- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 September 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 17 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many pupils attending independent schools have been charged for in-hospital educational support in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. Decisions about the fees for hospital education services are a matter for local authorities and NHS boards to consider as appropriate.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 September 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 17 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of the £4.9 billion investment in housing will be delivered through (a) new capital funding and (b) Financial Transactions.
Answer
The Scottish Government will confirm the breakdown of up to £4.9 billion in the Scottish Budget and Scottish Spending Review.
- Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 September 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 17 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the reported proposed closure of the Alloa campus of Forth Valley College in 2026, and reported concerns regarding skills shortages and a 17% real-terms reduction to college funding, what action it will take to secure the future of the campus, in order to retain its students and maintain the provision of skills education in the area.
Answer
As colleges operate independently of Government, it is for them to decide on operational matters such as their campus footprint, taking into account the needs of the people, region and communities they serve.
The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) continuously monitors the college sector to ensure sustainable and coherent provision, engaging with institutions as needed. As such, the SFC has been engaging intensively with Forth Valley College for a number of months regarding the Alloa campus and they are working together at pace to resolve the issue and support the College’s financial sustainability.
In recognition of the vital role colleges play in communities across Scotland, all colleges received a 4.9% increase to support college maintenance in 2025-26, and Forth Valley College received a 2.3% uplift to the College's resource allocation.
The Scottish Government is working collaboratively with the SFC and Colleges Scotland through the Tripartite Alignment Group to identify and implement flexibilities to support colleges. To date, the Group has created the conditions to improve the financial sustainability of the sector with the introduction of the SFC’s College Transformation Framework, and the new asset disposals process; and is supporting colleges to maximise commercial income.
- Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 29 August 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 17 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that its forthcoming high-level action plan, to respond to the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights’ (CESCR) Concluding Observations on the seventh periodic report of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, mainstreams intersectional gender equality considerations.
Answer
We continue to take forward work to protect, promote and improve gender equality in Scotland, working with the First Minister’s National Advisory Council on Women and Girls (NACWG). The Scottish Government accepted the NACWG’s 21 recommendations for systemic change and has begun implementing them, including publishing the first annual statement on gender policy coherence.
Intersectional gender equality considerations will continue to be recognised in the Scottish Government’s policy and practice, including our forthcoming high-level action plan in response to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Right’s recent Concluding Observations. This plan will serve as an important milestone in our work to strengthen transparency and accountability around the implementation of human rights and we intend to publish our response later this year.
Beyond this, our draft mainstreaming strategy will intend to set out an ambitious and progressive agenda to further embed equality and human rights in all we do.
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 September 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 17 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what support it provides to colleges seeking to reduce costs or increase income in order to remain financially viable.
Answer
With public finances at their most strained since devolution, this government has made a long-term commitment to supporting the college sector by increasing teaching funding by 2.1% and capital maintenance by 4.9% compared to 2024-25.
In addition, £3.5 million of targeted support for skills pathways in offshore wind and social care has been provided.
The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) continuously monitors the college sector to ensure sustainable and coherent provision, engaging with institutions as needed. The Scottish Government also works collaboratively with the SFC and Colleges Scotland through the Tripartite Alignment Group to identify and implement flexibilities to support colleges.
To date, the Group has created the conditions to improve the financial sustainability of the sector with the introduction of the SFC’s College Transformation Framework and new asset disposals process; and is supporting colleges to maximise commercial income.
- Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 September 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 17 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that passengers from Lockerbie train station can benefit from the removal of peak fares.
Answer
ScotRail is not currently contracted or funded by Transport Scotland to operate rail services to Lockerbie. This has been investigated several times in the past but cannot be delivered efficiently by extending an existing service to Lockerbie.
It would require the leasing of additional trains and recruitment of staff resulting in an increased cost of several million pounds each year. It is therefore most cost efficient to the taxpayer, for cross-border operators to serve the station.
Options were explored to find a solution for Lockerbie station, however due to a range of factors, no sensible solution could be progressed at this time.
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 September 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 17 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what support it provides to colleges that are facing a material reduction in income following changes of policy in relation to the transfer of funds between revenue and capital departmental expenditure limit budgets.
Answer
In 2024-25 the Scottish Government worked with the Scottish Funding Council and enabled a £13.4m ‘swap’ of capital for resource funding, recognising that colleges required additional resource funding for maintenance purposes.
Aware of the maintenance pressures colleges continue to face, actions are underway through the College Tripartite Alignment Group, comprising of Scottish Government, the SFC and Colleges Scotland, to consider options for a current year and longer term solution. These discussions sit in the context of SFC’s ongoing work with the sector to develop a College Infrastructure Investment Plan, due to publish in autumn 2026.
The Tripartite Alignment Group provides strategic direction on the pressures and opportunities facing colleges. More can be found about its work here on the Scottish Government’s website. For example, the Group has increased the flexibility in the system with the introduction of the SFC’s College Transformation Framework in Academic Year 2025-26 which offers options around bespoke funding arrangements between colleges and the SFC to enable colleges to plan their curriculum more effectively over a number of years. The Group has also agreed a new asset disposals process which enables most colleges to retain a significant proportion of the value of any sale to invest locally.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 September 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 17 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish, for each year since 2020, school-level data showing the (a) number and (b) percentage of pupils attaining (i) SQA National Qualifications at SCQF Level 6 (Highers and equivalent) and (ii) other SCQF Level 6 awards, such as Foundation Apprenticeships and National Progression Awards.
Answer
The Scottish Government has published school-level information in the Schools Information Dashboard covering the percentage of pupils attaining qualifications at each SCQF level. This covers all SCQF qualifications including National Qualifications and vocational and technical qualifications and awards such as (but not limited to) Foundation Apprenticeships and National Progression Awards.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 September 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 17 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many pupil support assistants have been trained to carry out invasive medical procedures in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
The information you have requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 17 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many ScotRail services have been (a) cancelled, (b) part-cancelled and (c) delayed by at least (i) one minute, (ii) 15 minutes, (iii) 30 minutes and (iv) 60 minutes in (A) each of the last three financial years and (B) 2025-26 to date, and how many of these were attributed to (1) air conditioning/cooling failures, (2) other rolling-stock defects, (3) train crew availability, (4) infrastructure or signalling faults, (5) the weather and (6) other causes, also broken down by ScotRail service group.
Answer
Some ScotRail performance metrics requested by the Member and including the period up to March 2025 are published on Office for Rail and Road website: TOC key statistics | ORR Data Portal. The Member may wish to contact ScotRail, as the train operating company directly, to secure the remaining information.