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-36879

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 6 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to increase the number of children and young people who walk, wheel or cycle to school.

The Scottish Government is providing £23.4 million of funding in 2025-26, to the Regional Transport Partnerships and their local authority partners through the Active Travel People and Place programme. One of the key areas of investment in this programme is “Schools and Young People”, which targets investment in behaviour change initiatives to encourage more children and young people to use active travel as a way of travelling to school. The aim of this programme is to make sustainable travel choices the most desirable way to travel for young people and families by providing the necessary interventions and adaptations that make active travel more attractive.

This year, we will also increase our funding (to £2.5m) for Bikeability Scotland, the national cycle training programme for school aged children. Bikeability Scotland provides the next generation of cyclists with the skills and confidence they need to ride safely on our roads. In 2023-24, the last period for which data is available, more than 54,039 children received cycle training. We expect that figure to rise to 70,000 this year.

We allocated over £100 million across a number of infrastructure programmes to develop and deliver walking, wheeling and cycling infrastructure in 2024-25. This includes funding through the Active Travel Infrastructure Fund (ATIF), our primary vehicle for supporting infrastructure projects.

Through the ATIF, Transport Scotland directly funded 16 local authorities and one Regional Transport Partnership for projects that are: improving routes and junctions at various locations to ensure children can cross safely; addressing missing links; supporting safer routes to school; and enhancing safety by improving lighting.

The funding support provided through the Active Travel Infrastructure Fund will continue in 2025-26, giving local authorities the autonomy to support the design, development, and delivery of active travel infrastructure measures according to their individual local priorities.

Question reference: S6W-37066

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many hectares of new native woodland have been created under the new Forestry Grant Scheme in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-37067

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many hectares of non-native coniferous forestry have been created in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-36344

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 24 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will produce a dedicated grassland action plan, similar to those for woodlands and peatlands.

There is no plan at present to produce a grasslands action plan however there are a number of actions within The Scottish Biodiversity Strategy’s Delivery Plan applicable to grasslands.

These actions include, but are not limited to, publishing a Plant Biodiversity Strategy and revision of the Scottish Biodiversity List which currently includes species-rich grasslands as a habitat and specific grassland specialist species among those habitats and species of principal importance. In addition, NatureScot is also mapping the extent of the species-rich grassland resource across Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-36346

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 15 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how its proposals to amend the legislation on religious observance in schools aligns with the UN (a) Committee on the Rights of the Child's concluding observations regarding the UK and (b) Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).

The proposed changes to religious observance (RO) and religious and moral education (RME) in schools will bring legislation into line with existing RO guidance on taking the child’s views into account when their parent/carer exercises their right to withdraw the child from RO and RME.

The Scottish Government has noted the recommendations from the concluding observations of the periodic reports of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. We are confident that our proposal to amend the legislation on RO and RME in schools is in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and will strengthen our commitment to upholding children’s rights in all aspects of their lives, including education.

Question reference: S6W-36348

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 15 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it monitors the implementation of its 2017 guidance on religious observance.

The delivery of school education including the implementation of 2017 non-statutory guidance on religious observance (RO) is the responsibility of local authorities.

The Scottish Government's current proposals to amend the legislation on RO in schools propose to bring legislation into line with the current guidance regarding taking account of children and young people's views when a parent/carer is exercising their right to withdraw their child from RO.

Question reference: S6W-36345

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 15 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish its response to its consultation on religious observance in schools, and by what date it will bring forward draft legislation on this matter.

The Scottish Government have consulted with a wide range of stakeholders on changes to legislation on religious observance (RO) and religious and moral education (RME) in schools, and the public consultation has now closed.

The government will consider all responses to the consultation and publish a consultation analysis report before the end of the academic year.

It remains the Scottish Government’s intention to shortly bring forward a narrowly focussed Bill, with the purpose of amending the current legislation to require that pupils’ views are considered when parents or carers are exercising their right to withdraw their child from RO and RME.

Question reference: S6W-36146

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 4 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-34946 by Mairi Gougeon on 20 February 2025, whether it can now provide a breakdown of its Budget commitment to invest £5.11 million to restore rainforest.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-34946 on 20 February 2025, budget allocation for Atlantic Rainforest restoration at the project/programme level is still to be finalised. Further details will be released in due course. 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.

Question reference: S6O-04517

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting the breeding of disease resistant ash trees.

Question reference: S6O-04436

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to data from the most recent Scottish Landlord Register, which shows that the number of landlords has decreased by 2,650 in three years.

Year	Area of woodland created (native) Hectares
2019-20	4764
2020-21	3991
2021-22	4982
2022-23	3046
2023-24	7978

Year	Area of woodland created (non-native conifer) Hectares
2019-20	5829
2020-21	6323
2021-22	5130
2022-23	4834
2023-24	6426