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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-41948

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 17 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 27 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many subject-specific secondary school teaching posts are currently filled by non-specialist teachers in each local authority area.

The recruitment and deployment of teachers in schools is a matter for individual Councils, who have a statutory responsibility to provide a complement of staff in schools which best meets the needs of each of their schools and pupils.

It is important that local authorities and schools offer a broad range of subject choices and classes that meet their pupils' needs and aspirations.

We recognise there are recruitment challenges in some subject areas and that is why our Teaching Bursary Scheme provides bursaries to career changers, wishing to undertake a one-year Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE), in the hardest to fill teaching subjects; including STEM and modern languages.

In addition, we are providing £186.5m to local authorities in 2025-26 to restore overall teacher numbers across the country to 2023 levels and maximise the number of teaching posts available.

Question reference: S6W-41952

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 17 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 25 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many units of affordable housing have been constructed in the (a) Stirling, (b) Fife, (c) Perth and Kinross and (d) Clackmannanshire local authority areas in each year since 2015, and how many were delivered compared with local delivery plans.

Statistics relating to the Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP) by local authority are published quarterly on the Scottish Government website. These figures relate to the number of approvals, site starts, and completions of social and affordable homes, and can be accessed using the following link: https://www.gov.scot/publications/affordable-housing-supply-programme-quarterly-updates-on-approvals-site-starts-and-completions/

The homes provided through the AHSP comprise homes for social rent, for mid-market rent and for low cost home ownership. These homes take various forms including; new build homes, rehabilitation projects, conversions and off-the-shelf purchases of both new and second hand homes.

The following table provides a breakdown of the number of homes completed in the (a) Stirling, (b) Fife, (c) Perth and Kinross and (d) Clackmannanshire local authority areas in each year between 2015-2016 and 2024-25:

Local Authority	Clacks	Fife	Perth and Kinross	Stirling
2015-2016	50	386	318	164
2016-2017	72	611	251	118
2017-2018	117	960	446	68
2018-2019	63	547	465	98
2019-2020	90	500	486	73
2020-2021	78	495	235	231
2021-2022	118	405	408	171
2022-2023	98	721	294	103
2023-2024	60	524	260	77
2024-2025	28	414	262	119
TOTAL	774	5563	3425	1222

Local authorities, as the strategic housing and, in most cases, planning authority are responsible for assessing housing need and demand in their area and setting out their investment priorities in their annual Strategic Housing Investment Plans (SHIPs).

Question reference: S6T-02771

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 24 November 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the reported concerns and frustration of the Educational Institute of Scotland about its four-day working week proposal for teachers.

Question reference: S6W-41769

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 10 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 24 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the Teachers’ Side of the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers has reportedly not received a response from the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills to its proposal regarding teacher class contact time, which was tabled at the committee on 18 September 2025.

The Scottish Government is represented at all meetings of the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT) by nominated government officials. Scottish Ministers do not sit on SNCT committees or sub groups and do not respond directly to tabled papers for these meetings.

I am pleased that earlier this year the SNCT subgroup on Reducing Class Contact Time agreed with the Scottish Government proposal to develop a workplan to deliver a route map towards reducing class contact time, at pace.

We will continue working with teacher union and local government colleagues through the SNCT to reach agreement on next steps towards the reduction.

Question reference: S6W-41768

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 10 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 24 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to any potential risk of industrial action by teachers over the issue of the reduction of teacher class contact time, in light of reported statutory ballots being undertaken by the EIS and another teaching union.

Question reference: S6W-41767

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 10 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 24 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Scottish National Party’s 2021 manifesto commitment to reduce teacher class contact time to a maximum of 21 hours per week, whether it will provide an update on the work of the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers Reduced Time Contact Time working group to implement this reduction.

The 2021 SNP manifesto included a commitment to give teachers more time out of the classroom to prepare lessons, undertake professional development and tackle the challenges of closing the attainment gap.

The Scottish Government remains committed to delivering a reduction in teacher class contact time of 90 minutes per week, which we believe will create the conditions to achieve these improvements.

That is why we are working with teacher unions and COSLA through the SNCT to make meaningful progress towards delivering the reduction.

In October 2025 we were pleased that the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers subgroup on Reducing Class Contact Time agreed with our proposals to develop a workplan to deliver a route map towards reducing class contact time, at pace.

My officials are continuing work with COSLA and the teacher unions to achieve our joint objectives.

Question reference: S6W-41723

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 24 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many developers signed (a) its previous "in principle" agreement regarding the removal of unsafe cladding and (b) the Developer Remediation Contract by the deadline of 31 October 2025, as set out in the Cladding Remediation Programme: Next Phase Plan of Action.

Question reference: S6W-41722

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 24 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its Developer Remediation Contract.

Question reference: S6W-41721

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 19 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether an updated status was confirmed for all 512 high-rise buildings with known cladding by the end of October 2025, as set out in the Cladding Remediation Programme: Next Phase Plan of Action.

Question reference: S6W-41617

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 31 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 17 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-30681 by Paul McLennan on 8 November 2024, how many live homeless applications there were in each local authority area on Christmas Day in 2024, and how many (a) adults and (b) children these related to.

The following table gives the number of live homelessness applications at 25 December 2024 for each local authority, along with the number of adults and children these applications refer to.

Live homelessness applications, refer to applications that have a recorded application date but no closure date, implying that these applications are open and not yet resolved.

	Live cases at 25 December 2024	Number of adults	Number of children
All	31,583	36,730	17,211
Aberdeen City	497	535	190
Aberdeenshire	242	287	112
Angus	668	721	156
Argyll & Bute	359	428	179
Clackmannanshire	333	375	156
Dumfries & Galloway	503	567	123
Dundee City	772	827	274
East Ayrshire	292	323	162
East Dunbartonshire	290	333	182
East Lothian	637	701	203
East Renfrewshire	633	796	448
Edinburgh	7,710	9,351	4,390
Eilean Siar	80	87	39
Falkirk	1,123	1,229	420
Fife	1,684	1,862	653
Glasgow City	6,605	8,019	4,652
Highland	867	975	388
Inverclyde	202	219	79
Midlothian	787	857	639
Moray	173	189	43
North Ayrshire	551	651	211
North Lanarkshire	923	1,029	499
Orkney	209	246	144
Perth & Kinross	182	197	28
Renfrewshire	412	450	87
Scottish Borders	503	607	289
Shetland	110	119	17
South Ayrshire	381	416	151
South Lanarkshire	1,592	1,797	1,102
Stirling	572	640	265
West Dunbartonshire	421	475	200
West Lothian	1,270	1,422	730