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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-31182

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 21 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many children and young people have had their children’s hearings delayed due to administrative issues in the past year.

Question reference: S6W-31345

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 15 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 21 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it is taking to ensure that the supply chain for primary school meals is (a) sustainable, (b) environmentally friendly and (c) aligned with the national climate goals.

Under the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014, a public body with an annual procurement spend of at least £5 million must report each year on how, when its procurements involve the provision of food, it is improving the health, wellbeing and education of communities in the body’s area, and promoting the highest standards of animal welfare.

The Scottish Government continues to support the delivery of the Food for Life Programme in local authorities across Scotland which has a primary focus on school meals. Food for Life accreditation ensures that at least 75% of school food is fresh and unprocessed, as well as greatly increasing the amount of fresh fruit (including berries) and vegetables; fish; and wholegrains on the menu. There are currently 16 councils who hold Food for Life accreditation, with ongoing work to ensure retention, expansion and development of the programme.

Question reference: S6W-31180

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 21 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) average time for a child to be seen for an initial hearing following a referral to the children's hearings system and (b) the total number of children referred to the system has been in each year since 2012.

This information is not held by the Scottish Government as it relates to an operational matter for the children’s hearings system.

The Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) publish their annual statistics, which sets out a measure on time taken to progress referrals through the children’s hearings system and total number of children referred to the children’s hearings system. The information is available on the SCRA website: Official Statistics - SCRA.

Question reference: S6W-31184

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 21 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on what the total number of staff dedicated to child protection services has been in each year since 2012, including the current year to date, also broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S6W-31178

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 21 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of play parks received a rating of (a) excellent, (b) good, (c) satisfactory, and (d) poor in each year since 2012, also broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S6W-31073

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 20 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-25927 by Natalie Don on 14 March 2024, whether it will provide an updated table regarding how much Disclosure Scotland has spent on employing temporary staff, based on the latest information available.

I have asked Gerard Hart, Chief Executive of Disclosure Scotland, to respond. His response is as follows:

The spend on employing temporary staff in the 9 month period of January to September 2024 was £7,504,000. The spend on employing temporary staff from 2012-2023 was provided in the answer to question S6W-25927 on 14 March 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

To note, these figures relate to both agency staff and contractors.

Question reference: S6W-31061

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 19 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-25674 by Patrick Harvie on 7 March 2024, whether it will provide an updated table regarding the number of children who have undertaken cycling proficiency training, based on the latest information available.

Further to question S6W-25674, the latest Bikeability Scotland participation statistics are as follows:

LOCAL AUTHORITY	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24
Aberdeen City	21%	25%	31%	57%	68%	62%	68%	42%	47%	9%	27%	67%	100%	100%
Aberdeenshire	93%	93%	76%	91%	91%	63%	80%	79%	85%	27%	51%	65%	65%	71%
Angus	74%	72%	74%	57%	43%	45%	50%	67%	78%	41%	71%	88%	94%	96%
Argyll & Bute	45%	No return	No return	No return	No return	No return	No return	No return	No return	No return	Pilot	Pilot	22%	26%
Clackmannanshire	11%	11%	37%	37%	39%	44%	17%	33%	100%	33%	100%	100%	100%	100%
Dumfries & Galloway	70%	73%	47%	30%	29%	41%	43%	38%	36%	4%	5%	29%	69%	86%
Dundee	0%	0%	3%	23%	29%	17%	11%	53%	91%	67%	82%	97%	100%	100%
East Ayrshire	7%	9%	No return	No return	No return	No return	No return	No return	No return	No return	Pilot	Pilot	10%	8%
East Dunbartonshire	5%	3%	5%	24%	14%	8%	22%	15%	67%	76%	94%	100%	100%	100%
East Lothian	0%	0%	11%	26%	29%	23%	29%	41%	49%	24%	47%	94%	100%	100%
East Renfrewshire	33%	40%	70%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	0%	100%	67%	83%	96%
Edinburgh	29%	40%	52%	72%	70%	48%	68%	60%	53%	7%	26%	40%	41%	38%
Falkirk	4%	6%	10%	8%	22%	12%	4%	6%	8%	19%	6%	2%	21%	19%
Fife	31%	21%	16%	16%	18%	21%	36%	22%	29%	23%	24%	33%	35%	21%
Glasgow	4%	4%	15%	28%	25%	34%	29%	35%	34%	22%	33%	31%	22%	24%
Highland	34%	28%	16%	29%	28%	29%	36%	21%	30%	12%	15%	22%	32%	26%
Inverclyde	4%	21%	35%	10%	30%	30%	20%	15%	26%	0%	5%	5%	10%	30%
Midlothian	10%	40%	63%	87%	63%	63%	81%	75%	69%	22%	41%	65%	67%	67%
Moray	96%	65%	58%	47%	62%	49%	37%	40%	56%	27%	62%	76%	93%	95%
Na h-Eileanan Siar	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	5%	96%	100%	0%	100%	100%	100%	100%
North Ayrshire	0%	No return	No return	No return	No return	No return	No return	No return	No return	No return	No return	No return	No return	No return
North Lanarkshire	0%	7%	5%	0%	4%	No return	9%	10%	11%	15%	29%	50%	82%	64%
Orkney	40%	40%	65%	95%	90%	65%	68%	63%	58%	37%	90%	65%	100%	100%
Perth & Kinross	91%	61%	40%	37%	34%	62%	52%	51%	61%	26%	67%	87%	90%	99%
Renfrewshire	6%	8%	22%	29%	20%	22%	20%	22%	29%	10%	59%	72%	84%	86%
Scottish Borders	54%	54%	43%	8%	27%	29%	31%	31%	8%	2%	25%	41%	100%	100%
Shetland	100%	53%	45%	90%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	25%	100%	100%	100%	100%
South Ayrshire	79%	55%	73%	76%	83%	76%	81%	83%	88%	44%	34%	41%	59%	58%
South Lanarkshire	0%	10%	17%	28%	39%	34%	39%	39%	43%	15%	10%	40%	40%	32%
Stirling	17%	18%	5%	43%	65%	68%	50%	72%	66%	26%	58%	74%	87%	100%
West Dunbartonshire	9%	12%	9%	21%	44%	41%	49%	56%	59%	13%	38%	28%	31%	38%
West Lothian	21%	0%	15%	15%	15%	15%	17%	11%	26%	9%	9%	22%	30%	37%
TOTALS	32%	32%	35%	37%	40%	38%	42%	42%	47%	20%	37%	50%	60%	60%

	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24
Number of pupils trained across all levels of Bikeability Scotland	25,974	30,800	32,105	33,082	36,711	36,314	43,700	16,327	41,046	52,604	60,228*	54,039

Question reference: S6O-03998

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to reduce waiting times for dental extractions in rural NHS board areas.

Question reference: S6W-31072

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 13 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of nurseries received a rating of (a) excellent, (b) good, (c) satisfactory and (d) poor from inspections conducted by (i) the Care Inspectorate and (ii) Education Scotland in each year since 2012, also broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S6O-03961

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that approximately 1,200 applications for places in special schools were refused, whether it will increase funding and resources to ensure that all children requiring specialised support can access appropriate education without placing any additional pressure on families.