Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-38059

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 June 2025
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 9 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to obtain robust data to track and identify emerging trends in Scotland regarding children’s use of (a) tobacco, (b) e-cigarettes and (c) nicotine pouches, in light of the reported 21,559 S2 and S4 pupils who answered questions about smoking and vaping in the Scottish School Adolescent Lifestyle and Substance Use Survey (SALSUS) in 2018 and the 25,411 S2 and S4 pupils who replied regarding use of tobacco and e-cigarettes in the Health and Wellbeing Census of 2021-22.

Our Tobacco and Vaping Framework: Roadmap to 2034 committed to tracking and reporting progress towards our 2034 target. This included work to develop further indicators, building on existing baseline data (taken from the Scottish Health Survey and the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children study) as part of the first two-year implementation plan.

As part of our ongoing analytical work on the Framework, we identified a need for more regular and more detailed data on children due to the rapidly changing landscape.

Since 2024 the Scottish Government has purchased a booster sample in the ASH SmokeFree GB Youth survey. This is an annual survey of 11-18 years olds in Great Britain that has been running since 2013. This has allowed us to achieve representativeness by age and gender for young people age 11 – 17 years living in Scotland.

Data from the Scotland booster sample provides robust and valuable information annually on patterns of use of cigarettes, vapes and novel nicotine products (including nicotine pouches).

Question reference: S6W-37405

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 3 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6O-04594 by Siobhan Brown on 1 May 2025, and in light of reported concerns that battery energy storage system facilities pose emerging fire risks, including potential explosions and toxic gas releases, what its position is on whether Lochgelly Fire Station would be able to deal with such incidents if it were to lose a fire engine and rope rescue unit.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service will be conducting a full 12 week consultation on a range of possible service delivery changes in June 2025. SFRS will carefully consider the responses to that consultation before taking decisions on which options for change it will implement.

SFRS continually reviews and develops its response to any new and emerging technology to keep communities safe including in the event of an incident involving battery energy storage sites. Should an incident occur at a hazardous site of any kind, SFRS has the ability to deploy a range of resources that can be utilised by the highly skilled crews to successfully bring the incidents to a safe conclusion. These resources are not drawn from a single fire station.

Question reference: S6O-04747

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that the number of serious assaults committed by teenagers has increased in the past five years.

Question reference: S6W-37312

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Supreme Court judgment in the case For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers, whether the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service will change its donor questionnaire to ensure that questions about pregnancy are only required to be answered by biological women, and whether it will issue apologies to any biological men who may have been unable to give blood as a result of not answering any such questions.

No changes are currently planned to the questions asked in the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS) donor health check questionnaire as a result of the Supreme Court judgment. However, SNBTS will continue to review its polices in the light of any further guidance issued.

The Scottish Government is grateful to everyone who takes the time to volunteer to give blood. The questionnaire aims to treat all potential donors equitably, but it is essential that all questions are answered fully in order to ensure that blood can be donated safely. Nonetheless, the Scottish Government regrets any upset caused to people who are not able to donate blood as a result of not answering any of the questions in the questionnaire.

SNBTS adjusted the questionnaire in 2022 so that all donors are asked the same questions. In response to some concerns raised, SNBTS further amended the questionnaire in 2023 to make clear that if the question about whether a donor might be pregnant is not applicable then donors should tick ‘No’. Although some questions will not be relevant for many donors – male and female – the questionnaire is the most practical way of asking sensitive questions in a busy donor environment. Staff cannot know or make assumptions in all cases about a person’s biological sex, so the current approach avoids any risk that someone who could be pregnant does not answer the pregnancy question.

Question reference: S6O-04730

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assistance it plans to provide to homeowners affected by reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in their properties, in light of recent reports that offers from local authorities may result in unaffordable mortgage costs.

Question reference: S6O-04660

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has undertaken with stakeholders in response to reported concerns regarding the implementation of the revised non-domestic rates processes for self-catering operators.

Question reference: S6W-36325

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 29 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that Scotland's Rural College's Elmwood Campus in Cupar, Fife, has sufficient funds to enable all courses, including animal care, to continue after the 2024-25 academic year.

The Scottish Government recognises the concerns of students, parents of students and staff affected by the proposed cuts to Animal Care provision and appreciates that this is a very worrying time for everyone at the Scotland's Rural College's (SRUC)Elmwood Campus.

After discussions, we can provide assurance the SRUC are committed to retaining a presence at Elmwood, and that there are no plans for closure of the campus. We do not anticipate any current Animal Care students being affected by these proposals, and any student who has not fully completed their one-year programme by the end of the current academic year will be supported by SRUC to achieve this.

We expect SRUC to continue to offer Animal Care provision at its other campuses, allowing students to progress to the next level of study at another campus, if the decision is made to withdraw Animal Care courses from Elmwood. Furthermore, I can confirm that Horticulture and Gamekeeping as well as Estate Management courses will be retained at Elmwood Campus.

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) recently announced their indicative funding allocations for the university sector for 2025-26, which has provided certainty on the level of funding that SRUC receive and allows them to plan for the forthcoming academic year. This announcement detailed £17.7m in funding for SRUC in AY 2025-26, to support their teaching, research and estate maintenance. Additionally, SRUC have received a further £9.7 million as part of SFC’s indicative funding college allocations, announced on the 10April.

It should be highlighted that Scottish universities are autonomous, with responsibility for their own governance, course provision and estate management.

Question reference: S6O-04558

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking in response to reports of criminals using drones to infiltrate prisons.

Question reference: S6W-35790

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 27 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6T-02391 by Paul McLennan on 4 March 2025, how many children have lived in temporary accommodation in each year since 2021; what action it is taking to reduce the number of young people in these circumstances, and in light of the minister's comment regarding the Shelter Scotland report, In Their Own Words: Children’s Experiences in Temporary Accommodation, that "we will obviously consider the recommendations" of it, whether it has now considered these and, if so, what its response is to each.

The following table shows the number of children in households with a homelessness application and where there is one or more associated temporary accommodation placements in a calendar year since 2021.

Number of children on homelessness applications where there is at least one associated temporary accommodation placement in the year

	2021	2022	2023	2024 Jan-Sep
Children	18,042	19,529	20,618	18,170

Notes:

Data for 2024 is only available up to 30 September.
Children on the homelessness application may or may not enter associated temporary accommodation placement(s).
There may be duplication in the number of children, for example, if the same child is linked to more than one homelessness application, either within the same reporting year and/or across multiple reporting years.

The Scottish Government is committed to reducing the number of households and time spent in temporary accommodation and we are taking a number of actions in line with the report’s conclusions. The best way to reduce the number of households with children in temporary accommodation is by preventing homelessness before it occurs. The homelessness prevention measures in the Housing (Scotland) Bill will make the prevention of homelessness everybody’s business and will ensure people get the help they need earlier to remain in their homes.

To minimise the harm caused to children who stay in temporary accommodation for long periods, we are supporting local authorities to increase the supply of social and affordable homes of the right type and size, including larger properties suitable for families.

We have provided funding of £80 million over this year and next, 80 per cent of which has been targeted to five local authorities with the most sustained temporary accommodation pressures.

Question reference: S6W-35728

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 21 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what urgent measures can be put in place to protect marine life and stop the reported alleged dumping of wasteful bycatch as a result of bottom-trawling nets being used to catch prawns.

The abundance of fish in Scottish waters means that a varied industry has developed over time, with many different types of fishing vessels operating as part of a mixed fishery. There are different target fish species, depending on the type of fishing vessel and where it operates, and different issues around unwanted catch. Discarding in the nephrops trawl fishery does occur as whitefish it is typically in very small amounts and for very specific reasons. Historically, very small amounts of whitefish may be caught alongside nephrops. Since the introduction of the landing obligation, this unwanted catch can amount to a disproportionate cost for fisherman who have to land and then dispose of it. As such, the Scottish Government have utilised lawful exemptions to the landing obligation for these fish, in order to lessen the financial burden on these small nephrops vessels. These exempted fish are fully accounted for in quota calculations and factored into stock assessments.

Going forward, as part of the policy development of Scotland’s our Future Catching Policy, we have been working with industry to explore pragmatic technical and spatial measures to support fishers to reduce discarding. We also know there are improvements we can make to the implementation of the landing obligation that will make the rules around discarding more effective and will work with industry and others to develop this across Scotland’s diverse fleets in order to minimise instances of unwanted catch in the first place.

This is being supported by the rollout of remote electronic monitoring and vessel tracking technology to enable us to better monitor fishing operations, effort and catch with the aim of ensuring fishing activity remains sustainable, responsible and accountable across all of our waters.

While the management of Scottish waters is an area of devolved competency, the Scottish Government continues to work with the UK Government and other devolved administrations through the delivery of the Marine Wildlife Bycatch Mitigation Initiative (BMI) which is a joint plan for tackling bycatch across the UK to minimise, and where possible eliminate, bycatch of sensitive marine species.

It is important to note that all vessels authorised to operate in Scottish waters do so under the appropriate licences, and are obliged to follow Scottish domestic management rules. This includes a mandatory requirement for all vessels (including EU vessels) operating in UK waters to report all incidences of marine mammal bycatch to the Marine Management Organisation.

Chamber and committees