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-37229

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it owns the site of the former Carnbroe Mains Farm at Carnbroe Road, Shirrel, Bellshill, and, if (a) so, what its current plans are for the site and (b) not, for what reason the Scottish Vacant and Derelict Land Survey site register states that it does.

Question reference: S6W-35966

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 17 June 2025

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally. However, we have been able to access the data held by National Records of Scotland (NRS) for the years 2010 and 2015. (Please see table attached). As at
31 March 2025, there are 2,938 GDS dentists, up c.5% over the last year and there are 3,249 primary care dentists, an increase of 4.2% over the last year.

	2010	2015
East Region	876	911
NHS Borders	67	72
NHS Fife	232	250
NHS Lothian	585	622
North Region	930	1017
NHS Highland	209	232
NHS Grampian	327	389
NHS Orkney	16	23
NHS Tayside	352	360
NHS Western Isles	18	16
NHS Shetland	18	11
West Region	1628	1703
NHS Ayrshire and Arran	223	236
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde	866	921
NHS Lanarkshire	343	365
NHS Forth Valley	186	183
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	80	85
National Bodies and Special Health Boards	16	17

Question reference: S6W-35967

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many NHS board areas currently have fewer than one NHS dentist per 1,000 people, and what measures it is taking to address any reported shortages.

Typically an experienced primary care dentist seeing mainly NHS patients will have a list of around 2,000 – 2,500 patients. While the total number of dentists includes those in Public and Hospital Dental Service settings, published figures indicate that there are no Board areas with less than 1 dentist per 2,000 of population.

As at 31 March 2025, there are 59.2 primary care dentists per 100,000 of the Scottish population, compared to 56.8 at 31 March 2024. This equates to 0.6 dentists per 1000 patients.

The Scottish Government introduced payment reform changes from 1 November 2023 which has been well received by the profession. This is the main intervention designed to ensure dentists continue to be incentivised to both remain and increase their NHS provision.

Workforce:

2.Payment reform was introduced in November ’23 reducing treatment items from 700 to 45, with almost 4 million courses of treatment delivered between November 2023 and September 2024.

3.A second stage of reform will focus on workforce. Under the First Minister’s NHS Renewal priorities for 25-26 student intake to the Bachelor of Dental Surgery/BDS courses at Aberdeen, Dundee and Glasgow universities will increase by 7%; a new training scheme will support overseas-qualified dentists, who are GDC-registered as dental therapists, to convert to full dentist status at a cost of £1.5M and redesign of a rural incentive scheme funded via the GDS budget.

4.I will continue to lead on renewing four-nation discussions on Provisional Registration, which would allow overseas-qualified dentists to enter the UK NHS workforce immediately while awaiting qualification.

5.The Scottish Government is addressing building capacity, by adopting a multi-disciplinary team approach, giving patients direct access to care via dental care professional (i.e. hygienists, therapists, dental nurses).

6.We continue to offer financial support through the recently revised Scottish Dental Access Initiative and Recruitment and Retention Allowance, supporting NHS dental provision in designated geographic areas to address unmet patient need.

7.The Programme for Government sets out a package of actions to improve the NHS dental workforce now and into the future, and is supported by new funding in 2025-26.

8.We will support the dental workforce pipeline through both the immediate expansion of domestic dental student numbers and the development of an innovative new training package to support international dentists in joining the NHS Scotland workforce.

9.Alongside this, we are also working with NHS Boards to refine the financial incentives in place to support dentists moving to work in rural areas, supporting sustainable access across Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-35822

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how students are selected to participate in Scottish Education Exchange Programme (SEEP) activities; whether there are criteria to determine eligibility for participation, and, if this is the case, what the criteria are.

It is at the discretion of the institutions to select the specific students who should participate in the SEEP test and learn projects.

Inclusion and diversity in all fields of education are a priority for the Test and Learn Project. The Test and Learn Project supports initiatives that promote social inclusion for individuals with fewer opportunities—such as people with disabilities, migrants, rural residents, and those facing socio-economic hardship or discrimination.

Funded projects should help reduce access barriers and foster inclusive, equitable environments that reflect the needs of diverse communities.

Question reference: S6W-37842

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many police officers have had claims not accepted by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-37843

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with (a) Police Scotland and (b) the Scottish Police Federation, in light of reports that the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority is rejecting applications on the grounds that injury is part of the job.

This issue has not been raised with relevant Ministers or officials by the Chief Constable, Scottish Police Federation or the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents. I would further refer the member to the answer to question S6W-37841 on 5 June 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Question reference: S6W-35823

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Scottish Education Exchange Programme (SEEP) currently supports (a) work placements and (b) vocational training exchanges, and if this is not the case, whether it has considered expanding the programme to cover such activities.

In 2025-26, applications will be assessed on their ability to support the ambitions set out in Scotland’s Destination Scotland – inward attraction of international students, staff, and researchers - Scotland's international education strategy - gov.scot and a separate strand will be assessed against Community Learning and Development priorities.

Projects within this criterion are able to provide opportunities for both staff mobility and vocational training exchanges.

Since SEEP began in 2003, opportunities have been provided for staff mobility and vocational training. Further information on funded projects can be found at: Scottish Education Exchange Programme: - Test and Learn: funded projects - gov.scot.

Question reference: S6W-38176

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the current staffing headcount is for civil servants working on the Care Reform (Scotland) Bill.

Question reference: S6W-35411

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
Current Status: Holding Answer by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much public money has been spent to date on defending legal challenges related to its policies on gender self-identification.

Question reference: S6W-35412

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service regarding the number of police officers cited for court but not required to give evidence.

The citation of witnesses is a matter for the independent Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. The Scottish Government is, however, supporting justice partners to drive reforms to improve our criminal justice system to make it more efficient and ensure that it works better for everyone.

That will include reducing the number of police witnesses who are required to attend court and reducing the length of time that cases take. It will also mean enabling more cases to be concluded earlier, and fewer victims and civil witnesses needing to come to court.

Two key programmes being rolled out across Scotland are the judicially led summary case management programme, which provides a new approach to summary criminal cases, and the digital evidence sharing capability programme, which allows digital evidence to be shared at the earliest opportunity including the evidence from Body Worn Video technology which is being rolled out by Police Scotland this year. It is anticipated that combined these will deliver benefits for both civil and professional witnesses.