- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 16 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answer expected on 14 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it has taken to identify any errors in reports on chronic pain that it has commissioned and supervised, in light of reports that one such report did not make it clear that it was based on accounts of commercially recruited people who were paid £200 each to participate, and that, when these people were interviewed, they were not asked whether their condition had been diagnosed by a health professional.
Answer
Answer expected on 14 July 2025
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 13 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on proposals to introduce congestion charging schemes in local authorities.
Answer
Local authorities have existing discretionary powers to introduce local road user charging schemes under the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001, which was brought into statute by a previous Parliament.
We have committed, in our recently published 'Achieving Car Use Reduction in Scotland: A Renewed Policy Statement', to take the opportunity to conduct a regulatory check of the secondary legislation, given the passage of time since they were brought into statue to ensure that these existing discretionary powers remain fit for purpose. Once the necessary regulations and guidance are in place, it will be a decision for local authorities or RTPs whether and how to implement schemes.
We welcome local authorities’ commitment to local measures which support delivery of car use reduction in Scotland. We will continue to work with COSLA and local authorities to support equitable measures which encourage active travel and accompany greater investment in public transport for a fairer and greener transport system to ensure a just transition to net zero. Local authorities are best placed to determine whether a local road user charging scheme supports the objectives set out in their local transport strategy.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 30 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 13 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many self-employed counsellors have been contracted by each local authority to work in schools in each year since 1999.
Answer
Local Authorities have the statutory responsibility for education therefore the Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally. Local authorities may hold this information.
As part of the Scottish Government’s commitment to invest in access to school counselling services, since 2021 local authorities have reported on key measures of their counselling provision. A summary of these reports can be found at: Access to counsellors in secondary schools and children and young people’s community mental health services – summary reports - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 30 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 13 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has achieved its reported commitment to provide a counsellor for every secondary school.
Answer
The mental health and wellbeing of children and young people is an absolute priority for the Scottish Government.
We continue to support our local authority partners with £16 million in funding to ensure that all school pupils aged 10 and above and all secondary schools in Scotland have access to school counselling services.
In December 2020, all local authorities confirmed that access to counselling services were in place across Scotland.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 30 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 13 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent on school security measures in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
It is the statutory responsibility of local authorities to manage their school estate, therefore, the Scottish Government does not hold this information.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 30 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 13 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many counsellors have been employed in schools in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
We continue to support our local authority partners with £16 million in funding a year to ensure access to school counselling services across Scotland.
As part of the commitment, local authorities provide reports on school counselling services which includes number of counsellors in post (this relates to number rather than FTE).
There is variation in how the access to counselling service is being delivered across authorities. Some authorities employ counsellors directly, while others procure third sector counselling.
The following table shows the numbers of counsellors local authorities reported were in post in each of the reporting periods.
| | Number of counsellors in post in each reporting period |
Local authority | January - June 2021 | July - December 2021 | January - June 2022 | July - December 2022 | January to June 2023 |
Aberdeen City | 13 | 15 | 17 | 14 | 23 |
Aberdeenshire | 12 | N/A | 12 | 22 | 14 |
Angus | N/A | 12 | 12 | 9 | 7 |
Argyll and Bute | 7.5 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 7 |
Clackmannanshire | 17 | 5 | 9 | 9 | 6 |
Dumfries and Galloway | 4.5 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
Dundee City | 10 | 16 | 18 | 14 | 19 |
East Ayrshire | N/A | 10 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
East Dunbartonshire | 7 | 11.2 | 8 | 8 | 12 |
East Lothian | 1 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 8 |
East Renfrewshire | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
Edinburgh | 3 | 15 | 24 | N/A | 29 |
Falkirk | 12 | 16 | 18 | 16 | 19 |
Fife | 10.1 | 15 | 20 | 20 | 20 |
Glasgow City | 14 | 38 | 49 | 26 | 7 |
Highland | 38 | 35 | 41 | 28 | 34 |
Inverclyde | 3 | 2.7 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
Midlothian | 4 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 |
Moray | 5.2 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 |
North Ayrshire | 9.5 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 9 |
North Lanarkshire | 4 | N/A | 0 | 76 | 86 |
Orkney | N/A | 2 | 1 | 2 | N/A |
Perth & Kinross | N/A | 9 | 13 | 13 | 10 |
Renfrewshire | 13.2 | 13.2 | 29 | 28 | 33 |
Scottish Borders | 0 | 11 | 11 | 61 | 63 |
Shetland Islands | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
South Ayrshire | 14 | 10 | 13 | 11 | 11 |
South Lanarkshire | 40 | 43 | 49 | 46 | 56 |
Stirling | 10.3 | 10.3 | 14 | 13 | 16 |
West Dunbartonshire | 14 | 56 | 10 | 12 | 14 |
West Lothian | 19 | 28 | 28 | 30 | 30 |
Western Isles | 6 | 11 | N/A | 11 | 10 |
Total | 298 | 443 | 471 | 544 | 594 |
Further information on the published summary reports can be found on the Scottish Government website at: Access to counsellors in secondary schools and children and young people’s community mental health services – summary reports - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .
Where N/A has been recorded, local authorities did not provide this information. In some cases, local authorities provided the number of hours of counselling provided each week.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 30 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 13 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) primary and (b) secondary school-aged children have been home educated in each year since 1999.
Answer
Scottish Government does not collect the information on the number of children and young people in receipt of home education.
Local authorities hold responsibility for ensuring the safety and wellbeing of children being home educated, and that the education they are receiving is suitable for their age and ability. In line with the Scottish Government's home education guidance, it is recommended that local authorities should make contact on an annual basis with those families who are known to be home educating within that local authority area.
As part of the update to this guidance, Scottish Government will work with local authority partners to consider options for collecting an aggregate number of children and young people home educating in their area.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 30 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 13 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what review it has undertaken of the provision of school security measures across the school estate.
Answer
It is the statutory responsibility of local authorities to manage their school estate and the Scottish Government expect them to exercise their statutory responsibilities and deliver a safe environment for all school users.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 30 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 13 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many counselling sessions have taken place in schools in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
Local Authorities have the statutory responsibility for education therefore the Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally. Local authorities may hold this information.
As part of the Scottish Government’s commitment to invest in access to school counselling services, since 2021 local authorities have reported on key measures of their service delivery. A summary of these reports can be found at: Access to counsellors in secondary schools and children and young people’s community mental health services – summary reports - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 30 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 12 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many school buildings that have been surveyed still currently contain asbestos, and whether it will provide a list of any such schools, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
Local authorities have statutory responsibility for the control and management of asbestos within their schools, therefore, the Scottish Government does not hold this information. Furthermore, health and safety is not devolved to the Scottish Government, and the Health and Safety Executive has UK-wide responsibility for enforcement of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012.
However, the Scottish Government takes the issue of asbestos within schools very seriously and continues to engage with COSLA, local authorities and the Health and Safety Executive on this matter.
