Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-22111

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on how often the Agriculture and Rural Development Stakeholder Group should meet in order to perform its function effectively.

Question reference: S6W-22105

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 09 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when all police officers in Police Scotland will have undergone vetting, in light of reports that some police officers have not been vetted in over 20 years.

It is vital the public have confidence in policing. Vetting is a key strand in providing that assurance and we welcome the publication of the HMICS assurance review of vetting policy and procedures within Police Scotland.

The Scottish Government notes that work is already underway within Police Scotland to address the report’s recommendations for improvement. Since 2021, Police Scotland has introduced an additional vetting check just prior to new police officers taking their oath of office. Furthermore, as part of the UK wide integrity screening exercise earlier this year, Police Scotland has checked every officer and member of staff against the criminal records database and against their own vulnerable persons database. They have also committed to introducing a rolling programme to review vetting clearances, later this year.

The Scottish Government is committed to exploring the legislative basis for vetting, as per recommendation one of the HMICS review. The Police (Ethics, Conduct and Scrutiny) Scotland Bill, introduced to Parliament in June 2023, will further improve police complaint and misconduct systems and processes.

Question reference: S6W-21974

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) music, drama and art and (b) science teachers have been employed in secondary schools in each of the last 10 years, also broken down by local authority area.

The number of Full-time Equivalent (FTE) Secondary Teachers with Music, Drama or Art as their main subject taught, broken down by local authority, is shown in Table A. FTE teacher numbers with Science as the main subject taught are shown in Table B. Science includes the following subjects: Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Science (general).

Teacher FTE numbers for individual subjects in Secondary schools are published in Table 8.9 in the annual Teacher Census Supplementary statistics available from https://www.gov.scot/publications/teacher-census-supplementary-statistics/ .

Table A: Secondary school teachers (FTE) with Art & Design, Music or Drama as main subject taught by local authority [Note 1][Note 2]

	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
Aberdeen City	80	78	72	72	67	72	77	78	75	85
Aberdeenshire	110	108	111	100	105	105	109	112	116	116
Angus	53	49	51	49	52	53	54	55	53	53
Argyll and Bute	48	50	53	49	46	49	47	48	44	44
City of Edinburgh	146	140	144	145	144	143	159	160	170	173
Clackmannanshire	20	20	18	22	20	20	19	20	19	22
Dumfries and Galloway	78	80	75	72	74	76	77	73	73	68
Dundee City	68	62	60	62	61	63	65	62	68	67
East Ayrshire	56	53	54	53	58	55	58	57	59	54
East Dunbartonshire	57	58	60	65	65	66	66	73	74	72
East Lothian	43	42	43	45	43	46	45	44	47	46
East Renfrewshire	67	66	71	68	75	71	79	72	76	79
Falkirk	75	75	78	89	88	85	89	92	98	95
Fife	185	177	179	180	169	178	171	173	182	176
Glasgow City	221	218	216	227	245	248	263	268	288	284
Highland	111	106	105	98	102	104	105	103	108	108
Inverclyde	36	37	35	37	36	38	38	39	41	36
Midlothian	42	43	42	42	42	43	50	47	52	52
Moray	42	42	39	39	37	38	40	42	45	46
Na h-Eileanan Siar	14	12	11	12	13	12	13	12	11	11
North Ayrshire	65	63	60	62	68	67	67	71	67	76
North Lanarkshire	171	174	176	175	176	178	180	192	200	192
Orkney Islands	12	12	14	13	13	14	12	13	12	14
Perth and Kinross	60	58	57	64	62	66	62	70	70	73
Renfrewshire	80	80	79	76	75	76	78	86	92	82
Scottish Borders	44	41	41	42	46	51	50	51	51	52
Shetland Islands	14	14	12	11	11	11	11	12	13	13
South Ayrshire	47	44	41	41	42	46	45	52	55	59
South Lanarkshire	161	160	159	163	164	164	172	187	186	184
Stirling	45	43	41	40	38	44	41	43	42	44
West Dunbartonshire	43	43	41	41	44	41	46	42	41	40
West Lothian	86	82	80	83	85	87	82	87	90	90
All local authorities	2,372	2,326	2,318	2,337	2,361	2,409	2,469	2,534	2,617	2,607
Grant aided schools	5	5	5	5	5	4	4	4	5	4
Scotland Total	2,377	2,331	2,323	2,342	2,366	2,413	2,473	2,539	2,623	2,612

Note 1: This does not include head teachers or depute head teachers.

Note 2: Includes Art and Design, Music, Drama, Speech and Drama .

Table B: Secondary school teachers (FTE) with Science as main subject taught by local authority [Note 3][Note 4]

	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
Aberdeen City	94	92	92	93	91	97	98	103	115	121
Aberdeenshire	154	153	161	163	166	163	165	168	175	177
Angus	75	76	75	77	77	77	75	81	76	68
Argyll and Bute	51	50	46	48	47	49	49	50	53	53
City of Edinburgh	190	189	185	181	191	198	209	218	227	236
Clackmannanshire	27	27	25	23	25	22	25	29	29	27
Dumfries and Galloway	99	96	97	98	97	96	96	95	99	97
Dundee City	78	76	78	72	70	69	70	72	75	72
East Ayrshire	66	70	68	68	72	69	68	69	70	71
East Dunbartonshire	88	89	90	95	92	94	96	108	106	101
East Lothian	60	60	60	60	63	67	66	67	67	70
East Renfrewshire	99	94	97	93	93	99	107	103	108	105
Falkirk	99	94	95	94	95	94	98	101	101	99
Fife	217	217	207	206	220	211	217	216	222	226
Glasgow City	248	255	248	268	276	275	293	307	318	315
Highland	165	165	158	157	162	161	162	164	159	162
Inverclyde	43	44	45	44	44	48	44	43	47	43
Midlothian	46	45	46	45	47	48	46	52	55	56
Moray	56	58	55	53	52	55	53	55	60	56
Na h-Eileanan Siar	23	22	22	21	22	21	20	22	21	17
North Ayrshire	83	82	84	87	79	87	83	84	93	92
North Lanarkshire	212	212	200	203	199	197	217	231	231	238
Orkney Islands	18	16	15	15	17	19	17	18	16	17
Perth and Kinross	78	81	79	77	78	81	82	81	78	80
Renfrewshire	98	101	105	107	101	99	101	112	112	117
Scottish Borders	69	64	66	65	64	67	57	69	66	70
Shetland Islands	21	21	22	22	21	19	20	21	22	22
South Ayrshire	66	62	65	66	64	62	65	69	69	68
South Lanarkshire	192	200	201	209	210	211	220	217	222	218
Stirling	69	69	64	65	66	64	69	69	70	70
West Dunbartonshire	58	59	60	64	61	61	65	62	61	59
West Lothian	119	120	115	122	124	120	119	122	130	127
All local authorities	3,053	3,057	3,022	3,060	3,088	3,101	3,169	3,277	3,354	3,347
Grant aided schools	10	11	10	10	10	10	10	9	9	10
Scotland Total	3,063	3,068	3,032	3,070	3,097	3,111	3,179	3,286	3,363	3,357

Note 3: This does not include head teachers or depute head teachers.

Note 4: Science includes Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Physical Science, Science (general) .

Question reference: S6W-22016

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on progress on developing HMP Highland, including in relation to any further costs that are required to be met to complete the prison, and any potential delay in its opening.

HMP Highland will expand provision of custodial services available within local community and reduce reliance on accommodation in other locations. Its completion will allow the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to better serve the local community, meet the needs of people in their care and support staff.

Enabling work commenced on site in 2021-2022 and further advance works have been carried out during 2022-23 and are continuing into 2023-24. Work has completed on site with the archaeologists finding significant evidence of roundhouses. Site clearing and substantial ground work is complete for the ground source heating system. An advance work contract was awarded to secure the perimeter concrete panels, which are now being installed, as well as the modular cells.

The March 2023 update to the Infrastructure Investment Plan sets out that HMP Highland is estimated to cost £139.5m and construction completion estimated in spring 2025. These time-scales and costs will be updated when the main construction contract is awarded late 2023/early 2024.

Question reference: S6W-22027

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to reconsider the Solway Firth as part of its Sectoral Marine Plan for Offshore Wind Energy.

Question reference: S6W-22235

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking with NHS boards to support remote and rural populations who have to travel long distances to receive vaccinations, as part of the winter vaccination programme.

We seek to ensure that people can access vaccination appointments as close to home as possible. Health Boards continue to recognise and support the needs of rural communities in planning and delivering the winter vaccination programme.

Health Boards continue to use outreach options to provide vaccination in rural areas. This winter, community pharmacies, ‘pop-up’ clinics and support from Scottish Ambulance Service mobile unit teams have been used to improve access and reduce travel distances.

Most Health Boards aim for a maximum travel distance of 10 miles or a travel time of 15-30 minutes and always consider public transport routes when choosing vaccination venues.

Community support and local transport solutions are utilised where possible in order to support those with additional barriers. Boards are also able to utilise local intelligence and provide flexible options including some weekend and evening appointments.

When booking their vaccination, I would encourage people to continue to check the online portal or call the national vaccination helpline as new appointments do become available regularly.

Question reference: S6W-22231

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 13 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what recent assessment it has made of freight services on non-Aberdeen routes in the Northern Isles Ferry Services contract.

A transport appraisal of passenger and freight ferry services between the Northern Isles and the Scottish mainland, in line with the Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance (STAG), was undertaken in 2016-2017 to inform the specification of the Northern Isles Ferry Services contract awarded in 2020. The study report is published here:

final-report-appraisal-of-options-for-specification-of-2018-northern-isles-ferry-services-april-2018.pdf (transport.gov.scot)

Serco NorthLink Ferries (SNF), as operator of the Northern Isles Ferry Services contract, keeps freight services under review and discusses these regularly with key stakeholders and Transport Scotland. SNF publish its carrying statistics, including freight, here:

NorthLink Statistics | NorthLink Ferries

Question reference: S6W-22228

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 13 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what recent assessment it has made of the (a) crewing levels and (b) frequency of ferry services between the mainland and the Orkney Islands.

A transport appraisal of passenger and freight ferry services between the Northern Isles and the Scottish mainland, in line with the Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance (STAG), was undertaken in 2016-2017 to inform the specification of the Northern Isles Ferry Services contract awarded in 2020. The study report is published here:

final-report-appraisal-of-options-for-specification-of-2018-northern-isles-ferry-services-april-2018.pdf (transport.gov.scot)

Crewing is a matter for the ferry operators.

Question reference: S6W-22229

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 13 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the monthly passenger carrying statistics were on each route in the Northern Isles Ferry Services contract with Serco NorthLink, from January 2023 up to the latest available figures.

Question reference: S6W-22226

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 13 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether there is a mechanism in place for local authorities to report any spikes in bedbug infestations.

Chamber and committees