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-25548

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 1 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many instances of people drinking alcohol onboard ScotRail trains have been recorded in each of the last three years.

Question reference: S6W-25545

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 1 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the devolution of empty property relief to local authorities.

Question reference: S6W-25493

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 12 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 1 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what the membership is of the newly established medical associate professions implementation programme board.

The proposed membership for the Medical Associate Professions (MAPs) Programme Board is indicated below.

As arrangements are still being finalised ahead of the first meeting at the end of April, membership may be subject to change.

Head of Recruitment and Capacity Building, Health Workforce Directorate, Scottish Government (Co-Chair)
Medical Director, NES Education for Scotland (Co-chair)
Deputy Chief Executive and Director of NMAHP, NHS Education for Scotland
Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Scottish Government
Chief Nursing Officer Directorate, Scottish Government
Chief Pharmaceutical Officer, Scottish Government
Chief Allied Health Professions Officer, Scottish Government
Scottish Association of Medical Directors (SAMD)
Scottish Executive Nurse Directors Group (SEND)
Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and Faculties in Scotland
Faculty of Physician Associates
Association of Anaesthesia Associates
General Medical Council
Workforce Planning Lead, West of Scotland Regional Planning
Head of Workforce and Development, North of Scotland Regional Planning
Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD)
Health Improvement Scotland
Directors of Human Resources, NHS Scotland
British Medical Association

Question reference: S6W-25494

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 12 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 1 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when any defects in the cladding of the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow were first identified.

In February 2021 Brookfield Multiplex advised NHSGGC that they had concerns regarding the suitability of the wall linings installed in the atrium of the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital. Intrusive surveys were immediately commissioned by NHSGGC that confirmed the installation of ACM polyethylene products which do not comply with current Building Control standards. It is the boards position that the wall linings installed did not meet the contract requirements and this is the subject of an ongoing legal action.

NHSGGC followed a Fire Risk Assessment process immediately after being notified of the concerns with the wall linings in the atrium. This process identified mitigation measures that were implemented from February 2021 to manage any potential fire risk generated by the presence of unsuitable wall linings.

A Full Business Case for replacement of the internal wall linings was approved in November 2022 with the works commencing in the same month and will be fully complete in 2027.

Question reference: S6W-25495

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 12 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 1 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what the estimated cost is of remediation work to address any cladding defects in the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow.

Question reference: S6W-25491

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 12 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 1 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish the minutes of meetings of the medical associate professions implementation programme board.

Question reference: S6W-25151

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 02 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 1 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the creation of the Scottish Teachers Advancing Computing Science organisation.

Grant funding to support Scottish Teachers Advancing Computing Science (STACS) / University of Glasgow commenced in 2021 and has continued on an annual basis since that date.

As a condition of the funding support the Scottish Government agreed with Scottish Teachers Advancing Computing Science a commitment to publish annual progress reports which are published on their website where updates and activity are regularly posted. The first year’s report is publicly available on the STACS website and they will be publishing a year 2 update report in the summer of 2024.

The annual report for 2022-23 is available at: https://issuu.com/stacshq/docs/stacsannualreport .

Question reference: S6W-25111

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 02 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 1 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on how many children have attended independent schools in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.

This data has been collected by the Registrar of Independent Schools from available independent school census statistics. The census commences in the September of each year in accordance with part 4 of the Registration of Independent Schools (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended by the Registration of Independent Schools (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2021).

The following table outlines the number of children and young people who attended an independent school in each year since 2015, broken down by local authority. This data is not held from before 2015.

Local Authority	Pupil Numbers 2021	Pupil Numbers 2020	Pupil Numbers 2019	Pupil Numbers 2018	Pupil Numbers 2017	Pupil Numbers 2016	Pupil Number 2015
Aberdeen City Council	3,072*	3,032	3,082	3,402	3,115	3,034	3,256
Aberdeenshire Council	18*	15	15	15	21	23	21
Angus Council	223*	219	211	222	223	223	249
Argyll and Bute Council	352*	321	332	352	366	367	362
City of Edinburgh Council	11,298*	11,055	11,161	11,102	10,993	10,917	10,974
Clackmannanshire Council	1,550	1,530	1,531	1,509	1,469	1,409	1,470
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar	9	13	12	13	13	17	15
Dumfries and Galloway Council	27	42	42	36	43	44	34
Dundee City Council	956*	920	954	968	979	1,002	1,022
East Ayrshire Council	12	51	51	35	32	31	43
East Dunbartonshire Council	19	16	16	1	0	15	1
East Lothian Council	753*	745	806	811	805	874	867
East Renfrewshire Council	205	199	199	209	219	220	221
Falkirk Council	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Fife Council	1,196*	1,148	1,120	1,087	1,078	1,098	1,107
Glasgow City Council	5,068*	5,004	5,196	5,238	5,369	5,420	5,506
Highland Council	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
Inverclyde Council	686	689	719	739	754	787	771
Midlothian Council	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Moray Council	603	600	607	626	598	605	645
North Ayrshire Council	56	66	66	74	91	72	66
North Lanarkshire Council	44	48	48	43	46	49	51
Orkney Islands Council	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Perth and Kinross Council	1,424*	1,350	1,454	1,443	1,423	1,434	1,478
Renfrewshire Council	233	236	237	246	263	268	263
Scottish Borders Council	134	142	157	155	156	154	161
Shetland Islands Council	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
South Ayrshire Council	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
South Lanarkshire Council	588	578	585	597	622	643	667
Stirling Council	292	279	269	254	509	545	560
West Dunbartonshire Council	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
West Lothian Council	16	18	18	11	11	12	11
Scotland	28,834	28,316	28,888	29,188	29,198	29,264	29,822

Some pupils will attend a school in a different local authority from the local authority area in which they reside.

Some pupils will be from outwith Scotland and attend a boarding school.

Some independent schools have a presence in more than one local authority, pupils from such schools have been allocated to the local authority of the main school.

The figures for 2021 differ from those provided in answer to PQ from September 2023 (S6W-21172 Written question and answer: S6W-21172 | Scottish Parliament Website ). *Figures have been corrected following the identification of schools being allocated to the wrong local authority. The total of pupils in independent schools for 2021 remains the same.

Question reference: S6W-25586

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 16 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 1 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much additional revenue it estimates will be raised by the Budget decision to increase the Intermediate Property Rate by 6.7% in 2024-25, broken down by industry sector.

Table 1 presents the estimated additional gross income from setting the Intermediate Property Rate (IPR) at 54.5p, compared to keeping the IPR the same as in 2023-24, at 51.1p, after General Revaluation Transitional Relief is applied, in 2024-2025. The figures are not adjusted for any other relief. This is broken down by property class, as the Scottish Government does not hold property-level data on industry sectors. Property class is a classification used by Scottish Assessors to describe the type of property, and does not necessarily accurately reflect the use of a property.

This table is based on the valuation roll as at 30 March 2023, 1 April 2023, and 1 January 2024.

Figures in this table are rounded to the nearest £1,000, and may not sum due to rounding.

Table 1: Estimated gross additional revenue from the intermediate property rate (£), after General Revaluation Transitional Relief, 2024-2025

Property class	Estimated additional gross revenue (£)
Shops	5,058,000
Public houses and restaurants	942,000
Offices	4,179,000
Hotels	850,000
Industrial subjects	5,718,000
Leisure and entertainment	1,105,000
Garages and petrol stations	429,000
Cultural	185,000
Sporting subjects	97,000
Education and training	1,796,000
Public service subjects	1,168,000
Communications	89,000
Quarries, mines, etc.	99,000
Petrochemical	24,000
Religious	192,000
Health and medical	617,000
Other	397,000
Care facilities	1,208,000
Advertising	31,000
Statutory undertaking	337,000
All	24,519,000

Question reference: S6W-25500

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 16 February 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 1 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, following the recent publication of data by the British Heart Foundation, which reportedly highlights significant issues in Scotland’s cardiology services for both outpatient appointments and echocardiograms and suggests that performance against waiting time targets is the worst on record, what urgent measures can be put in place to ensure that no one dies as a result of not receiving the appropriate scan in time.