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: S6W-37204

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 25 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 9 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many attacks by dogs have been reported to Police Scotland in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S6W-37205

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 25 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 9 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many people under the age of 65 have received free personal care in each year since the instruction of the policy in 2002, broken down by local authority.

Question reference: S6W-36577

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 25 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many children and young people have been placed in hotels and guest houses under temporary accommodation measures in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.

The Scottish Government does not collect specific information on temporary accommodation placements within hotels and guest houses. These are both captured under a broader ‘other’ category (via HL3 data collection).

Information is captured on Bed & Breakfast (B&B) temporary accommodation placements. The following table shows the number of children and young people that were placed in Bed & Breakfast (B&B) temporary accommodation at some point during each year from 2017-18 to 2023-24.

Data on temporary accommodation placements (HL3) is only available from 2017-18.

Children and young people are defined as when a household member is aged 24 and under.

Local Authority	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24
Scotland	4,505	4,690	4,180	3,645	4,175	5,460	7,225
Aberdeen City	85	70	55	85	30	350	385
Aberdeenshire	140	130	70	10	<4	0	0
Angus	20	15	10	35	15	10	15
Argyll & Bute	0	0	<4	35	<4	30	20
Clackmannanshire	0	0	0	15	5	15	30
Dumfries & Galloway	0	0	0	5	0	90	195
Dundee City	5	0	25	110	120	135	185
East Dunbartonshire	145	70	25	<4	5	5	5
East Lothian	230	165	190	170	175	155	170
East Renfrewshire	10	15	35	25	35	30	165
Edinburgh	1,640	1,460	855	480	765	1,115	1,320
Eilean Siar	5	15	<4	10	5	0	5
Falkirk	0	0	<4	<4	5	30	30
Fife	105	70	135	195	105	275	390
Glasgow City	935	1,295	1,765	1,320	2,050	2,140	2,895
Highland	140	275	145	75	30	15	5
Inverclyde	<4	<4	20	30	0	0	<4
Midlothian	85	20	15	15	0	0	0
Moray	30	<4	0	<4	0	55	60
Orkney	5	0	10	5	10	5	5
Perth & Kinross	15	<4	5	<4	5	10	10
Renfrewshire	20	15	<4	105	10	35	65
Scottish Borders	<4	<4	5	0	0	<4	10
Shetland	<4	<4	<4	0	0	5	0
South Ayrshire	0	0	0	15	5	40	105
South Lanarkshire	45	85	65	175	30	95	335
Stirling	235	225	170	180	95	35	10
West Dunbartonshire	0	5	15	10	10	80	155
West Lothian	610	755	555	525	660	695	655

Data source: Scottish Government, HL1 & HL3 Homelessness statistics

Values of 1, 2, 3 or 4 are denoted by ‘<5’ for disclosure control purposes.

Notes:

The Scottish Government records temporary accommodation placements (HL3 data collection) and the number of people by age band associated with households making homelessness applications (HL1 data collection). HL1 and HL3 household records have been linked to provide an estimate of the number of children and young people in temporary accommodation placements.

Please note that it is not necessarily the case that all household members within a homelessness application will enter associated temporary accommodation placement(s). For example, alternative arrangements may be made for children so they are never present in the temporary accommodation.

Households can have multiple temporary accommodation placements. Only one placement per reporting period has been included. This means a child or young person will be included in each year in which they have spent time in temporary accommodation and not counted multiple times within the same year.

Question reference: S6W-36419

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 25 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration was given to the Scottish Human Rights Commission’s November 2024 report, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the Highlands and Islands, when allocating its 2025-26 Budget, and what the outcome was.

The Scottish Government's 2025-26 Budget was published on 4 December 2024. This was a week after the Scottish Human Rights Commission published their report on rights in the Highlands and Islands, so there was not sufficient time to fully consider and incorporate the report and its recommendations into the Scottish Government's 2025-26 Budget.

However, an Island Communities Impact Assessment was undertaken on the 2025-26 Budget, to consider the unique needs of Scottish island communities.

We are considering the Scottish Human Rights Commission’s report with a view to formally responding to its recommendations ahead of the summer recess.

Question reference: S6W-36854

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 11 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 25 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what legal guarantees are in place to prevent a ScotAccount becoming a mandatory requirement for access to public services.

Question reference: S6W-36857

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 11 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 25 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration was given to using Scotland-based suppliers to develop the ScotAccount system.

The Scottish Government Digital Identity Beta project contract was awarded to the successful supplier following a competitive tender via the Digital and Technology Services Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) where all suppliers listed on Lot 1 of the DPS were given the opportunity to respond to the tender. Prior to issuing the tender, a supplier day was held – invitations for this were issued via a PIN on the Public Contracts Scotland portal, therefore all suppliers registered on PCS could request to attend.

The UK’s international obligations, and domestic legislation which implements them, require that equal treatment is afforded to bidders from countries with which a relevant international agreement applies. This means that it would not be lawful to discriminate in favour of suppliers based in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-36763

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 25 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has made any assessment of the reported competitive disadvantage faced by west coast fishermen following changes to the minimum landing size for lobster.

Scotland’s diverse fishing industry is subject to a variety of management measures including temporal and spatial restrictions on gear deployment, vessel type and catch. As with the 2017 change to minimum landing size for lobster, there are instances where management measures vary between areas, to help ensure sustainable fisheries. It should be noted that the 2017 measures were informed by scientific advice, a 12-week public consultation and engagement with our Regional Inshore Fisheries Group (RFIG) network.

Decisions made regarding the management of Scotland’s commercial fisheries are based on stock assessment advice provided by our scientific advisors and we recently shared updated reports based on landings from 2020 – 2023 with our stakeholders.

In addition, the Scottish Sea Fisheries Statistics publication has information on landings and sales data, and can be accessed through the Scottish Government website. This can be used to compare the landings of different species and different geographic areas.

Question reference: S6W-36855

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 11 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 25 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what personal data is held in a ScotAccount; how long this data is retained, and for what purposes it may be accessed or shared across departments.

ScotAccount is designed with privacy in mind. As part of maintaining and securing their account, ScotAccount stores a user’s email address and telephone number. Once users have verified their identity successfully, they can also choose to save their verified personal information into their ScotAccount, if they wish to do so, to enable re-use. Currently, users can choose to store their name, date of birth and address. Users can also choose whether or not to give permission to share the personal information they have saved, with specific public services, if they seek to access an online service or benefit from that organisation. Public services cannot access personal information held in ScotAccount, without the permission of the account holder.

All accounts are subject to data processing as set out in the ScotAccount Privacy Notice, which states that information will not be held for longer than is reasonably necessary and legally justified.

Question reference: S6W-36856

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 11 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 25 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what oversight mechanisms exist to monitor the use of personal data held within the ScotAccount system, and whether an independent regulator is (a) currently and (b) planned to be involved in this.

ScotAccount meets the Scottish Government’s legal obligations and requirements under data protection law. Throughout the development of ScotAccount, we have engaged with the Scottish Government’s Data Protection Officer, who is responsible for data protection assurance and compliance. We have used Data Protection Impact Assessments as part of ScotAccount product development, which are reviewed regularly to monitor the use of data held within the system to ensure individuals’ rights are protected. We have also engaged with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), directly and as part of the Scottish Government’s Digital Identity Expert Group, which includes an ICO representative member.

Question reference: S6W-36742

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 25 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it has taken to ensure that registered social landlords do not grant social housing tenancies to individuals subject to immigration control.

Registered Social Landlords are not subject to the exclusion on granting tenancies to persons subject to immigration control. Section 118 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, which applies in Scotland applies only to local authorities. Registered Social Landlords do not need to consider nationality or immigration status and can allocate homes to any person. Our Social housing allocations in Scotland: practice guide published in 2019 offers practical assistance to social landlord staff with responsibility for reviewing, monitoring and updating allocation policies and procedures to ensure they comply with current legislation.