Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-43562

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 12 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a list of all its current major capital projects with a total capital value of £5 million or more, including, for each project, information on the (a) initial approved cost, (b) latest forecast total cost, (c) initial approved completion date and (d) current forecast completion date.

The Scottish Government publishes a ‘Major Capital Projects Progress Update’ every six months, the latest of which was published on 17 October 2025. The information asked for in the question is included within this report which can be found by way of the following web link: www.gov.scot/major-capital-projects-progress-update-august-2025

An accompanying update on the progress of ‘Major Capital Projects’ is also provided to the Convener of the Public Audit Committee at the same time and this can be found by way of the following Scottish Parliamentary web link: www.parliament.scot/public-audit-committee//major-capital-projects-update-october-2025

On 13 January 2026, we published a new Infrastructure Delivery Pipeline for the next four financial years which contains projects over £5 million and programmes over £20 million. This was accompanied by a spreadsheet which set out detail on expected costs and timescales. We will report on the progress of delivering the projects and programmes set out in the Delivery Pipeline every six months. The Infrastructure Delivery Pipeline can be found by way of the following web link: www.gov.scot/infrastructure-delivery-pipeline-2026

Question reference: S6W-43530

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 12 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has undertaken of the cost of pausing any increase to licensed hospitality business rates to the draft Scottish Budget 2026-27.

The move to a three-yearly revaluation cycle was a key recommendation of the independent Barclay Review of Non-Domestic Rates. The legislative provisions to introduce the shorter revaluation cycle and one-year tone date received universal cross party support and were warmly welcomed by the business community including the Scottish Tourism Alliance, the Scottish Beer and Pub Association and a consortium of Hospitality Industry bodies, including Hospitality UK (Scotland) and the Scottish Tourism Alliance, the Scottish Licensed Trade Association.

Delivering that independent recommendation is critical to the integrity of a rate system which the SCDI noted at the time of the legislation “will be more reflective of, and responsive to, up-to-date market and business conditions”. Where ratepayers have evidence that their rateable values do not reflect up to date market and business conditions, there are robust proposal and appeal processes in place to ensure such issues are addressed. While some properties will see increases in rateable values at the 2026 revaluation, over 40,000 properties will see a decrease and Revaluation Transitional Relief will cap gross bill increases for those seeing the most significant impact.

We have not specifically undertaken analysis of the cost of pausing rates increases for any particular sector but have delivered a comprehensive package of reliefs. 96% of retail, hospitality and leisure properties could benefit from some form of relief in 2026-27.

Question reference: S6W-43465

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 12 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many young people aged 16 to 24 in Inverclyde have been categorised as not in education, employment or training (NEET), in each of the last five financial years.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) Annual Population Survey (APS) is the main source for Labour Market Indicators by region and more detailed characteristics. The ONS state there are concerns with the quality of the APS estimates for smaller groups of the population and geographies below Scotland level. Therefore, it is not possible to produce robust estimates of the number of people aged 16 to 24 in Inverclyde who are not in Education, Employment or Training from this source.

Alternative estimates for 16 to 19 year olds not participating in education, employment, and training by local authority area from Skills Development Scotland’s Annual Participation Measure - Skills Development Scotland are provided in Table 1.

Table 1: Number of people aged 16 to 19 in Inverclyde who were not participating in education, employment or training, unconfirmed and participating in education, employment or training in 2021 to 2025

Year1	Total number of people aged 16 to 19 years old in Inverclyde	Number of people aged 16 to 19 years old in Inverclyde not participating	Number of people aged 16 to 19 years old in Inverclyde unconfirmed	Number of people aged 16 to 19 years old in Inverclyde participating
2021	3,051	116	88	2,847
20222	3,128	120	73	2,935
2023	3,135	140	93	2,902
2024	3,210	135	75	3,000
20253	3,209	160	53	2,996

Notes:

1.Time period covers 1st April-31st March

2.Universal Credit (UC) data from the Department for Work and Pensions has been included since 2022. As the UC data has only been available to SDS from 2022 any comparison with years prior to this may have been influenced by improvements in the data quality.

3.Employment data from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has been included since 2025. HMRC data is not within the Annual Participation Measure dataset prior to 2025. For this reason the 2025 data is not comparable with that of previous years.

Question reference: S6W-43408

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 11 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many people moved into sustained employment following the completion of a Scottish Government funded employability programme in the last five years, broken down by local authority area.

The number of people supported into employment through the Scottish Government’s employability programmes are set out in Tables 1 and 2.

The methodology for capturing those supported into employment through No One Left Behind has been revised, with breakdowns by Local Authority using this new methodology available from 11 February 2026.

Further information on these statistics, including their limitations and the methodological improvements underway, can be found here: https://www.gov.scot/collections/scotlands-devolved-employment-services-statistics/

Table 1. Number of No One Left Behind participants entering and moving into sustainable employment by local authority, from April 2019 to June 2025

Local Authority	Total: Number of all participants	Employed: Number of participants entered employment	Employed: Number of participants in employment at 52 weeks
Aberdeen City	2,905	642	153
Aberdeenshire	3,800	992	317
Angus	1,273	394	183
Argyll & Bute	1,349	593	294
City of Edinburgh	5,611	1,202	123
Clackmannanshire	1,080	376	141
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar	672	405	283
Dumfries & Galloway	2,015	672	161
Dundee City	3,133	1,416	705
East Ayrshire	2,439	650	343
East Dunbartonshire	1,040	369	147
East Lothian	1,378	432	86
East Renfrewshire	1,448	522	151
Falkirk	3,462	1,045	224
Fife	6,202	2,230	11
Glasgow City	12,930	2,991	560
Highland	2,742	1,011	202
Inverclyde	2,307	533	112
Midlothian	1,870	660	278
Moray	1,431	443	100
North Ayrshire	3,958	989	48
North Lanarkshire	6,350	2,308	194
Orkney Islands	294	139	61
Perth & Kinross	2,499	625	82
Renfrewshire	4,228	1,536	484
Scottish Borders	1,237	315	20
Shetland Islands	391	142	55
South Ayrshire	2,095	741	179
South Lanarkshire	4,101	1,347	213
Stirling	1,504	384	78
West Dunbartonshire	3,743	1,422	568
West Lothian	3,036	1,173	330
Scotland	92,523	28,699	6,886

1.Please use caution in interpreting data at lower levels of geography, as numbers are small in some instances. A range of factors contribute to variations in totals across local authority areas such as population size, local demographics and labour market conditions and other available support.

2.Local authorities contact participants at set follow-up intervals and record their employment status. Participants do not need to have sustained employment for the full follow-up period. They could enter employment, leave, then have returned to employment by the follow-up point so be counted as being in employment at this follow-up.

3.While local authorities actively contact participants at set follow-up intervals to record their employment status, not all participants can be reached at follow-up points. Therefore, the count of participants in employment at each time period is likely an underestimate of the true figures.

4.The full time to achieve a relevant follow-up check may not have passed for all participants therefore the current statistics may be an undercount.

5.We have revised our methodology to provide a clearer picture on how those entering employment are progressing. Breakdowns by Local Authority using this new methodology will be available from February 2026 onwards.

Table 2: Fair Start Scotland participants, job starts and sustained employment by FSS Delivery Area and local authority, April 2019 to March 2024

Area (FSS Delivery Area with respective local authorities)	Total: Number of starts	Number of Job Starts	Number achieving 52 weeks sustained employment
FSS Delivery Area 1: Glasgow	13,620	5,649	2,739
Glasgow City	13,620	5,649	2,739
FSS Delivery Area 2: Lanarkshire	10,223	3,928	1,825
North Lanarkshire	5,419	1,940	874
South Lanarkshire	4,804	1,988	951
FSS Delivery Area 3: Tayside	6,292	2,722	1,320
Angus	1,573	628	321
Dundee City	3,539	1,667	806
Perth and Kinross	1,180	427	193
FSS Delivery Area 4: Forth Valley	3,369	984	434
Clackmannanshire	665	180	94
Falkirk	1,779	484	204
Stirling	925	320	136
FSS Delivery Area 5: East	15,314	5,511	2,251
City of Edinburgh	4,965	1,823	785
East Lothian	1,012	376	151
Fife	4,688	1,575	582
Midlothian	1,078	423	186
Scottish Borders	1,020	332	143
West Lothian	2,551	982	404
FSS Delivery Area 6: Southwest	9,230	3,711	1,643
Dumfries and Galloway	1,789	627	278
East Ayrshire	3,030	1,155	467
North Ayrshire	2,352	1,075	521
South Ayrshire	2,059	854	377
FSS Delivery Area 7: North East	4,270	1,320	546
Aberdeen City	2,810	846	344
Aberdeenshire	1,460	474	202
FSS Delivery Area 8: Highlands and Islands	3,017	1,027	478
Argyll and Bute	473	173	77
Highland	1,337	458	232
Moray	741	238	93
Na h-Eileanan Siar	239	79	43
Orkney Islands	122	47	21
Shetland Islands	105	32	12
FSS Delivery Area 9: West	5,172	2,031	978
East Dunbartonshire	835	387	202
East Renfrewshire	534	194	94
Inverclyde	715	257	127
Renfrewshire	1,686	633	299
West Dunbartonshire	1,402	560	256
Unknown Area	6	3	0
Scotland	70,513	26,886	12,214

1.Please note, these figures are taken from the official statistics published July 2025. Final figures on Fair Start Scotland will be published late 2026 (provisionally).

2.Please use caution in interpreting data at lower levels of geography, as numbers are small in some instances. A range of factors contribute to variations in totals across Local Authorities.

3.Prior to April 2021 people were only able to receive support from FSS once, therefore the number of starts on the service in years 1 to 3 is the same as the number of people who received support. From April 2021, with the extension of FSS beyond the initial three year period, people who have previously received support may re-join the service. For an individual to be eligible to re-join FSS there must be a break of at least 13 weeks since the person left FSS.

4.When an individual progresses into work, FSS service providers record a ‘job start’ for the individual. An individual can enter employment more than once; however the figures in the tables in this workbook are for the first recorded job. For individuals that re-join FSS, where applicable, their first recorded job during their initial period on the service will be counted as will their first recorded job during any subsequent periods on the service.

5.A 1 year (12 month, 52 week) job outcome is achieved when a participant stays in a job, or is self-employed, working 16 hours per week or more, for at least 52 weeks out of 60; that is, continuous employment, but not necessarily in the same job, lasting 52 out of 60 weeks (breaks in employment must total no more than 8 weeks).

Question reference: S6W-43564

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 10 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what the average crewing level has been at each fire station serving Inverclyde, in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-43467

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 10 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of participants from Inverclyde who have completed apprenticeships funded by the Scottish Government have remained in employment six months after completion, in the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-43466

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 10 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in the last five years, how many businesses in Inverclyde that have received support from Scottish Enterprise ceased trading within two years of receiving that support.

Question reference: S6W-43407

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 10 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many cases scheduled to be heard at Greenock Sheriff Court were adjourned due to court capacity or scheduling issues, in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-43406

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 10 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what the average time, in weeks, is between the first calling and the conclusion of summary criminal cases at Greenock Sheriff Court, in the most recent year for which data is available.

Question reference: S6F-04670

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 09 February 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 February 2026

To ask the First Minister whether the Scottish Government will make further changes to the draft Budget 2026-27 published in January in relation to business rates, hospices and the care sector.

Chamber and committees