Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-38701

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 13 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 24 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent through public procurement in each of the last five years, broken down by (a) supplier location and (b) how much went to (i) small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and (ii) larger enterprises.

Using the data published from the ‘Annual Report on Procurement Activity in Scotland’ the following table provides spend from the last available five years, broken down by supplier location and size. These figures are derived from the Scottish Procurement Information Hub - Scottish Government’s spend analytics shared service.

Public Procurement Spend : Supplier Location and Supplier Size Spend

Financial year	Total Spend	Spend within Scotland	Spend not registered within Scotland	Total SME spend	Total Large spend
2022-2023	£16.6 billion	£8.9 billion	£7.7 billion	£7.1 billion	£7.9 billion
2021-2022	£16 billion	£8.9 billion	£7.1 billion	£6.4 billion	£8.1 billion
2020-2021	£14.5 billion	£8.3 billion	£6.2 billion	£5.5 billion	£7.2 billion
2019-2020	£13.3 billion	£7.4 billion	£5.9 billion	£5.4 billion	£6.3 billion
2018-2019	£12.6 billion	£6.9 billion	£5.7 billion	£5.2 billion	£5.9 billion

Supplier location is based on the registered invoice postcode of the supplier. Supplier size is based only on number of employees where known. SMEs are defined as those with fewer than 250 employees. Due to incomplete or unavailable supplier invoice data; employee size cannot be accurately determined for some spend resulting in the SME and Large Spend totals being less than the total spend figure.

Question reference: S6W-38808

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 23 June 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 21 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many people it currently estimates are not in education, employment or training, broken down by (a) local authority area, (b) gender and (c) the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) decile of the area in which they are located.

Question reference: S6W-38189

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 09 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 23 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of the revenue received by bus operators is currently generated from (a) full-fare-paying passengers and (b) concessionary fares subsidised by the Scottish Government; how this compares with the equivalent average figures for the last (i) three, (ii) five and (iii) 10 years, and what percentage of the subsidised fares charged by bus operators it (A) currently funds and (B) has funded on average in the last (1) three, (2) five and (3) 10 years, also broken down by operator.

Transport Scotland provides reimbursement to bus operators in Scotland for providing free bus travel to those eligible through the National Concessionary Travel Schemes (NCTS). Reimbursement is paid to operators at a level which aims to ensure they are left financially no better and no worse off as a result of their participation in the schemes, and is therefore not considered as a subsidy payment.

Details of total operator revenue over the past 10 years, including passenger revenue and concessionary travel reimbursement can be found in Scottish Transport Statistics tables 2.8 and 2.9, available at: Chapter 2 - Bus and Coach travel | Transport Scotland

Question reference: S6W-38642

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 20 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many drug finds there have been in HMP (a) Greenock and (b) Kilmarnock in each month since January 2021.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

The health and wellbeing of those in our care is of critical importance; we not only recognise, but are tackling, the risks posed by illicit substances within our establishments.

Preventing the introduction of illicit substances is not only important to the health and wellbeing of people in custody, but also to the establishments’ wider safety and security.

SPS continue to look at a range of tactical and technological measures to keep illicit substances from being introduced into prisons.

The tables below show the drug finds each month in both HMPs Greenock and Kilmarnock between January 2021 and May 2025:

HMP Greenock						HMP Kilmarnock
	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025		2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
Jan	10	7	4	5	2	Jan	86	35	50	23	13
Feb	6	7	14	3	4	Feb	66	49	46	47	20
Mar	9	7	7	12	3	Mar	123	52	44	31	21
Apr	17	8	9	7	7	Apr	122	45	48	22	18
May	12	11	4	4	8	May	121	43	63	36	19
Jun	22	13	6	2		Jun	110	62	32	23
Jul	14	9	6	6		Jul	100	42	26	10
Aug	11	7	3	2		Aug	83	43	32	36
Sep	10	5	1	5		Sep	82	30	40	21
Oct	9	12	6	6		Oct	73	36	45	15
Nov	3	4	6	7		Nov	64	43	45	10
Dec	9	8	4	1		Dec	72	39	42	9

Question reference: S6W-38702

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 13 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 20 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much small and medium-sized businesses currently contribute to the economy, and how this compares with each of the previous five years.

Data are available on the Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) share of businesses, jobs and turnover. These estimates, sourced from the Businesses in Scotland 2024 publication, are shown in the following table.

Table 1: SME share of businesses, jobs and turnover – Scotland – 2019 to 2024

Year	SME share of Businesses	SME share of Jobs	SME share of Turnover
2019	99.3%	44.2%	39.2%
2020	99.3%	44.4%	39.0%
2021	99.3%	43.6%	38.0%
2022	99.3%	44.1%	37.6%
2023	99.3%	43.8%	39.5%
2024	99.3%	43.9%	39.0%

Source: Businesses in Scotland: 2024 - gov.scot

Notes:

1.Data as at March each year.

2.Includes central and local government.

3.SMEs are Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, that is businesses with fewer than 250 employees. Enterprise size is defined based on the number of employees that the business employs across the UK.

4.Turnover for Financial and Insurance Activities businesses are not available on a comparable basis. Totals exclude turnover of such businesses.

Question reference: S6W-38469

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 06 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 20 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-37703 by Shona Robison on 30 May 2025, how this data compares with 2016.

The Scottish Government publish official workforce statistics on a quarterly basis. The figures shown below are for December 2016. The latest data is available at Scottish Government workforce information - gov.scot.

The data presented details workforce by contractual location – and includes staff home location for those on a home working contract. This is in line with the data submitted on a quarterly basis to the cabinet office for the Quarterly location survey of civil service staff.

The following table provides details of the working location of directly employed Scottish Government staff, split by Local authority, Full time/Part time working pattern and Permanent/Temporary status.

Scottish Government - Directly employed workforce headcount, December 2016

	Permanent - Full time	Permanent - Part time	Temporary - Full Time	Temporary - Part Time	Total
Aberdeen City	212	33	10	0	255
Aberdeenshire	66	12	4	0	82
Angus	3	2	0	0	5
Argyll and Bute	32	6	3	0	41
Clackmannanshire	0	0	0	0	0
Dumfries and Galloway	26	8	1	0	35
Dundee City	18	2	0	0	20
East Ayrshire	0	0	0	0	0
East Dunbartonshire	0	0	0	0	0
East Lothian	0	0	0	0	0
East Renfrewshire	0	0	0	0	0
City of Edinburgh	3005	603	103	6	3717
Falkirk	34	10	1	0	45
Fife	2	0	0	0	2
Glasgow City	598	106	16	2	722
Highland	98	24	7	0	129
Inverclyde	0	0	0	0	0
Midlothian	0	0	0	0	0
Moray	13	2	0	1	16
Na h-Eileanan Siar	17	6	4	1	28
North Ayrshire	0	0	0	0	0
North Lanarkshire	0	0	0	0	0
Orkney Islands	13	2	0	0	15
Perth and Kinross	87	27	1	1	116
Renfrewshire	0	1	0	0	1
Scottish Borders	30	8	1	2	41
Shetland Islands	14	0	1	0	15
South Ayrshire	37	14	0	0	51
South Lanarkshire	18	8	0	0	26
Stirling	0	0	0	0	0
West Dunbartonshire	0	0	0	0	0
West Lothian	16	4	0	0	20
Outwith Scotland	8	0	0	0	8
	4347	878	152	13	5390

Question reference: S6W-38590

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 20 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many prosecutions there have been under section 2(1) of the Air Weapons and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2015 in each year since the Act came into force.

The number of prosecutions in Scottish courts where the main charge was under section 2(1) of the Air Weapons and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2015 since it came into force on 20 December 2017, to 2022-23, is noted below. Criminal proceedings data was most recently published in December 2024.

People prosecuted in Scottish courts where the main charge was under section 2(1) of the Air Weapons and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2015 since it came into force on 20 December 2017, 2016-17 to 2022-23.

	Financial Year
	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23
Total prosecuted	3	62	100	99	58	77	58
Acquitted	.	6	8	7	4	5	8
Convicted	3	56	92	92	54	72	50

Question reference: S6W-38591

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 20 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many convictions there have been under section 2(1) of the Air Weapon and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2015 since the Act came into force, broken down by sentence imposed.

The number of convictions and sentence imposed in Scottish courts where the main charge was under section 2(1) of the Air Weapons and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2015 since it came into force on 20 December 2017 to 2022-23 are as follows:

People convicted in Scottish courts where the main charge was under section 2(1) of the Air Weapons and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2015 since it came into force on 20 December 2017, 2016-17 to 2022-23

	Financial Year
	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23
Total convicted	3	56	92	92	54	72	50
Absolute discharge	.	3	1	6	1	4	.
Imprisonment	.	.	1	3	.	.	2
Fine	1	36	68	54	36	51	31
Community Payback Order	2	5	8	10	6	6	6
Admonished	.	9	11	19	11	9	8
No order made	.	.	.	.	.	1	.
Restriction of Liberty Order	.	3	3	.	.	1	3

Question reference: S6W-38643

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 20 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the age range was of people reported to police for alleged illegal use of air guns in each of the last four years, also broken down by local authority area.

The following table shows the number of crimes involving the illegal use of an air weapon, by Local Authority, split by main perpetrator age (where identified). This is sourced from the Crimes and offences involving a firearm Official Statistics, for which the latest published year is 2021-22. Future updates will follow the conclusion of a review by analysts from Scottish Government and Police Scotland into the methodology for producing this data. Unlike other crime-based official statistics, the current approach relies on the manual review of crime records to identify relevant cases, which is resource intensive and requires significant time to complete. An update on the outcome of this work is planned for early Autumn, and users can register for this through the SCOTSTAT network.

Crimes involving illegal use of an air weapon 2018-19 to 2021-22

Local Authority	Age Category	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22
Aberdeen City	15 or under	0	0	0	0
	16 to 20	1	0	0	0
	21 to 30	2	5	0	0
	31 to 40	0	2	0	2
	41 or Over	0	0	0	0
Aberdeenshire	15 or under	1	0	0	0
	16 to 20	0	0	0	0
	21 to 30	0	1	0	0
	31 to 40	0	0	0	0
	41 or Over	1	1	1	0
Angus	15 or under	0	1	0	2
	16 to 20	1	1	0	0
	21 to 30	1	0	0	0
	31 to 40	0	0	1	0
	41 or Over	0	0	0	0
Argyll & Bute	15 or under	2	0	1	1
	16 to 20	0	0	0	0
	21 to 30	0	0	0	0
	31 to 40	0	0	0	0
	41 or Over	0	0	0	0
Clackmannanshire	15 or under	0	0	0	0
	16 to 20	0	0	0	0
	21 to 30	0	2	0	0
	31 to 40	0	0	1	0
	41 or Over	0	0	0	1
Dumfries & Galloway	15 or under	3	0	0	0
	16 to 20	1	0	0	0
	21 to 30	2	0	0	0
	31 to 40	0	0	0	0
	41 or Over	0	0	1	1
Dundee City	15 or under	1	0	0	3
	16 to 20	1	0	0	7
	21 to 30	0	0	1	0
	31 to 40	1	0	0	0
	41 or Over	0	0	0	0
East Ayrshire	15 or under	0	0	0	1
	16 to 20	0	0	0	1
	21 to 30	0	0	1	0
	31 to 40	0	0	0	0
	41 or Over	0	0	0	0
East Dunbartonshire	15 or under	0	1	0	0
	16 to 20	0	0	0	0
	21 to 30	0	0	0	0
	31 to 40	0	0	0	0
	41 or Over	0	0	0	0
East Lothian	15 or under	0	0	3	1
	16 to 20	0	1	0	0
	21 to 30	0	0	0	1
	31 to 40	0	0	0	0
	41 or Over	1	0	0	0
East Renfrewshire	15 or under	0	0	0	1
	16 to 20	0	0	0	1
	21 to 30	0	0	0	0
	31 to 40	0	0	0	0
	41 or Over	0	0	0	0
Edinburgh City	15 or under	0	0	0	0
	16 to 20	1	0	1	0
	21 to 30	0	0	0	0
	31 to 40	0	0	1	0
	41 or Over	1	0	1	0
Falkirk	15 or under	0	0	0	0
	16 to 20	0	0	0	1
	21 to 30	0	2	0	0
	31 to 40	0	0	0	0
	41 or Over	1	1	1	0
Fife	15 or under	0	0	0	1
	16 to 20	0	2	0	1
	21 to 30	7	0	1	3
	31 to 40	1	3	0	2
	41 or Over	1	0	4	2
Glasgow City	15 or under	1	3	1	2
	16 to 20	2	1	4	1
	21 to 30	5	1	5	4
	31 to 40	0	0	4	0
	41 or Over	0	2	3	2
Highland	15 or under	0	0	2	0
	16 to 20	1	0	0	1
	21 to 30	0	0	1	0
	31 to 40	0	0	0	0
	41 or Over	0	1	0	3
Inverclyde	15 or under	0	0	0	0
	16 to 20	0	0	0	0
	21 to 30	0	0	2	0
	31 to 40	0	0	0	0
	41 or Over	0	0	1	0
Midlothian	15 or under	1	0	0	0
	16 to 20	0	2	0	1
	21 to 30	0	0	0	0
	31 to 40	0	0	0	0
	41 or Over	0	0	0	1
Moray	15 or under	0	0	0	0
	16 to 20	0	0	0	0
	21 to 30	0	0	0	0
	31 to 40	0	0	0	0
	41 or Over	1	1	0	0
North Ayrshire	15 or under	0	0	1	0
	16 to 20	2	0	0	0
	21 to 30	0	0	1	0
	31 to 40	0	0	0	0
	41 or Over	0	1	1	1
North Lanarkshire	15 or under	0	1	4	1
	16 to 20	0	0	5	3
	21 to 30	2	3	2	0
	31 to 40	0	0	1	0
	41 or Over	0	0	0	1
Perth & Kinross	15 or under	0	0	0	0
	16 to 20	0	1	0	0
	21 to 30	0	0	0	1
	31 to 40	0	0	0	0
	41 or Over	0	0	0	0
Renfrewshire	15 or under	1	0	2	0
	16 to 20	0	0	0	0
	21 to 30	0	1	1	0
	31 to 40	0	0	0	0
	41 or Over	2	1	0	1
Scottish Borders	15 or under	0	0	0	0
	16 to 20	0	0	0	1
	21 to 30	0	0	2	0
	31 to 40	1	0	0	0
	41 or Over	0	0	0	0
South Ayrshire	15 or under	0	0	0	0
	16 to 20	0	1	0	0
	21 to 30	5	0	0	0
	31 to 40	0	0	1	0
	41 or Over	0	0	2	0
South Lanarkshire	15 or under	0	2	0	2
	16 to 20	0	0	0	0
	21 to 30	0	1	2	0
	31 to 40	2	1	1	0
	41 or Over	0	0	1	1
Stirling	15 or under	0	1	0	0
	16 to 20	0	1	0	0
	21 to 30	0	0	0	0
	31 to 40	0	0	0	0
	41 or Over	0	2	0	0
West Dunbartonshire	15 or under	0	1	0	1
	16 to 20	1	0	0	0
	21 to 30	0	1	0	0
	31 to 40	0	0	0	0
	41 or Over	0	0	0	1
West Lothian	15 or under	3	1	0	0
	16 to 20	0	1	2	2
	21 to 30	1	0	0	0
	31 to 40	0	0	0	0
	41 or Over	0	0	0	1
Total		62	55	71	65

Source: Recorded Crimes and Offences involving Firearms, Scotland, 2020-21 and 2021-22

Question reference: S6W-38589

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 19 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it can provide a breakdown of the employment rate by Scottish parliamentary constituency.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publish employment rate estimates for 16 to 64 year olds by Scottish parliamentary constituency from the ONS Annual Population Survey (APS). The latest available estimates are for January to December 2024:

LI02.1 Regional labour market: local indicators for constituencies of the Scottish Parliament - Office for National Statistics

ONS state that although the APS estimates are robust at headline regional level, there are concerns with the quality of the estimates in recent years for smaller groups of the population such as local authority and Scottish parliamentary constituency level estimates.

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