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: S7W-01780

Asked by: Jenny Young, MSP for Central Scot and Lothians West, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 18 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of secondary school pupils eligible for free school meals has been recorded as being persistently absent from school in each year since 2017-18, and what analysis it has commissioned or carried out on the impact that this might have on the likelihood of them subsequently having the status of being classified as not being in employment, education or training (NEET) aged 16 to 24.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on pupil’s eligibility for free school meals (FSM). However, data on pupils eligible for, and in receipt of, free school meals are held.

The following table sets out the percentage of secondary school pupils each year where data was available who were persistently absent, by their free school meal registration status.

Table 1. Percentage of secondary school pupils persistently absent by free school meal registration, 2018-19, 2020-21, 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25.

FSM Registration	2018-19	2020-21	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25
Not Registered	26.4	21.5	35.9	35.2	31.9
Registered	53.8	47.9	64	64	61.4

Prior to 2022-23, absence data was only published every 2 years.

These statistics exclude pupils whose attendance records could not be matched to a pupil census record.

Pupils who are eligible but not registered for free school meals will be included in the not registered figures.

The Scottish government is clear that attendance is linked in many ways to attainment and thus to achieving positive outcomes. We welcome recent statistics that demonstrate 95.7% of young people are in a positive destination 3 months after leaving school and that the poverty related attainment gap has narrowed by almost two thirds for initial destinations in the last 15 years.

Question reference: S7W-02494

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 August 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 15 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it provides to local authorities to ensure that any disbursement of public funds for retail improvement schemes is conditional upon adherence to high-quality, traditional materials, traditional skills and design codes.

Question reference: S7W-02491

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 August 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 15 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to establishing a dedicated national grant scheme to support the reinstatement of traditional shopfronts, to ensure equitable access to funding outside of existing, localised Conservation Area Regeneration Scheme (CARS) boundaries.

Question reference: S7W-02492

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 August 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 15 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider ringfencing a proportion of the Place Based Investment Programme, or similar town centre regeneration funds, specifically for heritage-led commercial facade improvements.

Question reference: S7W-02485

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 August 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 15 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it has considered commissioning a Scottish Parliament challenge coin for members to present to hosts during official international visits and to members of visiting delegations, in light of the increasing use of such coins by legislatures and public bodies across the Commonwealth, the United States and elsewhere.

Question reference: S7W-02102

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 17 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S7W-00806 by Angela Constance on 16 June 2026 whether it will to set out a timetable for the national evaluation of the GP walk-in clinics programme.

Question reference: S7W-02132

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 17 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has undertaken a value-for-money assessment of issuing bonds under the Scottish Government bond programme, and whether it will publish the assessment.

Question reference: S7W-02139

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 17 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is regarding reported external assessments indicating that borrowing through the Scottish Government bond programme could cost £100 million more than borrowing through the National Loans Fund.

Question reference: S7W-02145

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 17 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to whether the Animal and Plant Health Agency, when exercising functions on behalf of the Scottish Government, should be subject to the jurisdiction of the Scottish Information Commissioner in relation to information held in connection with those functions.

Question reference: S7W-02104

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 17 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S7W-00818 by Angela Constance on 16 June 2026, on the basis of the monthly report from NHS boards, when it anticipates that they will meet the 62 day standard for cancer treatment.

Board trajectories against the 62 day cancer standard have been requested from all Health Boards.

These will be submitted to the Scottish Government's Health & Social Care Performance & Delivery Assurance Board for review and approval by the end of August.

Once agreed, performance against the trajectories will be monitored monthly by the Scottish Government and the East and West Subnational Planning & Delivery Committees to support delivery and ensure progress is maintained.