Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-36769

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 8 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the current average waiting time is for patients to access diabetic (a) glucose monitoring and closed-loop insulin pumps and (b) insulin pumps.

The Scottish Government is committed to expanding access to diabetes technology and since 2016, we have invested almost £30 million to support expansion. Last year, we established a national programme aiming to provide over 2000 more people with access to hybrid closed loop technology.

Waiting times for insulin pumps, continuous glucose monitors and hybrid closed loop systems vary across health boards and are difficult to measure due to the length of time it takes for an individual to receive education and training.

However, since June 2024, our national programme has provided Closed Loop Systems (CLS) to over 2000 people. We have also established a National Onboarding Service, who provide significant additional capacity to support local services. This national programme has additional funding to support more people in 2025-26.

While we recognise that there are still waits for some diabetes technology, we remain committed to increasing access to all those that would benefit.

Question reference: S6W-36785

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 8 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the use of the phrase "spatial squeeze" in a maritime context, and which (a) sectors and (b) stakeholders have indicated to it a non-acceptance of this phrase.

Question reference: S6W-36768

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 8 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many patients have accessed the drug, Givinostat, in each NHS board.

Question reference: S6W-36497

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 8 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the average expenditure per (a) pre-school education, (b) primary school, (c) secondary school, (d) college and (e) university place has been in each year since 2007-08 in (i) cash and (ii) real terms.

Table 1 provides information on average gross revenue expenditure in Scotland per child attending pre-school, and per primary and secondary pupil alongside allocations (accounting for teaching and tuition fees funding) per college and university place.

2024-25 figures for Pre-School, Primary and Secondary School will be available after the publication of the 2024-25 Scottish local government finance statistics in February – March 2026.

The Scottish Government do not hold data on Pre-School registrations prior to 2010.

Indicative University and College funding allocations for 2025-26 were published by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) earlier this month. These include a cash terms increase in teaching funding for colleges, and a cash terms increase to the Main Teaching Grant (and teaching price) for Universities, compared with last year. These indicative figures have not been included in this table as the underlying calculation requires further details, including the number of controlled and non-controlled funded places, which are not yet available to SFC.

Further detail of College and University Indicative Funding Allocations for 2025-26 can be found at:

College Indicative Funding Allocations 2025-26 - Scottish Funding Council

University Indicative Funding Allocations 2025-26 - Scottish Funding Council

Table 1: Average Expenditure Per Place for each Education Level (Cash Terms)

	Pre-School	Primary	Secondary	College	University
2007-08	-	£4,651	£6,344	£4,046	£6,561
2008-09	-	£4,833	£6,665	£4,219	£6,760
2009-10	-	£4,882	£6,533	£4,293	£6,904
2010-11	£3,456	£5,007	£6,607	£4,289	£6,957
2011-12	£3,193	£4,935	£6,495	£4,138	-
2012-13	£3,194	£4,899	£6,629	£4,012	£7,139
2013-14	£3,102	£4,880	£6,714	£4,043	£7,175
2014-15	£3,411	£4,819	£6,795	£4,029	£7,240
2015-16	£3,957	£4,877	£6,920	£4,024	£7,237
2016-17	£4,344	£4,980	£7,050	£4,092	£7,005
2017-18	£4,592	£5,169	£7,131	£4,196	£7,013
2018-19	£5,190	£5,444	£7,459	£4,539	£7,182
2019-20	£6,916	£5,791	£7,789	£4,665	£7,190
2020-21	£9,366	£6,130	£7,906	£4,878	£7,316
2021-22	£10,435	£6,550	£8,174	£4,952	£7,433
2022-23	£11,282	£7,075	£8,766	£5,054	£7,558
2023-24	£12,000	£7,487	£9,276	£5,506	£7,613
2024-25	-	-	-	£5,506	£7,635

Table 2 provides the same information at 2024-25 price levels. Real terms conversions were produced using use HM Treasury’s March 2025 GDP Deflator series, including forecasts for the 2024-25 financial year.

Table 2: Average Expenditure Per Place for each Education Level (Real Terms)

Education Level	Pre-School	Primary	Secondary	College	University
2007-08	-	£7,170	£9,780	£6,238	£10,115
2008-09	-	£7,191	£9,917	£6,277	£10,058
2009-10	-	£7,167	£9,591	£6,303	£10,136
2010-11	£4,979	£7,214	£9,520	£6,180	£10,024
2011-12	£4,521	£6,987	£9,196	£5,859	-
2012-13	£4,440	£6,810	£9,215	£5,577	£9,924
2013-14	£4,231	£6,657	£9,158	£5,515	£9,788
2014-15	£4,597	£6,494	£9,157	£5,429	£9,756
2015-16	£5,294	£6,525	£9,259	£5,384	£9,683
2016-17	£5,684	£6,516	£9,224	£5,354	£9,166
2017-18	£5,915	£6,659	£9,186	£5,405	£9,034
2018-19	£6,548	£6,868	£9,410	£5,726	£9,060
2019-20	£8,523	£7,137	£9,599	£5,749	£8,860
2020-21	£10,955	£7,170	£9,247	£5,705	£8,556
2021-22	£12,277	£7,706	£9,617	£5,826	£8,744
2022-23	£12,399	£7,775	£9,634	£5,554	£8,306
2023-24	£12,456	£7,771	£9,629	£5,715	£7,902
2024-25	-	-	-	£5,506	£7,635

Sources:

1.Local Financial Returns – Education (LFR 01) statistical return provided by local authorities to the Scottish Government: Local government finance statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

2.Pupil Census – published annually - for further details go to: Pupil census: supplementary statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

3.Scottish Funding Council

4.GDP deflators at market prices: GDP deflators at market prices, and money GDP - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Methodology

The methodologies used to determine the average expenditure per place for each education level are provided in more detail below.

Pre-school: average gross revenue expenditure per child in pre-primary education is arrived at by taking the total gross revenue expenditure on pre-primary education, adjusted for inter-authority transfers, as reported by local authorities to the local financial return. These figures are then divided by the number of pupils in funded early learning and childcare as per the statistics reported in the early learning and childcare (ELC) census. The figures for per child expenditure on pre-primary education are likely to be overestimates due to the fact that September (when the figures for the ELC census are collected) is a point in the academic year when ELC registrations are at their lowest. This is because children starting funded ELC (usually when they turn three) start at the beginning of the term which starts after their birthday – so, in the Autumn term only some of the children who will become eligible for funded ELC during that academic year have already taken up their funded place. However, this issue applies every year, meaning that the above time-series comparison is reasonable.

Primary and Secondary schools: average gross revenue expenditure per pupil in primary and secondary education respectively is arrived at by taking the total gross revenue expenditure adjusted for inter-authority transfers, reported by local authorities on primary and secondary education to the local financial return, divided by the number of pupils in primary and secondary education as per the statistics reported in the pupil census.

Colleges: The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) have supplied detail of the average cost of a College place (expenditure per full-time equivalent (FTE)). This is calculated by taking funding provided to Colleges for core teaching and assumed tuition fee income (see supplementary note 3) and dividing this by the number of student places.

Universities: The cost of an average University place, also provided by the SFC, is estimated by taking the total teaching grant awarded to Universities (excluding teaching grant associated with rUK students studying expensive strategically important subjects, who are not eligible for funding) and assumed tuition fee income associated with those places (see supplementary note 3) and dividing this by the total number of SFC funded places for Scottish and EU domiciled FTEs. Expenditure figures exclude funding for student support, and SFC’s research and strategic funds. Total FTE figures are SFC/SG funded places and do not include fees only and international places.

Supplementary notes:

1.“-“ indicates that there is no available data for this year.

2.Assumed tuition fees include income from SAAS, SDS, employers and students paying their own tuition fees for SFC funded programmes.

3.For college and university figures, the funded places/weighted SUMS/credits figures used are taken from the final published main grant letters or outcome agreements, and do not take account of any subsequent adjustments.

4.No fee assumption was made in AY 2011-12. In response to a reduction in grant in aid each university's teaching grant was reduced pro-rata, rather than being calculated based on our funding formula. As a result, no figure was provided by SFC for this year.

5.Further detail on College and University funding figures each year can be found in the supplementary notes of the answer to question S6W-15187 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 7 March 2023

Question reference: S6W-37215

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 8 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government which companies are included in the framework agreement for contractors providing services for Scottish Water.

Question reference: S6W-37220

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 8 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is aware of any problems with Scottish Water’s Old Meldrum project; if so, what issues have arisen, and what the (a) original and (b) final cost of the work was.

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water, and the Scottish Government does not hold the information, I have asked them to respond. Their reply is as follows:

Scottish Water’s in-house capital project delivery team was asked to deliver a project to provide capacity for growth at Oldmeldrum Wastewater Treatment Works. The project involved cleaning of an existing aeration ditch, replacement of its mechanical rotors and installation of an innovative secondary treatment unit. The renewal of the aeration ditch was delivered successfully, but the innovative element of the project was found not to be suitable in combination with the existing treatment process at the site. The forecast cost of the project was £3.3 million and the final cost was £3.9 million.

Question reference: S6W-37219

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 8 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether private sector contractors in the Scottish Water framework agreement are allowed to sub-contract.

Question reference: S6W-36821

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 8 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what specific support is being provided to farmers and food producers in areas affected by below-average rainfall and dwindling groundwater levels.

Scotland’s National Water Scarcity Plan sets out how water resources will be managed prior to and during periods of prolonged dry weather ensuring the correct balance is struck between protecting the environment and providing resource for human and economic activity.

The Scottish Government are working closely with partners to provide information and guidance on emerging water scarcity issues directly to farmers and food producers. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has sent direct communications to all agricultural abstraction licence holders providing them with an early overview of the water scarcity risks for this year and where support can be found. These direct messages will continue to be used over the summer and will be targeted to specific catchments where water scarcity becomes an issue.

The Scottish Government is actively addressing water scarcity in agriculture through the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme (AECS). The scheme promotes sustainable land management practices, including water management and water-use efficiency measures to reduce the impacts of water scarcity on the agricultural sector.

In the 2024 and 2025 rounds of AECS, applications for irrigation lagoons, which are a key measure for reducing water scarcity, were able to be made as a simplified standalone item or as part of a wider application, open until 12 June 2025. To support further uptake, in 2024 we increased the grant ceiling for irrigation lagoons from £30,000 to £40,000.

The Scottish Government funded Farm Advisory Service (FAS) and Farming and Water Scotland (FWS) programmes provides largely free information and resources for farms and crofts in Scotland. Both FAS and FWS develop and share sector-specific guidance with farmers and food produces in various formats, such as at agricultural shows, training events, podcasts, videos and in articles. Farmers and food producers can access resources related to water scarcity and water management on both the FAS and FWS websites.

Question reference: S6W-36806

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 8 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the work that it is carrying out to introduce a criminal law in respect of non-fatal strangulation.

Question reference: S6W-36800

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 8 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when it last discussed with the UK Government the provision of support to workers at Grangemouth refinery in the interim period prior to any developments from Project Willow.

Chamber and committees