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-34442

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 21 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many teachers have been signed off work as a result of having been attacked in school in each local authority area in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S6W-34441

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 21 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many teachers have been signed off work due to mental ill health in each local authority area in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S6W-34611

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 21 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the estimated carbon emissions savings have been as a result of installing solar panels on government-owned buildings in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-34170

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 21 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many teachers have been signed off work due to stress in each year since 2018, broken down by local authority.

Question reference: S6W-34173

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 21 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many teachers who qualified in each of the last five years have secured permanent positions, broken down by (a) subject and (b) local authority.

Question reference: S6W-34168

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 21 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many teachers are employed on a (a) permanent, (b) temporary and (c) supply contract, broken down by local authority.

Question reference: S6W-34169

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 21 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to increase the availability of permanent teaching posts.

The Scottish Government is committed to increasing teacher numbers to deliver improved outcomes for children and young people.

The number of teachers in permanent posts has remained stable at more than 80% over the past 10 years. In addition, the number of teachers in Scotland's classrooms has increased by more than 2,500 over the past decade, as a result of investment by the Scottish Government. While we cannot direct teachers where to work, it is important to note that teacher vacancies arise across Scotland throughout the year.

We recently agreed with local government a commitment to working together to restore teacher numbers to 2023 levels in 2025-2026, freeze learning hours and make meaningful progress towards reducing class contact time for teachers.

In order to support each of these measures, the Scottish Government is increasing the funding available to local government to £186.5 million in 2025-2026, and will issue £145.5 million to local government in full this financial year.

Local government will also receive additional funding of £28 million from 2025-2026 to develop the Additional Support for Learning (ASL) education workforce with further funding of £1 million being made available to support national initiatives which will help to recruit and train more ASL teachers.

Question reference: S6W-34568

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 21 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what initiatives are being introduced to improve the legal rights of park home residents.

Question reference: S6W-34569

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 21 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether there are any plans to establish an independent body to oversee and regulate park home sites.

Question reference: S6W-34614

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 21 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to expand the installation of solar panels on government-owned buildings.

Installing solar panels on owned Scottish Government buildings will be considered as part of holistic approach to decarbonising our buildings. Feasibility studies will be carried out to look at the suitability of roof structures, roof orientation, available space and shading. Not all buildings will be suitable for installing solar panels. We will continue to pursue innovative solutions which may provide opportunities to support the broader energy transition.