The Scottish Parliament

Question reference: S7W-01687

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 29 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how it monitors the use of funding from the Whole Family Wellbeing Fund, in light of reports suggesting that the Highland Council spent £1.4 million of its allocation of funding on operational costs between 2022-23 and 2025-26.

Children's Services Planning Partnerships (CSPPs) report on their Whole Family Wellbeing Funding (WFWF) activity via annual Children’s Services Reports, annual WFWF reports, and Children’s Services Plans.

Annual WFWF reports include data on the use of the funding, including the activities being delivered, the outcomes achieved and the funding allocated to each activity. This information supports our ongoing oversight of how funding is being used and the progress being made towards delivering transformational change for children, young people and families.

Question reference: S7W-01688

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 29 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to meet with the chief executive of Highland Council to discuss reports that the local authority spent £1.4 million of its allocation of the Whole Family Wellbeing Fund on operational costs between 2022-23 and 2025-26.

Scottish Government officials engage regularly with all Children's Services Planning Partnerships (CSPPs), including Highland, as part of the oversight of the Whole Family Wellbeing Funding (WFWF) Programme. Ongoing engagement combined with annual reporting supports our understanding of how funding is being used locally, and the progress being made towards delivering transformational change for children, young people and families.

Question reference: S7W-01683

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Kirsten Oswald on 29 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it can provide a breakdown by local authority for male victims and female suspected perpetrator domestic abuse incidents in each of the last five financial years.

Table 1 shows the number of domestic abuse incidents recorded by police, where information was known, showed that the incident involved a male victim and female suspected perpetrator broken down by local authority from
2020-21 to 2024-25.

Table 1: Number of domestic abuse incidents recorded by police involving a male victim and female suspected perpetrator, where information was known, by local authority 2020-21 to 2024-25

Local Authority	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25
Aberdeen City	210	165	128	148	190
Aberdeenshire	125	92	126	119	124
Angus	149	159	161	196	145
Argyll and Bute	88	80	83	83	81
City of Edinburgh	507	489	482	525	489
Clackmannanshire	137	96	80	99	70
Dumfries and Galloway	147	112	117	149	168
Dundee City	321	239	284	303	384
East Ayrshire	225	214	243	199	184
East Dunbartonshire	97	78	92	41	56
East Lothian	89	97	110	131	128
East Renfrewshire	78	75	66	27	43
Falkirk	302	289	227	248	287
Fife	906	837	780	738	890
Glasgow City	1,313	1,171	1,139	645	739
Highland	366	350	300	300	359
Inverclyde	125	57	63	36	64
Midlothian	109	113	83	107	120
Moray	93	90	75	76	94
Na h-Eileanan Siar	15	18	21	23	34
North Ayrshire	232	203	183	220	225
North Lanarkshire	759	717	688	625	606
Orkney Islands	18	8	8	18	17
Perth and Kinross	132	125	185	164	200
Renfrewshire	324	147	148	127	131
Scottish Borders	155	153	153	144	137
Shetland Islands	22	16	29	12	16
South Ayrshire	202	177	149	184	165
South Lanarkshire	554	546	545	541	611
Stirling	91	98	108	124	131
West Dunbartonshire	166	144	119	114	130
West Lothian	319	247	286	294	262
Total	8,376	7,402	7,261	6,760	7,280

Source: Official Statistics on Domestic Abuse in Scotland, 2024-25

Question reference: S7W-01686

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 29 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on local authorities using funding from their allocation of the Whole Family Wellbeing Fund towards (a) staff salaries, (b) business expenses, (c) club car hire, (d) travel expenses and (e) other miscellaneous expenses not relating directly to grant funding or training.

The Whole Family Wellbeing Funding (WFWF) Programme was established to create the enabling conditions for local areas to transform their delivery of holistic whole family support. Decisions on how WFWF resources are deployed to support this system change are the responsibility of local Children's Services Planning Partnerships (CSPPs), based on local priorities, needs and long-term plans.

The Scottish Government’s criteria around the spend is based on ensuring that the funding is not used to support business as usual activity, or replace funding already in the system, but rather is used as additional resource to support the transformation of the system in line with the National Principles of Holistic Family Support. This includes funding new posts to support system change, testing and implementing new approaches, leadership development and workforce skills, as well as scaling approaches that have a clear pathway to sustainable integration within local CSPP plans.

Question reference: S7W-01689

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 29 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to assist local authorities by making the Whole Family Wellbeing Fund application process easier for applicants to navigate.

The Scottish Government does not operate an application process for Element 1 of the Whole Family Wellbeing Funding (WFWF) Programme. Funding is allocated annually to all Children's Services Planning Partnerships (CSPPs) via local authorities.

Recognising that local needs and circumstances vary across Scotland, the Programme does not prescribe a specific delivery model. Instead, CSPPs assess their local family support system, identify gaps and opportunities, and determine how funding should be deployed to improve local delivery of holistic whole family support. Any local commissioning and procurement, application processes, or distribution arrangements are therefore determined by individual CSPPs in line with local priorities and needs.

Question reference: S7W-01719

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh North Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Kirsten Oswald on 29 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S7W-01042 by Kirsten Oswald on 7 July 2026, regarding the number of incidents involving possession of a knife or bladed article that have been recorded in schools in each of the last five years, whether it will provide a breakdown of these figures by local authority.

Table 1 shows the number of police recorded crimes of Having in a school an article with a blade or point, by Local authority, from 2021-22 to 2025-26.

Table 1: Recorded crimes of Having in a school an article with a blade or point (used and not used) by Local authority, Scotland, 2021-22 to 2025-26.

Crime type	Local authority	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25	2025-26
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	Scotland	98	112	94	121	99
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	Aberdeen City	6	4	6	7	8
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	Aberdeenshire	14	11	12	16	13
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	Angus	4	5	1	3	1
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	Argyll & Bute	2	1	0	2	3
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	Clackmannanshire	0	1	1	0	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	Dumfries & Galloway	8	7	5	4	1
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	Dundee City	2	4	3	1	4
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	East Ayrshire	1	1	4	3	3
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	East Dunbartonshire	1	0	0	4	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	East Lothian	1	1	0	0	1
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	East Renfrewshire	0	0	2	0	2
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	Edinburgh, City of	7	8	8	8	6
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	Falkirk	4	7	2	7	3
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	Fife	10	11	6	5	14
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	Glasgow City	9	9	8	16	15
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	Highland	4	4	4	2	1
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	Inverclyde	1	2	1	2	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	Midlothian	1	4	5	2	2
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	Moray	5	2	2	4	5
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	Na h-Eileanan Siar	0	0	1	0	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	North Ayrshire	2	9	3	6	1
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	North Lanarkshire	3	5	0	5	4
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	Orkney Islands	1	0	0	1	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	Perth & Kinross	1	2	1	4	2
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	Renfrewshire	1	2	1	3	3
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	Scottish Borders	1	2	5	3	1
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	Shetland Islands	0	0	0	0	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	South Ayrshire	0	2	4	1	3
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	South Lanarkshire	5	6	6	5	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	Stirling	1	1	0	3	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	West Dunbartonshire	1	0	2	1	1
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	West Lothian	2	1	1	3	2
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	Scotland	37	27	35	28	28
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	Aberdeen City	2	1	2	3	5
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	Aberdeenshire	2	3	4	3	3
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	Angus	1	0	0	2	1
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	Argyll & Bute	0	0	0	0	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	Clackmannanshire	3	0	0	1	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	Dumfries & Galloway	1	1	1	1	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	Dundee City	1	0	1	0	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	East Ayrshire	0	1	0	0	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	East Dunbartonshire	0	1	0	1	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	East Lothian	0	0	1	0	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	East Renfrewshire	1	0	2	0	1
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	Edinburgh, City of	3	3	3	1	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	Falkirk	2	2	2	0	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	Fife	4	3	2	4	8
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	Glasgow City	5	2	7	4	1
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	Highland	0	2	0	2	1
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	Inverclyde	0	0	0	0	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	Midlothian	0	0	0	1	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	Moray	1	1	5	2	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	Na h-Eileanan Siar	0	0	0	0	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	North Ayrshire	0	2	1	0	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	North Lanarkshire	0	2	1	1	4
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	Orkney Islands	0	0	0	0	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	Perth & Kinross	1	1	1	0	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	Renfrewshire	2	1	0	1	1
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	Scottish Borders	0	0	1	0	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	Shetland Islands	0	0	0	0	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	South Ayrshire	0	0	1	0	2
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	South Lanarkshire	5	1	0	0	1
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	Stirling	3	0	0	0	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	West Dunbartonshire	0	0	0	1	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	West Lothian	0	0	0	0	0
Total recorded crimes of having an article with a blade or point in schools	Scotland	135	139	129	149	127

Question reference: S7W-01684

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Simita Kumar on 29 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what specific support pathway exists for male victims of domestic abuse who are also dealing with addiction recovery, family breakdown, child contact loss and suicide risk.

Question reference: S7W-01904

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Kirsten Oswald on 29 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to reform inheritance law in Scotland.

The Scottish Government has no immediate plans to reform inheritance law in Scotland. The most recent consultations on testate and intestate succession took place in 2015 and 2019. The analysis of the consultation findings concluded that there was no clear consensus on substantive reforms to the law. Research into aspects of succession has also been commissioned and we await the findings. The Scottish Law Commission is considering reforms to executry law as part of their current programme of law reform.

Question reference: S7W-01666

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Kirsten Oswald on 29 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has plans to amend the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004 to grant local authority Trading Standards services closure powers for commercial premises equivalent to those available under section 80(5) of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 in England and Wales.

The Scottish Government has no current plans to amend the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004 in this way. Closure orders under Part 4 of the Act, including which bodies may initiate the closure process and the grounds on which a sheriff may close premises, are within the scope of the legislative review of the Act announced in December 2025. The review is being taken forward in close consultation with local authorities, Police Scotland and other delivery partners, and its evidence base includes the operation of the equivalent powers in England and Wales under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014. Decisions on whether legislative change is needed will be informed by the review's findings.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-01665 on 29 July 2026. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

Question reference: S7W-01665

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Kirsten Oswald on 29 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with (a) local authorities and (b) Trading Standards Scotland regarding the potential benefits of allowing local authorities, rather than Police Scotland, to apply for closure orders against any commercial premises that sell age-restricted products to children.

The Scottish Government engages regularly with local authorities on the powers available to tackle antisocial behaviour, including through the legislative review of the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004 which was announced in December 2025 and is being taken forward in close consultation with local authorities, Police Scotland and other delivery partners. Closure orders under Part 4 of that Act, including the question of which bodies may initiate them, are within the scope of the review.

The recommendation from the Chartered Trading Standards Institute and the Anti-Counterfeiting Group, in their April 2026 report Hidden in Plain Sight, that local authorities in Scotland be given the power to initiate closure orders has been noted as part of the evidence the review is considering. Officials have written to both the Society of Chief Officers of Trading Standards in Scotland and Police Scotland seeking their views on the report.

Local authorities already hold enforcement powers in relation to the sale of age-restricted products to children. This includes the power to apply to the sheriff for a banning order under the Tobacco and Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Act 2010 where a retailer has repeatedly committed offences, including the sale of tobacco or vaping products to under 18s.

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