Seòmar agus comataidhean

The number of pupils that have been recorded with a part-time timetable absence code for 1 or more openings (half-day sessions) in each local authority from 2018-19 is set out in the following table.

This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government is currently awaiting the UK Government’s proposals on introducing new child criminal exploitation (CCE) offence as part of the upcoming Crime and Policing Bill in England and Wales.

My officials are in regular contact with Home Office officials on the progress of these plans, and when the finalised proposals are made available, we will be in the position to assess the potential to extend this measure to Scotland through the Legislative Consent process.

UCAS data can be used to look at the number of Scottish and English domiciled applicants securing university places across the UK, typically at full-time undergraduate level. Data is available in background tables back to 2006: https://www.ucas.com/data-and-analysis/undergraduate-statistics-and-reports/ucas-undergraduate-end-cycle-data-resources-2024

Information on the number of Scottish domiciled students enrolling at English Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), and English domiciled students enrolling at Scottish HEI courses, covering all levels, years and modes of study is published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). Data, covering 2014-15 to 2022-23, is available on HESA’s website:

https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/table-59

Earlier university data can be found in the publication archive under the “Students in Higher Education” section: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/publications. Between 2009-10 and 2013-14 information can be found in table 7g. Between 1999-2000 and 2008-09 information can be found in tables 5a and 5b. HESA data prior to academic year 2013-14 counted all enrolments at the Open University, regardless of domicile, as at English Providers, so data is not fully comparable.

Data for Scottish domiciled students enrolling at English colleges is not held by the Scottish Government. Data for English domiciled students enrolling at Scottish colleges is collected by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), and provided below:

English domiciled students (headcount) at Scottish colleges by academic year

The Scottish Government is investing £60 million to renew play parks in Scotland, so children have access to free, high-quality outdoor play in their own communities. Since funding began in 2021, a total of 887 play parks have been renewed or are in the process of being renewed by local authority partners, up to April 2024. Local authority partners will be reporting on progress in 2024-25 in April 2025. Local authority partners have confirmed that all funding provided to date is allocated to the current and future renewal of play parks that have been identified by the local authority in need of improvement.

1.The Scottish Government do not hold this information on Modern Apprentices centrally.

2.Skills Development Scotland (SDS) have operational responsibility for apprenticeships in Scotland. They have supplied the following data:

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Police Scotland would be the best suited to provide the required information on this matter.

The Scottish Government is investing £60 million to renew play parks in Scotland, so children have access to free, high-quality outdoor play in their own communities.

Funding to support the Play Parks renewal programme has been allocated as follows:

2021-22 - £5 million

2022-23 - £5 million

2023-24 - £10 million

2024-25 - £15 million

The following table shows how much funding has been allocated to each local authority since 2021.

As set out in answer S6W-32929 on 15 January 2025, the Scottish Government have confirmed that the replacement of the Eye Pavilion is a strategic priority and the 2025-26 Draft Budget has provided the necessary funding to allow the development of the business case to restart.

NHS Lothian’s Eye Pavilion replacement program had progressed to an Outline Business Case, the second of three approval stages, and therefore no Full Business Case or final estimate of costs has ever been produced.

We also do not yet have an updated cost estimate of a new eye hospital in Edinburgh, therefore it is not currently possible to answer this question. NHS Lothian are in the process of re-establishing the project team and will provide an updated forecast in due course.

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

In terms of part (a), statistics on police recorded crimes of weapon possession within a school are available in the following table. Information is available from 2017-18 onwards, the first year that data was collected separately for school settings. The fall in 2020-21 will reflect the closure of schools due to the Covid pandemic. Information is not held centrally on the age of the perpetrator, so whilst it is likely the majority of these crimes in a school involve a child or young person, it is not necessarily the case for every incident.