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-29733

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 24 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many unique views there have been of the website, Mind Yer Time, in each of the last 12 months.

The number of unique views to the Scottish Youth Parliament/Children’s Parliament Mind Yer Time website in each of the last 12 months are as follows:

Date range	Active users	New users
10th September - 30th September 2023	160	151
1st October - 4th November 2023	261	246
5th November - 2nd December 2023	277	259
3rd December - 6th January 2024	214	209
7th January - 3rd February 2024	215	204
4th February - 2nd March 2024	325	299
3rd March - 6th April 2024	465	438
7th April - 4th May 2024	259	247
5th May - 1st June 2024	269	249
2nd June - 6th July 2024	497	486
7th July - 3rd August 2024	286	272
4th August - 31st August 2024	1019	1013
1st September - 11th September 2024	116	107
	4273	4180

"Active users" is the number of people who engaged with the site or app in the specified date range. "New users" is the number of people who have never visited the site or app before in the specified date range.

Question reference: S6W-29726

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 24 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had in response to reports that local authorities are considering a reduction in the school week.

I am concerned at suggestions of cuts to learning hours in any local authority. I wrote to all local authorities in February this year make clear that this would not be acceptable to Scottish Government.

We are continuing to engage with COSLA to work towards a voluntary agreement with local government on protecting learning hours. If no agreement is reached, I remain open to taking steps towards utilising the powers in the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 to prescribe in the regulations the number of hours made available.

Question reference: S6W-29727

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 24 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what mechanisms it has to prevent local authorities from reducing the number of hours in the school week.

Question reference: S6W-29698

Asked by: Lorna Slater, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 24 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to review the funding model for St Mary's Music School in Edinburgh.

Scottish Government officials meet with St Mary’s Music School on a regular basis to discuss funding and other issues, for example the impact of the removal of VAT exemption on school fees. We also continue to work with the school to regularly update the St Mary’s Music School (Aided Places Scheme) (Scotland) Regulations 2015, which includes an examination of, for example, the income thresholds for parental contributions and ancillary grants.

Question reference: S6W-29707

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 09 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 24 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on providing pupils with free laptops and digital devices to date, and what evaluation it has carried out of the impact of its policy of providing free laptops and digital devices on the educational performance of the pupils who have received them.

Question reference: S6W-29270

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 August 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 24 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-28109 by Jenni Minto on 25 June 2024, whether it has undertaken an analysis of what impact the publication of its Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy has had on the psychological support offered to patients living with non-communicable diseases, including chronic kidney disease.

The Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy was published in June 2023. To show how the Strategy is making a positive difference to people’s mental health, at all levels of need, it is structured around a Vision and a set of Outcomes so we can be held to account for our progress.

We published our Delivery Plan and Workforce Action Plan in November 2023. Both set out the actions we will take in order to make progress on these outcomes. This requires local and national leadership as we collectively work towards key national outcomes whilst maintaining local flexibility.

We are committed to robustly review, monitor and evaluate the Strategy, the accompanying Delivery Plan and the Workforce Action Plan to ensure we are committed to the right actions. We will shortly begin publication of regular reporting on progress towards our Strategy Delivery Plan.

Question reference: S6W-29291

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 August 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 24 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether NatureScot will consider the new research findings published in the British Ecological Society journal, Ecological Solutions and Evidence, outlining the ecological benefits of leaving deer carcasses in their environment in appropriate and defined circumstances.

Wild Deer Best Practice (WDBP) covers the practice of leaving carcasses on the hill and this guidance is regularly reviewed through the steering group to ensure it provides accurate and up to date information.

NatureScot recognises the benefits of leaving carcasses on the hill (in line with WDBP guidance) for nutrient cycling and food sources for wildlife. Decisions on when to leave carcasses is at the discretion of the land owner / manager and in many properties (including NatureScot properties) a proportion of culled deer are not removed.

Question reference: S6W-29290

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 August 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 24 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the annual deer cull figures in Scotland in each of the past five years.

Data from the reported annual cull returns is set out in the following table:

Season	Red	Roe	Sika	Fallow	Total	Mortality
2019-20	60711	38499	6964	2211	108385	617
2020-21	66373	36587	8154	2521	113626	4529
2021-22	66575	43455	8495	2640	121165	1079
2022-23	73251	48662	9427	2582	133922	1016
2023-24	31739	14940	2961	928	50568	TBC

NatureScot regularly publish this data and further breakdowns can be found on their website https://www.nature.scot/doc/naturescot-deer-census-results which includes a breakdown of reported cull information from 1996 – 2023-24.

Question reference: S6W-29288

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 26 August 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 24 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a timescale for the introduction of an integrated ticketing scheme covering all forms of public transport.

Significant progress has been made in recent years to improve smart, integrated ticketing and payment on public transport. Since 2019 Scottish smartcards are universal, meaning they are compatible for nearly all smart tickets available in Scotland. This includes the National Entitlement Card which is used by over two million citizens for concessionary travel. Regionally there are six integrated multi-bus operator or multi-modal schemes available in Scotland’s main cities, on a mix of mobile or smartcard platforms. The Smart, Integrated Ticketing and Payment Delivery Strategy, published on 21 August 2024 also provides detail on activity over the next period to build on this progress.

Question reference: S6T-02111

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 September 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the reported announcement that issues with the gearbox of the MV Caledonian Isles have been identified, resulting in a further delay to its return to service on the Arran route.