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-25826

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 4 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is aware of any products currently manufactured in Scotland that are exported to Israel and subject to open general export licences (OGELs) issued by the Export Control Joint Unit (ECJU), which is part of the UK Government Department for Business and Trade.

Open general export licences (OGELs) are reserved to the UK Government. The Scottish Government does not hold data or information on OGELs.

In a wider context, the First Minister has recently asked the Prime Minister for a ban on licencing of arms exports from the UK to Israel, which would also extend to any relevant products currently manufactured in Scotland.

The UK Government publishes statistics on strategic export licences at: Strategic export controls: licensing data annual reports - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) However, these data sets do not identify where the licenced items are produced.

Question reference: S6W-25682

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 4 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it anticipates that the Centre of Teaching Excellence will launch in 2024.

Question reference: S6W-25684

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 4 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what the most recent public sector net debt to GDP ratio is in Scotland, and whether time series data on this measure is available.

Statistics on Scotland's public sector finances are published in the Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) publication; however, statistics for Scottish public sector net debt are not available. The latest GERS publication is available at: Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland 2022-23 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Figures on UK public sector net debt are published by the Office of National Statistics. In January 2024 the UK's public sector net debt was 96.5% of GDP.

Question reference: S6W-25690

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 4 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish its final evaluation of Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services.

Question reference: S6W-24941

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 4 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when the workforce review in oncology will be published.

Question reference: S6W-24940

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 4 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the workforce review in oncology.

Question reference: S6W-25691

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 4 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on whether it remains committed to expanding the number of Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services to ensure population-based coverage.

As reflected in Scotland’s Cancer Strategy for Scotland, published June 2023, we are committed to “expanding and evaluating Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services to ensure population-based coverage”.

The University of Strathclyde published a final evaluation report on 29 February 2024 reflecting on the successful first two years of RCDSs operating in NHS Scotland. This work was commissioned to inform roll-out, including optimal components. Following its release, we’ll work with Boards across Scotland to consider the findings and ensure learning is embedded.

Question reference: S6W-25672

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 4 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its estimate of the future potential costs of delivering a new national digital academy.

Question reference: S6W-25692

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 4 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been paid in constraint payments to wind farm operators in Scotland to switch off in each year from 2014 to 2024 to date.

Question reference: S6W-25673

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 4 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on when it expects to deliver on its reported commitment to establish a new professional teaching qualification related to climate change.

In Scotland, climate change is part of the cross-curricular entitlement of Learning for Sustainability (LfS).

As part of the 2021-22 Programme for Government the Scottish Government committed to work with the General Teaching Council of Scotland (GTCS) to: “ensure the climate emergency is properly reflected through initial teacher education, growing our strong existing suite of professional development resources to ensure our teaching workforce has all the up to date knowledge and skills they require to be able to offer young people the in depth education they need on the global climate crisis.”

To achieve this, LfS was further strengthened in the refreshed and restructured General Teaching Council of Scotland (GTCS) Professional Standards for teachers, which came into mandatory use for all teachers on 2 August 2021. In June 2023, the Scottish Government published the refreshed LfS Action Plan which contains several further actions in relation to professional learning for educators.

There are already a number of teaching accredited professional qualifications on LfS which can be found on the GTCS website at the following link: , https://www.gtcs.org.uk/professional-update/professional-recognition/accredited-professional-recognition-programmes/

The GTCS Hub also provides freely-available resources, self-evaluation tools, professional learning, professional reading, curated resources, and regular opportunities for educators to connect and network with each other.

The Scottish Government continues to work closely with the GTCS to ensure that LfS is embedded in teaching practice. The Scottish Government also continues to work with the Scottish Council of Deans of Education to develop an LfS Framework for Higher Education institutions to better support them in embedding LfS into their initial teacher education programmes.

Additionally, Education Scotland is developing a new dedicated LfS online portal to provide examples for educators on good practice approaches to embedding LfS.