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: S6T-02222

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 December 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of capacity in the NHS, in light of the critical incident declared by NHS Grampian on 28 November 2024.

Question reference: S6F-03615

Asked by: Marie McNair, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 December 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 December 2024

To ask the First Minister what assessment the Scottish Government has made of the reported concerns of not-for-profit social care providers regarding the impact of increased employer national insurance contributions on the sector in Scotland.

Question reference: S6F-03607

Asked by: Audrey Nicoll, MSP for Aberdeen South and North Kincardine, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 December 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 December 2024

To ask the First Minister what progress is being made with the Scottish Government’s efforts to establish the country as a world leader in the green hydrogen sector.

Question reference: S6F-03603

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 December 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 December 2024

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's position is regarding any potential risk to the environment of excessive removal of peat during excavation projects.

Question reference: S6F-03593

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 December 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 December 2024

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-03594

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 02 December 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 December 2024

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-03599

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 02 December 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 December 2024

To ask the First Minister when the Cabinet will next meet.

Question reference: S6W-31491

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 2 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on work to develop its National Transitions to Adulthood Strategy since 23 November 2023.

To support the development of the Strategy since 23 November 2023, we have spent approximately £19k on engagement, and on the publication costs of our analysis of engagement on the Statement of Intent. In addition, staffing costs to develop the Strategy have continued to be met from our operating costs budget for 2023-24 and 2024-25.

During this timescale, the Scottish Government has also continued to provide funding to a number of organisations whose work supports transitions and the development of the Strategy including, but not limited to, the Association for Real Change (ARC) Scotland, Capability Scotland, Enable Scotland, and the Independent Living Fund Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-31347

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 15 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 2 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how it monitors the quality of primary school meals across local authorities, and how frequently these checks are carried out.

Local authorities have a statutory obligation to comply with the Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink in Schools (Scotland) Regulations 2020 (Nutritional Regulations).

The nutritional quality of local authority school catering provision is evaluated as part of Education Scotland’s school inspection programme.

Specialist Health and Nutrition Inspectors (HNI) join some school inspection teams to evaluate compliance with the Nutritional Regulations, including the nutritional quality of school meals. This involves engaging with staff and reviewing documentation. In academic year 2023/24 HNI visited 100 schools.

If a school or local authority does not meet the expected standards, HNI provides clear advice on the improvements needed. Local authorities are required to provide evidence to HNI showing how they have addressed any areas of non-compliance

Question reference: S6W-31338

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 15 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 2 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what data it expects national standardised assessments to produce; whether it considers that the cost of these assessments matches the value of this data, and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

National Standardised Assessments produce data at: classroom, school, local authority and national levels.

The primary purpose of NSA is to provide teachers with indicative, diagnostic information about learner strengths and development needs. They provide information directly to teachers on what individual learners can and cannot do in aspects of literacy and numeracy, at a particular moment in time. Data is broken down by curriculum content, for example in literacy, data includes information on “tools for reading” and “finding and using information”.

At school level, assessment data shows how well learners perform in relation to a number of characteristics, for example free school meal entitlement, and provides information about how learners progress over time.

NSA produces aggregated data that can help local authorities by providing information to inform conversations about school improvement. It can also help identify effective practice to disseminate, as well as areas for authority wide professional learning.

At national level, anonymised data is broken down by both curriculum content and learner characteristics, e.g. gender and ethnicity. It allows the Scottish Government to identify trends, strengths, and areas for improvement in literacy and numeracy. This informs national policy, improvement priorities, and the type and level of support provided.

The Scottish Government is clear that NSA and the data they produce represent good value for money. NSA data is also valued by school staff – our 2023-24 survey of school staff who use the assessments found that over 72% agree that NSA data informs teaching and learning in their school.