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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-24700

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 22 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 30 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) stating that almost 200,000 people were out of work because of ill health between July 2022 and June 2023, which is reportedly around 29,000 more than in the same period before the COVID-19 pandemic.

More recent statistics are available for comparison from the ONS Annual Population Survey.

In the pre-COVID period October 2018 to September 2019, 762,700 people were classed as economically inactive. Of this, 215,800 or 28.3% said that long-term sickness was the main reason for inactivity.
In the most recent comparable period of October 2022 to September 2023, 762,600 people were classed as economically inactive. Of this, 242,000 or 31.7% said that long term sickness was the main reason for inactivity.
This is an increase of 26,200 people giving long term sickness as the reason for inactivity whilst the level of inactivity overall had fallen modestly by 100. This suggests that people are changing their reason for inactivity rather than becoming inactive as a result of illness.

We were among the first in the UK to turn serious attention to economic inactivity, initially focussing on ill health, and our National Strategy for Economic Transformation contains a commitment to address Scotland’s labour market inactivity challenges. To progress this commitment we have undertaken engagement with employers about how our health system can better support employers and employees to enable people to stay healthy in work and move back in to work from inactivity.

In addition, we are committed to supporting people into work through our devolved employability approach No One Left Behind, a lifetime skills offer for adults to target support at those who need it most, and supporting more diverse and inclusive workplaces as part of our Fair Work agenda.

The Scottish Government also funds NHS initiatives to support people with health conditions to sustain or return to work, including Working Health Services Scotland and Public Health Scotland's Healthy Working Lives . These provide advice and support on work-related physical and mental health promotion and ill health prevention, return to work practices and workplace safety for employers and employees.

Question reference: S6W-24699

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 22 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 30 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported figures from Citizens Advice Scotland stating that nearly 24,000 people have been forced onto an electric prepayment meter against their wishes, and around 12,000 have been forced onto a prepayment meter for gas.

We share the concerns that have been expressed by Citizens Advice Scotland and others concerning the reintroduction of forced pre-payment meter installations. Ofgem's Code of Practice requiring suppliers to meet a number of conditions before taking such action is an important step; however, too many households in Scotland remain at risk from this practice, especially with energy and other costs that are still too high. We believe that energy suppliers must exhaust all possible options, including meaningful support to struggling households to manage debt before imposing pre-payment meters. I have raised the issue of pre-payment meters many times with my UK Government counterparts who hold all the levers to act on this issue, and I will continue to raise these issues and concerns directly with the UK Government and Ofgem over the coming weeks in addition to my calls for a social tariff for the most vulnerable customers of energy companies.

Question reference: S6O-03017

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 January 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported comments by the Faculty of Advocates and the Law Society of Scotland that an exodus of defence solicitors has left the legal system close to collapse.

Question reference: S6W-22488

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 12 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many college places were available in STEM subjects in each of the last 10 years, also broken down by (a) headcount, (b) number of full-time equivalent places and (c) college.

We do not hold data on how many places were available in STEM subjects at College in each of the last 10 years.

Funded places are not allocated to specific subjects, it is within the remit of colleges to distribute places to the set of subjects they each offer.

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) collect and publish data each year on College enrolments. This included providing college enrolment data for 2014-15 to 2020-21 for the ‘STEM education and training strategy - refresh: annual report’. This is available in the background data at the following link:

STEM education and training strategy - refresh: annual report - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Question reference: S6T-01718

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 January 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will reconsider its position on further regulating the ownership of American XL bully dogs in Scotland, in light of reports that widespread rehoming from England to Scotland is raising public safety and animal welfare concerns.

Question reference: S6W-22521

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by George Adam on 21 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on hospitality for events held in Bute House in each year since 2014.

All Ministerial engagements for this time period are available here Ministerial Events (webarchive.org.uk) and Ministerial engagements, travel and gifts - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

The following table shows the total costs for 2016 to 30-10-2023. Complete financial records are only held by Scottish Government for 7 years, therefore total costs are only available from 2016.

Year	Total Costs
2016	£4,535.94
2017	£8,915.92
2018	£22,542.65
2019	£22,389.84
2020	£5,193.30
2021	£533.00
2022	£15,878.45
2023	£5,118.73

Question reference: S6W-23621

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 19 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its progress towards closing the attainment gap among school pupils.

The latest 2022-23 Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence Levels (ACEL) data, published last week, show that the proportions of pupils in primary achieving expected levels of literacy and numeracy have reached record highs for children from both the most and least deprived areas, with the poverty-related attainment gap in primary literacy decreasing to its lowest on record, and the gap in primary numeracy also narrowing from 2021-22 levels. These latest figures also show improvements at secondary level compared to 2021-22, with increases in attainment across the board and the gap between those from the most and least deprived areas narrowing.

Last week’s ACEL results build on the good progress already made this year, shown in both the 2023 Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) results and the 2023 Summary Statistics for Attainment and Initial Leaver Destinations (SSAILD). The latest SQA results show the poverty-related attainment gap remains narrower than it was pre-pandemic (2019) for National 5s, Highers and Advanced Highers, at grades A-C and SSAILD data shows a record low poverty-related attainment gap in positive destinations for 2021-22 school leavers 9 months after leaving school. We have also seen a record high number of students from deprived areas entering university, with 5,595 Scots getting places, up 41% since 2014-15.

A detailed breakdown of attainment and the poverty-related attainment gap can be found on the Scottish Government website - Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence levels: 2022/23 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) and Summary Statistics for Attainment and Initial Leaver Destinations, No. 5: 2023 Edition - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

All of this, as well as the ambitious stretch aims local authorities had set for 2022-23 and have now set for 2023-24 to 2025-26, gives me confidence that we are making progress; and the Scottish Attainment Challenge programme, in which we are investing £1bn this parliamentary term, is having an impact.

But while there is clear evidence of progress, there is much more to do. I recognise the need to continuously improve our Curriculum in a planned and systematic way, as recommended by the OECD. We need to do so, to ensure it remains relevant, forward looking and ultimately supports high quality teaching and learning. That is why in 2024 we will begin a regular Curriculum improvement cycle. Our programme of reform across the education and skills system will help identify where further improvements can be made and I will look to drive enhanced attainment and make further progress in closing the poverty-related attainment gap, to ensure all young people meet their full potential.

Question reference: S6F-02673

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 December 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 December 2023

To ask the First Minister how the Scottish Government can promote and assist organisations that tackle loneliness, isolation and self-harm over the festive period.

Question reference: S6W-23214

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 11 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-22900 by Jenni Minto on 22 November 2023, whether it will provide the current percentage of P7 children with no obvious tooth decay in each individual NHS board, also broken down by SIMD quintile, as set out in Table 5 of the National Dental Inspection Programme report for 2022.

Question reference: S6W-23279

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 7 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with the British Transport Police regarding expanding its remit beyond rail travel to other public transport networks, such as trams, as is the case with the London Tramlink.