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: S6O-05549

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 February 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the economic contribution of the Scottish food and drink sector to Scotland’s international exports.

Question reference: S6O-05533

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 February 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the Baby Box, including current availability and the easiest way of applying for one.

Question reference: S6W-42971

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 28 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many modern apprenticeship starts there have been (a) in each financial year between 2007-08 and 2024-25 and (b) since April 2025 to date, broken down by local authority area.

Skills Development Scotland (SDS) publish all Modern Apprenticeship starts on their website back to 2007-08 at Scotland and local authority level. These can be accessed at the following link: https://www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk/publications-statistics/statistics/modern-apprenticeships

Please note that data for 2007-08 was collated by Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. SDS was formed in April 2008.

Question reference: S6W-42970

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 26 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) primary and (b) secondary schools have been (i) built and (ii) refurbished in each local authority area since 2007.

For the years 2010-11 to 2024-25 the Scottish Government’s school estates data collection makes a distinction between schools built and those refurbished, while for the years 2007-08 to 2009-10 no such distinction was made in the data collection.

Table 1 provides statistics on the number of schools built/refurbished by sector in each local authority between 2007-08 and 2009-10.

Statistics on the number of schools built by sector and local authority since 2010-11 are provided in Table 2, while Table 3 provides the corresponding statistics for refurbished schools.

Across all years, only schools where the total cost of the works (build or refurbishment) was £500,000 or more for primary schools or £1 million or more for secondary and special schools are included.

TABLE 1 - Built/Refurbished 2007-08 to 2009-10
Local Authority	Primary	Secondary	Special	Total
Aberdeen City	5	2	0	7
Aberdeenshire	4	1	0	5
Angus	11	2	0	13
Argyll and Bute	5	3	2	10
City of Edinburgh	8	6	3	17
Clackmannanshire	1	3	0	4
Dumfries and Galloway	9	6	0	15
Dundee City	6	2	0	8
East Ayrshire	6	2	1	9
East Dunbartonshire	1	7	0	8
East Lothian	5	1	0	6
East Renfrewshire	0	1	0	1
Falkirk	5	4	0	9
Fife	4	4	0	8
Glasgow City	17	0	1	18
Highland	9	8	1	18
Inverclyde	5	1	0	6
Midlothian	11	0	0	11
Moray	0	0	0	0
Na h-Eileanan Siar	0	0	0	0
North Ayrshire	2	6	0	8
North Lanarkshire	10	4	0	14
Orkney Islands	1	1	0	2
Perth and Kinross	6	4	1	11
Renfrewshire	8	5	0	13
Scottish Borders	5	3	0	8
Shetland Islands	0	0	0	0
South Ayrshire	6	3	0	9
South Lanarkshire	20	17	2	39
Stirling	8	5	1	14
West Dunbartonshire	0	3	0	3
West Lothian	2	6	0	8
All authorities	180	110	12	302

TABLE 2 - Built 2010-11 to 2024-25
Local Authority	Primary	Secondary	Special	Total
Aberdeen City	8	1	1	10
Aberdeenshire	6	4	0	10
Angus	5	2	0	7
Argyll and Bute	1	2	0	3
City of Edinburgh	1	5	1	7
Clackmannanshire	1	0	0	1
Dumfries and Galloway	8	3	0	11
Dundee City	11	2	1	14
East Ayrshire	12	2	4	18
East Dunbartonshire	5	1	0	6
East Lothian	3	1	0	4
East Renfrewshire	3	2	1	6
Falkirk	0	0	1	1
Fife	2	8	1	11
Glasgow City	21	0	2	23
Highland	11	4	2	17
Inverclyde	2	4	1	7
Midlothian	7	2	0	9
Moray	2	3	0	5
Na h-Eileanan Siar	5	2	0	7
North Ayrshire	7	2	0	9
North Lanarkshire	9	5	2	16
Orkney Islands	2	1	0	3
Perth and Kinross	12	2	0	14
Renfrewshire	3	1	1	5
Scottish Borders	6	2	1	9
Shetland Islands	1	2	0	3
South Ayrshire	9	3	1	13
South Lanarkshire	77	0	4	81
Stirling	4	0	0	4
West Dunbartonshire	8	4	1	13
West Lothian	5	3	3	11
All authorities	257	73	28	358

TABLE 3 - Refurbished 2010-11 to 2024-25
Local Authority	Primary	Secondary	Special	Total
Aberdeen City	13	0	0	13
Aberdeenshire	22	7	1	30
Angus	1	1	0	2
Argyll and Bute	4	0	0	4
City of Edinburgh	25	1	0	26
Clackmannanshire	2	0	0	2
Dumfries and Galloway	27	8	0	35
Dundee City	1	0	0	1
East Ayrshire	7	0	1	8
East Dunbartonshire	1	0	0	1
East Lothian	14	5	0	19
East Renfrewshire	5	0	0	5
Falkirk	11	1	0	12
Fife	28	2	0	30
Glasgow City	109	6	11	126
Highland	43	4	0	47
Inverclyde	10	1	1	12
Midlothian	4	0	0	4
Moray	11	2	0	13
Na h-Eileanan Siar	2	0	0	2
North Ayrshire	15	1	0	16
North Lanarkshire	3	2	1	6
Orkney Islands	3	0	0	3
Perth and Kinross	9	3	0	12
Renfrewshire	7	0	0	7
Scottish Borders	4	0	0	4
Shetland Islands	3	0	0	3
South Ayrshire	12	1	0	13
South Lanarkshire	18	0	0	18
Stirling	6	1	0	7
West Dunbartonshire	1	0	0	1
West Lothian	11	2	2	15
All authorities	432	48	17	497

Question reference: S6O-05377

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 January 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how the measures announced in its draft Budget for 2026-27 will further its aims of tackling child poverty.

Question reference: S6W-42527

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 December 2025
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Kate Forbes on 11 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a final update regarding Scottish Enterprise’s improvements to its human rights due diligence procedures, as outlined to Parliament by the Deputy First Minister on 25 June 2025.

Following a parliamentary debate on 26 February, a Motion (S6M-16571) was passed calling on Scottish Enterprise to review its human rights due diligence checks.

I updated Parliament (S6W-38968) on Scottish Enterprise’s review on 25 June. I confirmed that Scottish Enterprise had identified opportunities for improvements, which it committed to rolling out incrementally, over 2025-26.

I committed to providing a further update to Parliament, once Scottish Enterprise had developed its revised and detailed operational guidance, and asked that Scottish Government officials be kept abreast of that work.

On 28 November, Scottish Government officials received a formal update from Scottish Enterprise confirming that its updated human rights due diligence policy and procedure had been substantially finalised. Operationalisation of the revised human rights due diligence checks will now begin, on a phased basis. During the period of early implementation, these checks will be subject to further refinement. Scottish Enterprise outlined further detail of its improvements, which includes provisions to ensure human rights due diligence checks effectively address and adapt to emerging risks associated with customer relationships through:

An increase in the frequency of human rights due diligence checks, to every 12 months to maintain ongoing vigilance and responsiveness.
Removal of previous exemptions and broadening of the scope of human rights due diligence checks.
Enhanced online screening, supplemented by follow-up engagement with customers as necessary.
Introduction of targeted customer checks, including the requirement for a customer statement specifically addressing items and activities governed by the UK Strategic Export Controls regime.

Scottish Enterprise has indicated that work is continuing on the development of a new digital platform for customer onboarding, which is to be rolled out in 2026. This will provide a more comprehensive customer journey and workflow for managing and recording customer interactions and due diligence checks, including human rights due diligence checks.

Scottish Enterprise’s letter also confirmed that its internal Senior Review Group, established following its review, is now fully constituted and meeting weekly. The Group will provide strategic input and support operational decision-making.

I thank Scottish Enterprise for its work on developing these enhanced procedures, and towards implementing them fully in 2026.

Question reference: S6O-05218

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 November 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what support it will provide to pensioners to help with heating bills as winter sets in.

Question reference: S6W-41563

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 6 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what staffing resource its agencies have allocated to the development of a National Register of Ancient Woodland.

NatureScot’s Scottish Biodiversity Strategy Programme Manager will be responsible for overseeing this project, supported by a woodland Senior Land Use adviser and an officer to act as secretary to the steering group, manage the contract and liaise with NatureScot’s data team. It is estimated that the contracted technical project officer would work around 2.5 days per week for 18 months, though this may be subject to change depending on the outcome of the tender process. Staff from Scottish Forestry and Forestry and Land Scotland will also be supporting the project.

Question reference: S6W-41562

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 6 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made on its commitment to deliver a National Register of Ancient Woodland.

NatureScot is leading on this work, and has set up a steering group including Scottish Forestry and Forestry and Land Scotland. This register will allow Scottish agencies to use a single means of condition assessment for these woodlands rather than the multiple competing methodologies previously used. Procurement is currently underway to appoint a technical officer to undertake the work of assembling all available data.

Question reference: S6W-41564

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 6 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects to deliver on its commitment to create a National Register of Ancient Woodland.