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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-39324

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 31 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that planning for transition to adulthood is available from age 14, so that children’s plans and assessments are adopted by adult services and that transition planning and support should continue to age 25, as per its national transition to adulthood strategy.

ARC Scotland’s third Principle of Good Transitions states that Planning should start early and continue up to age 25. ARC Scotland also provide the descriptors to this principle which are:

Planning should be available from age 14 and be proportionate to need.
Children’s plans and assessments should be adopted by adult services.
Transitions planning and support should continue to age 25.

The priorities within the National Transitions to Adulthood Strategy build on the Association for Real Change (ARC) Scotland’s Principles of Good Transitions, and as such, it sets out the standards expected in delivery of transitions support for young disabled people across Scotland.

In Priority 1- Choice, Control and Empowerment of the strategy it sets out what is already happening and what else the Scottish Government will do to support and strengthen existing planning mechanisms, including continuing to promote early transitions planning and person-led planning resources and practices.

Question reference: S6W-39315

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 31 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what support young people are entitled to during their transition to adulthood.

The support provided to young disabled people during their transition to adulthood should be person-centred and tailored to the young person and their specific needs and goals.

Young disabled people are entitled to support in planning for transitions through The Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 and associated Regulations and through the non-statutory Getting it Right for Every Child (GIRFEC) Child’s Plan. They may also be entitled to wider support – for example, financial support through the child disability payment and adult disability payment.

The National Transitions to Adulthood Strategy was published on 30 June 2025. Through this Strategy, the Scottish Government has committed to:

continuing to invest in the Independent Living Fund Scotland’s Transition Fund to support young disabled people to make a smoother transition from childhood into adulthood by promoting independence, community participation, social inclusion and confidence, including referring applicants for grant funded person-led planning support where it is needed;
funding the National Development Team for Inclusion (NDTi) in 2025-26 to build on their Time to Talk Next Steps Scotland Pilot to:
- promote and support person-led and relationship-based approaches to planning amongst practitioners; and
- support the wider use of Promoting a More Inclusive Society (PAMIS)’ digital passport in person-led communication and transitions planning to empower young people with complex needs to have their voices heard; and
working with the Association for Real Change (ARC) Scotland to promote the use of Compass for young people as a tool to support person-led planning within existing planning mechanisms.

Question reference: S6W-39316

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 31 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what changes it will make to ensure that there is enough time for the planning process as part of a young person’s transition to adulthood.

Question reference: S6W-38969

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 23 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the announcement of £40 million to support the University of Dundee, from which part of the Scottish Budget this will be allocated.

Question reference: S6F-04201

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 June 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 June 2025

To ask the First Minister whether he will provide an update on the Scottish Government’s position on the funding of Scotland’s higher education institutions.

Question reference: S6W-37965

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 10 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what it considers to be the purpose and scope of the Scottish Qualifications Authority’s accreditation function.

SQA Accreditation quality assures and regulates qualifications offered in Scotland. It does this by approving awarding bodies and accrediting their qualifications, ensuring that accredited qualifications are of an appropriate standard and meet the needs of learners.

The accreditation model in Scotland mandates the following qualifications are accredited: Scottish Vocational Qualifications, the main qualification in a Modern Apprenticeship Framework, Security and License Trade qualifications and Workplace Core Skills qualifications. All other qualifications that are accredited are on a voluntary basis.

Question reference: S6W-37797

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 30 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the £100 million of funding allocated to tackle waiting times by (a) NHS board and (b) specialty.

The funding committed to date in respect of the circa £100 million extra investment to address long waits is shown in Table 1 broken down by health board and in Table 2 broken down by specialty; this is over and above other funding to improve waiting times.

Table 1.

Health Board	Total Cost 25-26
NHS Ayrshire & Arran	5,708,768
NHS Borders	2,550,705
NHS Dumfries & Galloway	772,963
NHS Fife	9,938,616
NHS Forth Valley	3,656,435
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde	24,515,664
NHS Golden Jubilee	2,183,118
NHS Grampian	6,987,204
NHS Highland	10,288,772
NHS Lanarkshire	6,606,479
NHS Lothian	22,379,275
NHS Orkney	165,664
NHS Shetland	422,127
NHS Tayside	9,921,322
NHS Western Isles	71,000
Grand Total	106,168,112

Table 2.

Speciality	Total Cost 25-26
Cancer	14,247,846
ENT	9,461,666
General Surgery	5,059,208
Gynaecology	8,879,121
Imaging	21,657,167
Imaging Reports	122,030
Ophthalmology	12,141,912
Trauma & Orthopaedics	25,252,177
Peri-Operative Management (Various Specialities)	60,000
Plastics	3,246,147
Urology	6,040,838
Totals	106,168,112

Question reference: S6W-37585

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 27 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government which local authorities it is working with during the academic year 2025-26 to pilot approaches that amplify good practice in supporting school leavers into positive destinations, as part of its commitment to focus on areas with the lowest rates of school leavers entering such destinations, and how it will report on the progress of these pilots.

Work is at an early stage on this Programme for Government commitment and is currently focused on identifying best practice that can be used to inform the pilots. The opportunity to engage in this work will be available to all Local Authorities.

The aim is to build on existing good practice and tailor support to local needs. We are mindful that whilst the majority who leave school before the end of S5 progress to positive destinations, the rates are lower than for older pupils, so we have a particular interest in these groups. The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring every young person leaves school with the skills and confidence to succeed in whatever path they choose – regardless of background or location.

Question reference: S6W-37502

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 24 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether the construction of six new school building projects through the Learning Estate Investment Programme, and the delivery of 47 modern, state-of-the-art schools by the end of 2027-28, as set out in its Programme for Government 2025-26, will be supported by the updated guidance that the Education, Children and Young People Committee recommended the Scottish Government should develop to support neurodiverse children at school.

It is the statutory responsibility of local authorities to manage their school estate, therefore, school design is ultimately a matter for them.

However, our Learning Estate Strategy - which was produced in collaboration with COSLA - underpins the £2bn Learning Estate Investment Programme (LEIP), and its guiding principles make clear that learning environments should support the wellbeing of all learners and meet varying needs to support inclusion.

All LEIP projects were announced prior to the Education, Children and Young People Committee’s recommendations being published. To date, 10 projects are complete, 17 are in construction and the remainder are in development.

Guidance is currently being developed with a wide range of stakeholders, and is planned to be applicable to both existing and future projects either within the LEIP or across the learning estate as a whole. This guidance is expected to be published before the end of this year and, in the interim, local authorities can reference a publicly accessible standard which is titled: Design for the Mind – Neurodiversity and the Built Environment.

Question reference: S6W-37507

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 23 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the commitment in its Programme for Government 2025-26 to commission Enquire, the national advice and information service on additional support for learning, to improve the communication of the key information that different audiences need to meet the needs of children with additional support needs, what (a) key information and (b) audiences this work will include.

Communications were discussed in detail at the ASL Project Board’s meeting on 30 January 2025 when the Project Board agreed to engage Enquire to draft a communications strategy.

It is anticipated that the strategy being produced by Enquire will focus on bespoke clear, key messages for a range of different audiences including children and young people, parents and carers. The work will also recommend bespoke communications channels for each audience.

Regular updates on the progress of the strategy will be provided to the ASL project Board. Further information, is available on the ASL Project Board’s dedicated Scottish Government webpage at: https://www.gov.scot/groups/additional-support-for-learning-project-board/.