Chamber and committees

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-36080

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Dorothy Bain on 15 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the longest duration has been from the date of death to the conclusion of a fatal accident inquiry since 1999, and what the reasons were for the duration of this process.

COPFS holds records of all concluded Fatal Accident Inquiries dating back to 1 April 2013.

For that period, the longest duration from the date of death to the conclusion of the Fatal Accident Inquiry was in relation to the FAI into the death of Boguslaw Kopec. The date of Mr Kopec’s death was 13 March 2011. A First Notice commencing the FAI process was issued on 24 August 2020 and the Inquiry commenced on 9 November 2020. Evidence was concluded on 3 December 2020 and the Sheriff’s Determination was published on 11 March 2021.

The investigation into Mr Kopec’s death was hampered by difficulties tracing and obtaining the evidence of essential witnesses. In addition, Inquiry proceedings could only be commenced after criminal proceedings had been ruled out. Nevertheless, the Crown at that time acknowledged that the time taken to conduct its death investigation in this case had been far too long and apologised for the fact that its investigation and the Inquiry proceedings were not concluded sooner.

COPFS has significantly reformed its processes in recent years to improve the quality of death investigations and reduce the time taken to investigate deaths and bring FAIs to court. However, in some cases FAIs have taken too long to commence and we understand the impact that waiting for investigations to conclude has on families.

Question reference: S6W-36386

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 15 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the average pupil-teacher ratio has been in schools in each local authority area in each year since 1999, also broken down by (a) primary, (b) secondary and (c) special schools.

Question reference: S6W-36378

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 15 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many callouts have been made to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to respond to fires involving rechargeable lithium-ion battery devices in flats in each year since 2010.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) have provided some of the information requested. According to SFRS data since 2009-2010 there have been a total of 39 lithium-ion battery related fires and incidents in purpose-built flats, converted flats and tenement buildings.

SFRS aims to capture additional data, via their Incident Recording System on any fires, suspected or confirmed, relating to rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. There is ongoing work being undertaken by the SFRS led Electrical Infrastructure Working Group to better understand the risks to communities from fires linked with lithium-ion batteries.

Question reference: S6W-36102

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 15 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the potential environmental impact, whether it has raised or plans to raise any concerns with Ofgem regarding the adequacy of the Accelerated Strategic Transmission Investment standards, particularly the minimum height requirement for overhead power lines in areas of prime agricultural land.

Question reference: S6W-36458

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 15 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many STEM teacher vacancies currently exist in schools, broken down by (a) subject and (b) local authority area; what consideration it has given to targeted financial incentives to attract and retain STEM teachers in hard-to-fill subjects; what proportion of STEM probationer teachers secured permanent contracts in the last five years, and how this compares to non-STEM subjects.

Our Teaching Bursary Scheme provides £20,000 bursaries for career changers wishing to undertake a one year Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) in the hardest to fill teaching subjects. These subjects include: Physics, Maths, Technical Education, Computing Science, Chemistry and Home Economics.

Statistics on the employment of probationer teachers by subject and employment type are published in the post-probationer teacher employment dashboard, available through the Scottish Government website: https://www.gov.scot/publications/post-probationer-teacher-employment-dashboard/

Question reference: S6W-36231

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 15 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the potential impact of its additional investment of £250 million under its National Mission on Drugs, including any estimated annual savings.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) has been commissioned to conduct a comprehensive and independent evaluation of the National Mission. As part of the evaluation, PHS has also commissioned an external study of how National Mission funds have been allocated and spent, and the benefits which that expenditure has (or is likely to have) delivered.

The study will have a number of different research objectives including a summary of existing review-level evidence on treatment effectiveness and cost-effectiveness for treatments in scope, as well as an overview of evidence gaps. The economic evaluation report is anticipated to be published in the first half of 2026. The final evaluation report will be published in 2026.

Question reference: S6W-36233

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 15 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6O-04204 by Neil Gray on 16 January 2025, how much funding is proposed for alcohol and drug services in 2025-26, including NHS board baseline funding.

Further to my answer provided on 16 January 2025 the Scottish Government has added a further £2.5 million to the Alcohol and Drugs budget, bringing the total to around £160 million for 2025-26. We are maintaining record levels of funding for drugs and alcohol – including another year of £112.9m for Alcohol and Drugs Partnerships, this figure is inclusive of baselined funding, which has increased by £19 million for 2025-26 giving boards more certainty and stability.

Question reference: S6W-36112

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 15 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether safety standards, including minimum overhead clearance heights for new electricity infrastructure, should exceed the statutory minimum requirements to anticipate future developments in agricultural machinery.

Question reference: S6W-36100

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 15 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any potential impact on agricultural productivity and safety of the minimum pylon heights proposed by Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks for the Tealing to Kintore upgrade project.

Question reference: S6W-36115

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 15 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any potential economic impacts on farming businesses from safety restrictions required due to the construction of overhead power lines along prime agricultural land.