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: S6F-04115

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 May 2025

To ask the First Minister what assessment the Scottish Government has made, regarding any implications for its work to grow Scotland’s economy, of analysis from Future Economy Scotland indicating that average earnings in Scotland are £15,000 less per year than they would have been if wages had not flatlined since the financial crisis.

Question reference: S6F-04110

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 May 2025

To ask the First Minister, in light of recent reported incidents, how the Scottish Government is working to prevent knife crime.

Question reference: S6F-04090

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 May 2025

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-04113

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 May 2025

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to The Hunter Foundation report, Lessons from Singapore for Scotland's Economy.

Question reference: S6F-04092

Asked by: Lorna Slater, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 May 2025

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-04091

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 May 2025

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-37430

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 19 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, whether it will provide the (a) office seating capacity and (b) annual running cost of each building (i) 4 Atlantic Quay (Glasgow), (ii) 5 Atlantic Quay (Glasgow), (iii) Bothwell House (Hamilton), (iv) Cadzow Court (Hamilton), (v) Compass House (Dundee), (vi) Denholm House (Livingston), (vii) Alexander Fleming House (Elgin), (viii) Hadrian House (Falkirk), (ix) Tankerness Lane (Kirkwall), (x) Longman House (Inverness) (xi) Marine Scotland (Eyemouth), (xii) Marine Scotland (Peterhead) and (xiii) St Andrews House (Edinburgh).

The information requested is set out in the following table:

Office	Seating capacity	Annual running cost (2024-25)
4 Atlantic Quay (Glasgow) 1	670	£51,465.41
5 Atlantic Quay (Glasgow)	764	£1,507,095.13
Bothwell House (Hamilton) 2	12	£13,708.11
Cadzow Court (Hamilton)	32	£38,310.42
Compass House (Dundee)	22	£19,121.78
Denholm House (Livingston)	124	£95,660.21
Alexander Fleming House (Elgin)	23	£50,462.25
Hadrian House (Falkirk)	36	£38,435.06
Tankerness Lane (Kirkwall)	26	£51,360.40
Longman House (Inverness)	148	£127,877.81
Marine Scotland (Eyemouth)	2	£13,984.23
Marine Scotland (Peterhead)	20	£42,493.61
St Andrews House (Edinburgh)	1775	£1,601,075.15

1 – Office closed July 2024

2 – Office closed May 2025

The figures in the Annual running cost (2024-25) column take account of the following:

Facilities Management Hard Services fixed contract costs

Facilities Management Soft Services fixed contract costs

Utilities

Question reference: S6W-37506

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 19 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government who will be invited to the data summit on additional support for learning, as announced in its Programme for Government 2025-26.

Question reference: S6W-37407

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 19 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has made any evaluation of the pre-arrest diversion from drugs programme trialled by the Drug Deaths Taskforce in Inverclyde and the Highland Council area.

The regular reporting in achieving progress and outcomes of both these programmes are collated through the Corra Foundation.

An evaluation of the Inverclyde Early Help in Police Custody Service found that there were practical challenges involved in covering such a vast geographical. However, the project demonstrated good progress towards an effective model of early intervention support for people who use drugs and alcohol that are caught up in the justice system.

A range of methods are being used to collate the learning and impact of the Pathfinder programme that originated in the Inverness area. Due to a lack of referrals in that area the project is now based in Dundee, Lanarkshire and Glasgow, and a full evaluation will be available when it concludes in 2026.

Question reference: S6W-37408

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 19 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) state and (b) grant-funded schools offer Economics at (i) National 4, (ii) National 5, (iii) Higher and (iv) Advanced Higher level.

This information is not held centrally. Under the Education (Scotland) Act 1980, education is the responsibility of local authorities.

The Scottish Government does hold information on entries to courses and qualifications. This is not necessarily the same as the number of schools offering these courses as a school may offer a course, but no learners choose to take it.

The following table shows the number of (a) publicly funded and (b) grant-funded schools with entries to Economics courses at (i) National 4, (ii) National 5, (iii) Higher and (iv) Advanced Higher level in 2024.

Qualification	(a) Publicly funded schools	(b) Grant-funded schools
(i) National 4 [Note 1]	N/A	N/A
(ii) National 5	12	0
(iii) Higher	37	0
(iv) Advanced Higher	5	0

[Note 1] Economics National 4 is not currently offered by SQA.