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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: S6W-35278

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 11 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to outline its plans to examine options for teacher training on additional support needs (ASN) and analyse the number of teacher training hours attributed to ASN.

All teachers undertake additional support needs (ASN) training during Initial Teacher Education (ITE), which is a requirement to meet the Professional Standards for registration with the General Teaching Council of Scotland.

We have asked the Scottish Council of Deans for Education (SCDE), through their Scottish Universities Inclusion Group, to undertake an analysis of the way ASN are addressed in ITE. We expect to receive an update from SCDE on the progress of this work shortly.

Question reference: S6W-35264

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 11 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the reported proportion of blind or seriously visually-impaired entrants to university in 2022-23 being 0.1%, the same proportion as 2012-13, and what action it has taken to improve this figure.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all students with a disability, long term medical condition or additional support needs are able to access further and higher education and are fully supported throughout their studies.

It is for institutions to make decisions on their intake but they are required under the Equality Act (Scotland) 2010 to provide equal opportunities and prevent discrimination.

It is worth noting that the retention rate for this group of students, which in the last four years has been above the sector average, is currently (in AY 2021-22 into AY 2022-23) 91.8% for FTFD Scottish Domiciled Entrants.

PERSISTENT INEQUALITIES

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) are currently working together to enhance the SFC’s leadership and oversight role in tackling persistent inequalities in the tertiary system.

Through this, SFC and EHRC have established a set of National Equality Outcomes (NEOs) for the tertiary education sector through their Persistent Inequalities work. Disability, as a protected characteristic, is included as part of this work, and the following National Equality Outcomes related to disabled students:

Disabled students report feeling satisfied with the overall support and reasonable adjustments received, including from teaching staff, while on their course.
Disabled staff and students report feeling safe in the tertiary system.
Where representation is not proportionate to the relevant population, increase the representation of disabled staff in the workforce and on college Boards and university Courts.

SFC will be reviewing progress made by the sector through the upcoming Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) reports as part of SFC’s Outcome Framework and Assurance Model.

DSA

The Scottish Government (via the Scottish Funding Council and the Student Awards Agency Scotland) provides various funding mechanisms in the form of the Additional Support Needs for Learning Allowance, the Access and Inclusion Fund, and the Disabled Students Allowance (DSA).

This vital support ensures that those with a disability or additional support needs are able to access further and higher education and continue to be well supported throughout their studies.

In 2023-24 the number of full-time students with disabilities or additional support needs who were supported by DSA increased to 5,855. This totals £14.1 million in support, an 18.4% increase.

Data also shows that we now have a record number of students at university with a recorded disability or additional support need (6,765).

Question reference: S6W-35258

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 11 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what support it has given to youth work organisations to engage in the Scottish Educational Exchange Programme (SEEP); how many such organisations have (a) applied for and (b) received funding each year through SEEP; how it is ensuring that SEEP has a focus on quality, and how many students from the poorest Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) quintiles have participated in the programme.

The Scottish Education Exchange Programme Test and Learn Project (SEEP) has been developed in partnership with colleges and universities and over the first 2 years has supported 56 projects focusing on closing the shortfall between the UK Government Turing Scheme and Erasmus+.

Applications for the SEEP must be submitted by a Scottish college or university. The amount of funding for each institution is capped at £25,000. Each applicant has the opportunity to apply for an additional (up to) £10,000 to partner with a recognised Scottish youth work organisation.

Whilst the first year of SEEP focused on staff mobility, criteria in year 2 was extended to include short-term mobility opportunities for Scottish students, addressing a gap in the Turing Scheme. These projects are live, institutions will provide student participation data once the projects conclude in March 2025.

An evaluation of the programme has been commissioned and will be published this summer.

Question reference: S6W-34590

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 11 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-32776 by Jenny Gilruth on 14 January 2025, whether it will publish its analysis of the relocation options for the accreditation function of the SQA, and, if so, by what date.

Question reference: S6W-35298

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 10 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-27708 by Jenni Minto on 29 May 2024, when it plans to make a final decision on the long-term roll-out of A&E department opt-out HIV and blood borne virus testing (a) in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, (b) in other areas regarded by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) as having a "high" prevalence of HIV and (c) across Scotland.

Work is ongoing to establish whether Emergency Department (ED) opt-out testing for blood borne viruses would be acceptable, deliverable and cost-effective in areas of higher diagnosed prevalence, or across the whole of Scotland. Two of the pilot projects commenced later than originally planned, meaning that the evaluation process has not yet been completed. There has also been an extension to the Scottish Government-funded academic research on missed opportunities for blood borne virus testing, which will provide valuable information to inform future funding decisions.

An options appraisal is in development, which will be carefully considered alongside other potentially beneficial testing interventions.

Question reference: S6W-35297

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 10 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what funding is available for NHS boards to implement A&E department opt-out HIV and blood borne virus testing.

The Scottish Government has provided specific funding (totalling around £145,000) for Emergency Department (ED) opt-out blood borne virus testing pilots in NHS Lothian, Grampian and Highland. At present, any other ED opt-out testing would be delivered by NHS Boards using the core funding they receive from the Scottish Government which includes baselined funding for sexual health improvement and blood borne virus elimination.

Question reference: S6W-34467

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 6 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what quality standards are required to be met by any providers used by Social Security Scotland to supply letters in an accessible format.

Social Security Scotland recognises that clients can have complex and varied accessibility needs. Letters are available in a number of different languages and formats, including Braille, easy read and large print.

Before letters are changed to an alternative format, all letters are created using standard templates, in line with the Social Security Scotland style guide.

The Social Security Scotland style guide provides guidance on plain English terms and inclusive language for commonly used technical terms, such as using “benefit” or “award” over “assistance.”

Letter templates are designed using the Social Security Scotland style guide and Digital Scotland Service Standard. Templates are tested throughout the design cycle and aim to meet a Flesch Reading Ease of between 70 to 80, equivalent to school grade level 8 or reading age 9 - 11 years.

Social Security Scotland use accessible fonts, colours, and formatting options such as headings and lists to set out blocks of text for ease of reading.

Social Security Scotland work with external service providers who deliver translation services and letters in Braille and large print, in line with industry standards by following UK Association for Accessible Formats guidelines, which is the standard for UK transcribed documents.

Question reference: S6O-04429

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to review the experience of support staff in schools.

Question reference: S6W-35184

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 5 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many patients were on waiting lists for orthopaedic surgery (a) in total and (b) for over a year, in each of the last five years.

Public Health Scotland's (PHS) Stage of Treatment (SoT) publication provides statistics on the length of time patients wait to be seen as a new outpatient or admitted for treatment as an inpatient or day case. The latest publication release contains data up to quarter ending 31 December 2024

Statistics relating to the total number of ongoing waits and the number of waits with a wait length over 52 weeks by specialty from 31 December 2019 can be found in the ‘Waits over 52 weeks’ data table in sheets ‘Table 3.1.1’ for new outpatient appointments, and ‘Table 3.2.1’ for inpatient or day case admissions:

Stage of treatment waiting times - Inpatients, day cases and new outpatients quarter ending 30 December 2024 - NHS waiting times - stage of treatment - Publications - Public Health Scotland

Longer trend information can be found in the following tables:

New outpatient appointments (‘1.6 Table’): https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/31761/newop_mar25.xlsx

Inpatient or day case admission (‘2.6 Table’): https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/31760/ipdc_mar25.xlsx

Question reference: S6W-35186

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 5 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many patients were on waiting lists for physiotherapy (a) in total and (b) for over three months, in each of the last five years.