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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-35272

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 12 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) primary, (b) secondary and (c) special school closures there have been in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority.

In 1999 there were 2,293 primary schools and in 2024 there were 1,978 primary schools.

In 1999 there were 389 secondary schools and in 2024 there were 360 secondary schools.

In 1999 there were 195 special schools and in 2024 there were 107 special schools. However, since 2018 special schools with no pupils on the roll have no longer been included in the figure, which at the time resulted in a reduction of 21 schools.

The latest data by local authority (and nationally) is available here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/pupil-census-supplementary-statistics/.Table 5.1 shows the data overall, Table 6.1 shows the data for Primary schools, Table 7.1 shows the data for Secondary schools and Table 8.1 shows the data for Special schools.

More detailed information about school openings, closures, mergers and instances where a school has been mothballed can be found on the school contact details spreadsheet in the 'Schools opened or closed' tab: School contact details - gov.scot, but recording of this data is only available from 2007 onwards.

Question reference: S6W-35271

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 12 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much each local authority has spent on transport for (a) primary, (b) secondary and (c) special school pupils in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S6W-35269

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 12 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many additional (a) local authority- and (b) privately-run nursery places have been created in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S6W-35273

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 11 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) primary, (b) secondary and (c) special school nurses there have been in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority.

Data on school nurses by sector and local authority is available from 2019 to 2023, here:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/school-support-staff-management-information/

from 2017 to 2018, here:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/school-support-staff-statistics/

and from 2010 to 2016, here:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/teacher-census-supplementary-statistics/

Data prior to 2010 is not available.

Data for 2024 will be released on 25 March 2025.

Question reference: S6W-35276

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 11 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many bursaries have been provided to students attending independent schools in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S6W-35268

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 11 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) local authority- and (b) privately-run nurseries have closed in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S6W-35274

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 11 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many attacks on a fellow pupil by (a) primary, (b) secondary and (c) special school pupils have been recorded in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority.

Question reference: S6W-34887

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 11 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many student applications to college have been rejected due to limited places in each year since 1999, broken down by college.

Question reference: S6W-34892

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 11 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many college course places have been funded in each year since 1999.

The information requested is not held centrally.

Funded places at colleges is based on the number of credits allocated to each college, with a credit equating to 40 hours of learning. SFC publish funding allocations annually in the College Final Funding Allocations release. Information for 2024-25 is available on the SFC website: https://www.sfc.ac.uk/publications/college-final-funding-allocations-2024-25/.

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) collect and publish student data, through their annual College Statistics publication: https://www.sfc.ac.uk/publications/college-statistics-2023-24/

Previous funding allocation publications can be found on the SFC website:

Main Website - https://www.sfc.ac.uk/publications/

Archived Website (for publications pre-2019) - https://www.sfc.ac.uk/about-us/sfc-archive/

Further details can be requested from the SFC.

Question reference: S6W-34893

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 10 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what progress it is making in taking forward its work to update the School Premises (General Requirements and Standards) (Scotland) Regulations Act 1967 to improve standards for toilets in schools so that children with chronic conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have better access to clean, private and accessible facilities.

The Scottish Government intends to refresh and modernise the School Premises Regulations (General Requirements and Standards) (Scotland) to ensure that they meet the needs of pupils and schools in Scotland. The Scottish Government still intends to re-consult this year on the Regulations.

Scottish Government officials are taking steps to engage with relevant stakeholders and will be reaching out to further interested parties. Consultation responses will inform areas of focus for any proposals for changes to update the Regulations before these are brought forward.

It is the statutory responsibility of local authorities to manage their school estate, including the provision of toilets in schools.