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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-34453

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 4 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when it anticipates that it will deliver on its commitment to allocate 10% of NHS spend to mental health and 1% to child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS).

Latest data published by Public Health Scotland on 25 February 2025 shows total spend on mental health in Scotland has increased by £179.6 million to £1.486 billion in 2023-24. That is 9.03% of total net NHS expenditure, up from 8.53% in 2022-23. Spend on child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) has increased by nearly £19.4 million to over £134 million. This is 0.82% of total spend, up from 0.75% in 2022-23.

We remain committed to delivery of the commitment and the latest data shows good progress is being made, however, as we all know, there are continued and unprecedented challenge to the public finances.

That means that achieving the targets in practice will depend on the outcome of future budgets. It is also dependent on the financial decisions taken by NHS Boards, and their partners, on the continued local investment needed to achieve the targets.

We will continue to closely monitor our progress towards both the 10% and 1% over the remainder of the Parliamentary term.

Question reference: S6W-34443

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 4 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many shared headteacher roles have been in place in schools in each local authority area in each year since 1999.

Following clarification, this question refers to multi-establishment leadership models.

The following table shows the number of schools which share a headteacher with at least one other school, known as multi-establishment leadership models, by Local Authority. This does not include Grant-Aided schools or centrally employed headteacher posts. Data from before 2007 is not available.

Table 1. Schools in a multi-establishment leadership model, by Local Authority, 2007-2023.

LA Name	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Aberdeen City	0	0	0	0	1	2	0	0	0	4	2	0	2	0	0	2	2
Aberdeenshire	4	12	10	16	12	8	8	8	16	12	12	14	16	18	16	18	25
Angus	5	7	7	8	6	12	12	12	10	6	6	8	8	8	10	10	12
Argyll and Bute	6	6	12	4	6	8	16	19	21	26	29	32	28	28	32	32	38
City of Edinburgh	1	0	2	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Clackmannanshire	0	0	0	0	2	3	2	0	0	2	2	2	4	2	2	2	2
Dumfries and Galloway	4	6	17	9	15	13	15	64	69	64	68	68	61	64	67	69	64
Dundee City	1	1	1	1	2	0	2	2	4	0	2	0	0	0	0	2	2
East Ayrshire	2	2	13	10	4	6	2	4	4	4	4	4	6	4	6	4	0
East Dunbartonshire	2	2	4	4	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	4	4	2
East Lothian	1	1	1	1	2	2	4	4	2	3	5	6	8	9	4	6	6
East Renfrewshire	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	2	0
Falkirk	0	0	0	0	0	2	7	11	8	8	12	12	6	4	4	4	8
Fife	4	4	10	10	8	11	7	9	20	29	35	38	32	40	42	48	48
Glasgow City	4	2	5	3	3	0	0	3	2	2	4	6	4	6	6	6	10
Highland	28	50	47	59	62	67	72	71	66	72	87	90	95	96	90	83	91
Inverclyde	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Midlothian	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	4	6	6	2	4	0
Moray	2	4	4	4	4	6	4	6	6	10	8	8	8	8	8	8	6
Na h-Eileanan Siar	13	10	10	18	16	10	6	12	12	10	12	12	14	22	18	18	15
North Ayrshire	1	0	0	2	4	8	11	13	11	12	12	10	10	6	6	10	12
North Lanarkshire	0	0	0	4	6	4	8	10	4	4	4	9	7	7	13	13	13
Orkney Islands	6	6	6	4	6	4	9	9	8	8	6	6	7	6	10	5	8
Perth and Kinross	0	0	4	8	8	8	10	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	10	8	8
Renfrewshire	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Scottish Borders	18	22	45	43	41	38	42	42	42	38	36	36	32	32	27	28	29
Shetland Islands	6	6	2	4	4	4	6	4	2	4	5	5	4	4	8	2	2
South Ayrshire	0	0	0	0	2	2	6	8	8	10	12	14	12	12	14	10	12
South Lanarkshire	14	14	16	16	18	16	16	12	14	14	14	14	16	14	14	14	14
Stirling	8	12	12	10	13	17	17	16	14	10	10	10	12	13	12	12	12
West Dunbartonshire	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	6	4	4	6	4	6	8	8	8	12
West Lothian	4	6	8	8	8	8	10	8	10	8	6	4	10	10	10	10	16
All Local Authorities	134	173	236	248	257	264	296	364	369	374	409	426	426	437	445	442	469

Question reference: S6W-35034

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 4 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the average primary (a) 1, (b) 2 and (c) 3 class size has been in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority.

Question reference: S6W-34888

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 4 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many afterschool clubs have been funded in each local authority area since 1999.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Local authorities make their own decisions about how to prioritise the provision of after school clubs based on local need.

Through our School Age Childcare (SACC) Programme, the Scottish Government is currently investing in designing and testing funded school age childcare services within targeted communities across Scotland, in order to understand what it takes to deliver SACC that supports those families most at risk of living in poverty. This includes our Early Adopter Communities in 6 Local Authority areas, our Extra Time Programme in partnership with the Scottish Football Association, and our Access to Childcare projects.

Question reference: S6W-34891

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 4 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on the number of incidents in schools that Police Scotland have attended in each year since 1999.

Information on the total number of incidents in schools attended by Police Scotland is not held centrally.

Information is available from the Accredited Official Statistics on the number of police recorded crimes of weapon possession in a school. This is available within Table A8 of the Recorded Crime in Scotland 2023-24 publication, back to 2017-18 (the first year data was collected separately for school settings).

Question reference: S6T-02391

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the report, In Their Own Words: Children's Experiences in Temporary Accommodation, which was commissioned by Shelter Scotland and shows the impact that a stay in temporary accommodation can have on children's safety, health and education.

Question reference: S6W-34889

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 3 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much was spent on the upskilling fund when it was operational.

Question reference: S6W-34449

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 3 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many speech and language therapists have been employed in schools in each local authority area in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S6W-35040

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 3 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to review the implementation of the pavement parking prohibitions introduced by the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019, and how it ensures that local authorities enforce these effectively.

The Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 places a duty upon all local authorities to enforce the new parking prohibitions. It is for each local authority to determine how best to enforce these prohibitions in their area. Transport Scotland annually collates figures on income and expenditure and Penalty Charge Notices issued, which now includes pavement parking. The most recent report was published in December 2024 and can be found at the following link: Decriminalised Parking Enforcement (DPE) Report 2023-2024 | Transport Scotland

Question reference: S6W-35041

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 3 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has received from local authorities regarding any barriers that they have identified in enforcing the pavement parking prohibitions introduced by the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019, and what support it has provided to them to assist with dealing with these.

Transport Scotland facilitated a Parking Standards Group with representatives from all 32 local authorities, in advance of the 2019 Act becoming law. During these meetings, in depth discussions were held around the enforcement of the new parking prohibitions. Transport Scotland also issued detailed guidance to all local authorities providing them with a procedure to follow to enforce the prohibitions This guidance also addressed any subsequent queries raised by local authorities.

Officials are in ongoing discussions with SCOTS and COSLA in respect of the funding mechanism for the relevant costs associated with the new prohibitions. Once those discussions have been concluded we will be in a position to reimburse any further eligible costs incurred by local authorities.