- Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 April 2025
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 24 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it can take to reduce the number of teachers on temporary contracts.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 24 April 2025
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 April 2025
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 24 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the education secretary has had with ministerial colleagues regarding what action is being taken to reduce vaping in schools.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 24 April 2025
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 April 2025
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 23 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will change its policy position in relation to an independent Scotland seeking to rejoin the EU, in light of the potential impact of US tariffs on the UK and the EU.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 23 April 2025
- Asked by: Rona Mackay, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 April 2025
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 24 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what eligibility criteria and implementation guidance it has issued to local authorities regarding the use of the Care Experienced Children and Young People Fund in education settings.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 24 April 2025
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 04 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 16 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent on developing and piloting the NHS Scotland digital front door app.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-35981 on 31 March 2025. 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
All funding provided towards the development of the app is currently interlinked with the piloting of the app, which will begin in Lanarkshire from 2025 and begin it’s rollout from 2026.
The Scottish Government and NES are also in the development stage of the full business case for Digital Front Door, therefore we do not yet have an agreed longer-term budget. Once it has been approved and a minimum viable product (MVP) has been produced this will inform future costs of a national roll out for Digital Front Door.
- Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 16 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to update its 2021 guidance for public bodies on data collection and publication of sex, gender identity and trans status.
Answer
The Office of the Chief Statistician published guidance for public bodies in Scotland on the collection of data on sex and gender in 2021. This guidance recommends that statistics producers should collect data that best serves the needs of users in their specific context, an approach with aligns with the guidance published by the Office for Statistics Regulation in 2024.
The Sullivan Review specifically recommends that the Scottish Government reviews its guidance in light of its recommendations. The Scottish Government has previously committed to reviewing its guidance on collecting data on sex and gender by the end of 2026 as part of the Non-Binary Equality Action Plan.
Ahead of this review, the Office of the Chief Statistician is engaged with wider-UK work on this topic. The Government Statistical Service (GSS) Harmonisation Team is currently developing harmonised standards for collecting data on sex and gender identity. The Office of the Chief Statistician is contributing to this work, and will consider its outputs as part of its review of the Chief Statistician’s guidance.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Siobhian Brown on 16 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the reported call by the Scottish Grocers’ Federation for stronger legislative and enforcement action to tackle shoplifting.
Answer
The Scottish Government understands the impact of retail crime on businesses and the concerns of retailers including the Scottish Grocers’ Federation.
Sufficient legislation already exists in order to prosecute those who are guilty of shoplifting.
Our Budget will make an additional £3 million available in 2025-26 to tackle retail crime. This is in addition to an investment next year of a record £1.62 billion for policing.
This funding will support the formation of a Retail Crime Taskforce which will provide a visible and measurable impact on retail crime and will deliver on the following objectives:
- Prevent: Stop people from becoming perpetrators of Retail crime by developing and implementing intervention and diversion mechanisms with partners.
- Pursue: Target retail crime by bringing perpetrators to justice, with a focus on repeat offenders and organised criminals.
- Protect: Strengthen the collective protections against Retail Crime by engaging directly with retailers on crime prevention and training.
- Prepare: Mitigate against the impact of Retail Crime by exploring innovate opportunities for direct reporting systems.
The Scottish Government continue to urge all retailers and their staff to keep reporting crimes. While it might feel like some minor incidents aren’t worth it, or individual retailers may feel like the police won’t be able to do anything, each crime report aids our collective understanding of who is doing this and why. Local officers may also well have intelligence they can use to catch the perpetrators.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 16 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-35432 by Kaukab Stewart on 19 March 2025, whether it will provide a breakdown of the costs associated with the "New Scots Community Engagement".
Answer
All funding for Community Engagement was distributed in the form of small grants for refugee assisting communities and groups, to enable their engagement in the development of the New Scots Strategy held between Q4 2023-2024. As published in the New Scots Refugee Integration Strategy 2024: Engagement Analysis Report, 72 groups were funded and 81 events were held.
- Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 16 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the report, Review of data, statistics and research on sex and gender [the Sullivan review]; whether it will implement the recommendations in the review, and what plans it has to meet Professor Alice Sullivan to discuss the findings.
Answer
The Office of the Chief Statistician published guidance for public bodies in Scotland on the collection of data on sex and gender in 2021. This guidance recommends that statistics producers should collect data that best serves the needs of users in their specific context, an approach with aligns with the guidance published by the Office for Statistics Regulation in 2024.
The Sullivan Review specifically recommends that the Scottish Government reviews its guidance in light of its recommendations. The Scottish Government has previously committed to reviewing its guidance on collecting data on sex and gender by the end of 2026 as part of the Non-Binary Equality Action Plan.
Ahead of this review, the Office of the Chief Statistician is engaged with wider-UK work on this topic. The Government Statistical Service (GSS) Harmonisation Team is currently developing harmonised standards for collecting data on sex and gender identity. The Office of the Chief Statistician is contributing to this work, and will consider its outputs as part of its review of the Chief Statistician’s guidance.
There are currently no plans to meet with Alice Sullivan directly, however the Scottish Government will be attending upcoming events to engage with a range of stakeholders to hear wider views on this topic.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Siobhian Brown on 16 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that retail crime, including shoplifting and vandalism, cost businesses £420 million in 2024-25.
Answer
The Scottish Government understands the impact of retail crime on businesses. Our Budget will make an additional £3 million available in 2025-26 to tackle retail crime. This is in addition to an investment next year of a record
£1.62 billion for policing.
This funding will support the formation of a Retail Crime Taskforce which will provide a visible and measurable impact on retail crime and will deliver on the following objectives:
- Prevent: Stop people from becoming perpetrators of Retail crime by developing and implementing intervention and diversion mechanisms with partners.
- Pursue: Target retail crime by bringing perpetrators to justice, with a focus on repeat offenders and organised criminals.
- Protect: Strengthen the collective protections against Retail Crime by engaging directly with retailers on crime prevention and training.
- Prepare: Mitigate against the impact of Retail Crime by exploring innovate opportunities for direct reporting systems.
New technologies will also be utilised to explore ways to make it easier for retail staff to directly report crimes to police, as well as capitalising on Police Scotland’s existing Digital Evidence Sharing Capability (DESC), to secure early criminal justice outcomes.
The Scottish Government continue to urge all retailers and their staff to keep reporting crimes. While it might feel like some minor incidents aren’t worth it, or individual retailers may feel like the police won’t be able to do anything, each crime report aids our collective understanding of who is doing this and why. Local officers may also well have intelligence they can use to catch the perpetrators.
