Care Experienced students entering undergraduate courses at The Open University and other Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have been included below.

Further details on Care Experienced students in Scotland can be found in the annual Scottish Funding Council's Report on Widening Access (RoWA). https://www.sfc.ac.uk/publications/report-on-widening-access-2023-24/

Scottish Domiciled undergraduate entrants to Scottish universities, by Care Experienced status, 2014-15 to 2023-24

Academic year	Provider	Care Experienced	% of all UG entrants who are care experienced*
2014-15	The Open University	45	1%
	Other HEIs	230	1%
2015-16	The Open University	35	1%
	Other HEIs	225	1%
2016-17	The Open University	45	1%
	Other HEIs	250	1%
2017-18	The Open University	45	1%
	Other HEIs	325	1%
2018-19	The Open University	35	1%
	Other HEIs	425	1%
2019-20	The Open University	50	1%
	Other HEIs	450	1%
2020-21	The Open University	55	1%
	Other HEIs	600	1%
2021-22	The Open University	95	1%
	Other HEIs	670	1%
2022-23	The Open University	185	2%
	Other HEIs	710	2%
2023-24	The Open University	220	3%
	Other HEIs	815	2%

Source: HESA Student Data, SG Secondary Analysis

*Percentage is an estimate and could be influenced by the number of unknowns in the data and improved data quality in recent years.

1) When interpreting figures relating to care experienced students it is important to note that the reporting of students from care experienced backgrounds has been given more focus in recent years, with increased efforts made to encourage students to declare themselves as being care experienced.

2) Those on short part-time courses are more likely to include unknown information.

3) Numbers may differ slightly from other published sources due to the way data has been aggregated. This includes 2020-21 where SFC published a slightly higher number of Care Experienced students due to post-data collection changes.

4) Numers are rounded to the nearest 5.

Question reference: S6W-40412

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 22 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what evaluation it has carried out of the reported decision to no longer have zero tolerance sentencing for knife possession.

Sentencing in any given case is a matter for the independent court within the overall legal framework.

In 2016, Scottish Government legislation came into force that increased the maximum sentence for weapons possession from four years to five years. The average length of custodial sentence for weapons possession in 2022-23 was 332 days; this compares with 218 days in 2007-08 and represents an increase of 52%.