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-38010

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 25 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, as part of its work to further the case for Scottish independence, what assessment it has made of what the total cost would be of (a) building and (b) operating any new customs infrastructure at the border with England in the first year of an independent Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-38014

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 25 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, as part of its work to further the case for Scottish independence, whether it will commit to publishing a full impact assessment of the potential (a) economic and (b) social implications of any hard border between an independent Scotland and the rest of the UK, in advance of any future independence referendum being held.

The Scottish Government is committed to providing people with what independence would mean for them. As a result, we have now published thirteen papers in Building a new Scotland series, with a final overview paper to follow in due course.

For additional information I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-37999 on 25 June. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

Question reference: S6W-38002

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 25 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, as part of its work to further the case for Scottish independence, whether it has consulted with small business representative organisations regarding the potential impact on their members of a trade border between an independent Scotland and the rest of the UK.

Question reference: S6W-37936

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 25 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, as part of its work to further the case for Scottish independence, when it last met with the World Trade Organization (WTO) to discuss what potential tariffs there could be between an independent Scotland and WTO members.

Question reference: S6W-38607

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 25 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent on counsellors in schools in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority.

The mental health and wellbeing of children and young people is an absolute priority for the Scottish Government. Since 2021, we have continued to support our local authority partners with £16 million in funding to ensure that all school pupils aged 10 and above and all secondary schools in Scotland have access to school counselling services.

Funding for school counselling services was established in the 2019-20 financial year and therefore the table below outlines the distribution and allocation of funding since 2019-20. The funding for the years 2019–20 to 2022–23 was ring-fenced for the provision of counselling services. From 2023–24 onwards, this funding has been baselined in the overall local government settlement.

The following figures represent funding provided to local authorities for the provision of counselling services. The Scottish Government does not hold information on how much has been spent on counsellors in schools as local authorities are responsible for the delivery of education. Local authorities may hold this information.

Funding distribution and allocations - Scottish Government funding for delivering access to counsellors in schools

Local Authority	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25	2025-26

Aberdeen City	350,000	466,000	466,000	466,000	466,000	466,000	466,000
Aberdeenshire	574,000	774,000	774,000	774,000	774,000	774,000	774,000
Angus	264,000	346,000	346,000	346,000	346,000	346,000	346,000
Argyll and Bute	286,000	377,000	377,000	377,000	377,000	377,000	377,000
Clackmannanshire	131,000	164,000	164,000	164,000	164,000	164,000	164,000
Dumfries and Galloway	385,000	514,000	514,000	514,000	514,000	514,000	514,000
Dundee City	299,000	395,000	395,000	395,000	395,000	395,000	395,000
East Ayrshire	287,000	378,000	378,000	378,000	378,000	378,000	378,000
East Dunbartonshire	308,000	407,000	407,000	407,000	407,000	407,000	407,000
East Lothian	242,000	317,000	317,000	317,000	317,000	317,000	317,000
East Renfrewshire	311,000	411,000	411,000	411,000	411,000	411,000	411,000
Edinburgh City	705,000	955,000	955,000	955,000	955,000	955,000	955,000
Eilean Siar (Western Isles)	140,000	177,000	177,000	177,000	177,000	177,000	177,000
Falkirk	352,000	468,000	468,000	468,000	468,000	468,000	468,000
Fife	738,000	1,000,000	1,000,000	1,000,000	1,000,000	1,000,000	1,000,000
Glasgow City	955,000	1,300,000	1,300,000	1,300,000	1,300,000	1,300,000	1,300,000
Highland	754,000	1,022,000	1,022,000	1,022,000	1,022,000	1,022,000	1,022,000
Inverclyde	195,000	251,000	251,000	251,000	251,000	251,000	251,000
Midlothian	220,000	286,000	286,000	286,000	286,000	286,000	286,000
Moray	208,000	270,000	270,000	270,000	270,000	270,000	270,000
North Ayrshire	329,000	437,000	437,000	437,000	437,000	437,000	437,000
North Lanarkshire	765,000	1,037,000	1,037,000	1,037,000	1,037,000	1,037,000	1,037,000
Orkney Islands	146,000	185,000	185,000	185,000	185,000	185,000	185,000
Perth and Kinross	328,000	436,000	436,000	436,000	436,000	436,000	436,000
Renfrewshire	389,000	519,000	519,000	519,000	519,000	519,000	519,000
Scottish Borders	263,000	345,000	345,000	345,000	345,000	345,000	345,000
Shetland Islands	197,000	255,000	255,000	255,000	255,000	255,000	255,000
South Ayrshire	253,000	332,000	332,000	332,000	332,000	332,000	332,000
South Lanarkshire	709,000	961,000	961,000	961,000	961,000	961,000	961,000
Stirling	262,000	344,000	344,000	344,000	344,000	344,000	344,000
West Dunbartonshire	226,000	294,000	294,000	294,000	294,000	294,000	294,000
West Lothian	429,000	574,000	574,000	574,000	574,000	574,000	574,000

SCOTLAND	£12,000,000	16,000,000	£16,000,000	£16,000,000	16,000,000	£16,000,000	£16,000,000

Question reference: S6W-38692

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 24 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-22416 by Patrick Harvie on 8 November 2023, which stakeholders it (a) has subsequently had and (b) plans to have discussions with on this topic.

We discuss the Scottish Government’s commitment to improving energy efficiency and decarbonising heating systems in Scotland’s buildings with a range of stakeholders on a regular basis to support improvements in fuel poverty and to help meet our climate target to reach net zero by 2045.

As the new Cabinet Secretary for Housing I will also meet with stakeholders on the issue in my new capacity in the coming months. Additionally, officials have, so far, met with the Sustainable Traditional Buildings Alliance, Sustainable Scotland Network, Scottish Land and Estates, UK Finance, and the UK, Welsh and Northern Irish Governments on the proposals. We will use the feedback we gain throughout written and verbal engagement to develop regulations that are fair, proportionate and achievable across the PRS housing stock.

In April, Dr Alasdair Allan MSP, former Minister for Climate Action, made a statement to Parliament that set out the Scottish Government’s plans to introduce a Heat in Buildings Bill later this session, and that it would be accompanied by the introduction of a minimum energy efficiency standard (MEES) in the private rented sector (PRS).

We have since launched our consultation on proposed MEES regulations for the domestic PRS to which all stakeholders are encouraged to respond. We recognise the individual challenges that some properties, particularly traditionally built homes and listed buildings, may face in meeting the standard and this is reflected in the inclusion of exemptions in our proposals. These will provide flexibility to individual circumstances where needed, such as preserving special characteristics of traditional buildings.

Question reference: S6W-38610

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 24 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what value of financial penalties on colleges and universities for recruiting above their allocated funded places has been returned to and received by the Scottish Government in each year since 1999, broken down by individual (a) college and (b) university.

Question reference: S6W-38615

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 24 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take to ensure that palliative care becomes a national priority.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that everyone who needs it can access seamless, timely and high quality palliative care.

That is why later this summer we will publish our new palliative care strategy, Palliative Care Matters for All. The strategy will set out a series of aims and outcomes designed to help to improve palliative care services across Scotland.

The strategy will be accompanied by a delivery plan which will set out how the actions will be delivered through collaboration with a variety of service providers such as Integration Joint Boards, Health Boards, third sector organisations (including independent hospices) and other independent service providers such as care homes.

Question reference: S6W-38684

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 24 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the definition of "backlog" as referring to "the outstanding scheduled trials that are above the normal operating capacity of 20,000", as set out in the 2023 Auditor General report, Criminal courts backlog.

The definition of “backlog” in this context is referred to by the Auditor General report as the increase in criminal court cases waiting to be heard during the Covid 19 pandemic. At its peak, this reached 43,606 cases in January 2022.

The number of scheduled trials across all criminal business types has now returned to below 20,000. This is considered a manageable level of workload by Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service for the justice system.

Question reference: S6W-38638

Asked by: Davy Russell, MSP for Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 24 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the timetable is for the reported downgrading of the Wishaw Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

Improving safety for the babies, families and staff is our utmost priority, which is why we are taking this step and why we have taken phased approach to transition, allowing time to build the right levels of capacity in all areas, with NHS Boards working towards full implementation by 2026.

We are working with Regional Planning Chief Executives to plan and deliver this service change, informed by the testing that has been underway since 2018 in Ayrshire and Fife, and supported by Scottish Government funding of over £6m since 2019.