Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-35609

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 25 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has conducted of the long-term viability of its free university tuition policy, in light of the reported financial pressures being experienced by universities.

The Scottish Government is resolutely committed to free tuition, and the position that access to university should remain based on the ability to learn and not the ability to pay. This commitment to free tuition also means that, unlike elsewhere in the UK, Scottish students studying in Scotland do not incur additional debt of up to £27,750 and average student loan debt in Scotland is the lowest in the UK.

The Scottish Government fully appreciates the financial sustainability challenges being faced by many universities across the UK due to a range of factors, including the impact of UK Government immigration policies on international student recruitment, and the increase to employers’ National Insurance Contributions. While universities are autonomous institutions with responsibility for their own strategic and operational decision making, the Scottish Government and Scottish Funding Council will continue to offer support to individual institutions as they develop their own plans to mitigate financial challenges.

The Scottish Government listened closely to the university sector in the development of this year’s budget, which is why we are investing over £1.1 billion in university teaching and research in 2025-26. Since February we have also announced a further £25 million to support universities facing financial challenges.

Question reference: S6W-35598

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 25 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the performance of the system for providing grants for the installation of heat pumps in each of the last three years, showing the (a) number of applications (i) received and (ii) approved, (b) average time for approval and (d) number of applications currently outstanding.

The following information provided relates to the Home Energy Scotland (HES) Grant and Loan Scheme, which provides funding to install heat pumps and other measures to domestic owner occupied households in Scotland.

a) Table 1 outlines the number of heat pump applications i) received and ii) approved (i.e. legal commitments made to applicants) from 2022-23 until 28 February 2025.

Table 1:

No of applications	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25 (until 28 February 2025)
i) received	2537	3085	2920
ii) approved	2214	2791	2872

It is important to note that application processing timelines mean that the number of legal commitments made are not a direct subset of the number of applications received, for all there will be substantial crossover between the two.

b) I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-24187 on 19 January 2024. 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.

c) As of 28 February 2025, there were 208 live heat pump applications for which a decision remained outstanding, the majority of which had been submitted in January and February 2025. This number includes applications on hold awaiting further information or supporting documents from applicants.

Question reference: S6W-35608

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 25 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether its current funding model for higher education is sustainable, in light of reports of universities’ increasing financial deficits.

The Scottish Government recognises the pivotal role played by Scotland’s world-class universities in our economy and wider society. Ministers listened closely to the sector in the development of this year’s budget and are investing over £1.1 billion in university teaching and research. Since February we have also announced a further £25 million to support universities facing financial challenges.

The Scottish Government fully appreciates the financial sustainability challenges being faced by many universities across the UK due to a range of factors, including the impact of UK Government immigration policies on international student recruitment, and the increase to employers’ National Insurance Contributions. While universities are autonomous institutions with responsibility for their own strategic and operational decision making, the Scottish Government and Scottish Funding Council will continue to offer support to individual institutions as they develop their own plans to mitigate financial challenges. The Scottish Government and Scottish Funding Council will also continue its engagement with Universities Scotland and individual institutions on a range of issues, including the future sustainability of the sector.

Question reference: S6W-35611

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 25 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is considering reviewing the reported cap on domestic university student numbers, in light of Scotland's universities' reported reliance on international fees to compensate for any shortfalls in government funding.

Through the Scottish Funding Council’s (SFC) annual allocations process, universities are allocated funding for the provision of funded undergraduate places for eligible Scottish domiciled students. It is then for the universities themselves to decide how to distribute these places along with postgraduate and alternatively funded undergraduate places between faculties and the courses they offer. Universities are responsible for their own admissions policies but should consider their long-term stability by actively diversifying their international student intake and seeking alternative funding sources. Indicative allocations of funding for 2025-26 will be published on SFC’s website in the next few weeks.

Scotland’s first International Education Strategy, published in February last year, highlighted the positive impact that international students make to our universities, colleges, communities, and economy.

Through the SFC, we invest over £1.1bn for teaching and research in Scotland’s universities and this investment in university education ensures that Scottish domiciled and international students benefit from the learning provided by our world-class universities in near-record numbers. We have boosted financing for the entire university sector by £27 million, or 3.5%, as part of the 2025-26 budget, which is higher than the 3.1% increase that English universities receive through tuition fees. It’s important to be clear that institutions across the UK often cross-subsidise teaching and research activities through other sources of income, this practice is common across the UK under different funding models.

Question reference: S6W-35606

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 25 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the recently announced £100 million of apprenticeship funding by (a) sector and (b) region.

Scottish Government are unable to provide this information at present.

The recently announced £102 million apprenticeship funding for 2025-26 represents a projection of the funding Skills Development Scotland (SDS) will spend to support 25,500 new Modern Apprenticeship (MA) starts and 2,500 Foundation Apprenticeship (FA) starts, as well as MAs and FAs already in training.

Skills Development Scotland (SDS) are currently completing the contract/grant award process for 2025-26 so are unable to confirm the exact figure until all contracts are accepted by providers.

It should be noted that SDS are exercising a Plus 1 extension period to the Modern Apprenticeship (MA) contracts for 2025-26, therefore providers are allocated the same volumes as they were awarded at the start of the 2024-25 contract year.

The 2024-25 MA awards have been published and can be accessed via the link below for further insight into the distribution of provision: https://www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk/media/1r4etei1/modern-apprenticeships-april-24-25-contracts-by-framework.pdf

Foundation Apprenticeship Grant Awards totalling 2,500 opportunities have been issued to existing SDS-funded learning providers, including Local Authorities and Independent Learning Providers, for delivery commencing in academic year
2025-26. SDS is unable to confirm an exact figure until all contract awards are accepted by providers.

It should be noted that the Scottish Funding Council also support both Modern and Foundation Apprenticeships, and will provide 2,500 Foundation Apprenticeship opportunities this year.

Question reference: S6W-35527

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 25 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action is has taken to encourage a modal shift to rail following the end of the removal of peak fares pilot, and how it is monitoring the effectiveness of any such interventions.

I have instructed ScotRail to continue to offer 20% discounts on season tickets until September 2025. The value for money of Flexipass remains permanently improved and recognising the increased popularity of this product since the end of the pilot, ScotRail has recently expanded its availability to cover all gated stations. ScotRail is committed to the ongoing development of this ticket type.

We are seeing an increase in passengers on our railway - passenger journeys on our publicly owned train services are up 4.5% for each 4-week period this year compared to the same period last year when the trial was running.

ScotRail will continue to develop fare initiatives to attract more passengers while providing savings and additional value to existing rail users, such as the launch of its new app ‘Tap&Pay’, which will automatically provide the best value fare.

Question reference: S6W-35533

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 10 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 25 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce waiting times for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) assessments in the Highlands and Islands region.

The Scottish Government has allocated £123 million to Health Boards this year to improve the quality and delivery of mental health and psychological services, including neurodevelopmental services, for both adults and Children and Young People.

We are taking steps to ensure local services are supported and we engage regularly with NHS boards regarding their provision of support for neurodivergent people.

For children and young people, we are working closely with NHS Boards and local authorities towards implementing the National Neurodevelopmental Specification for Children and Young People in full. This will help ensure that children and families receive the support and access to services that meet their needs at the earliest opportunity.

We have also commissioned the National Autism Implementation Team to support NHS Boards to develop, enhance and redesign adult neurodevelopmental services. NHS Highland was one of four NHS Boards funded by the Scottish Government to trial adult neurodevelopmental pathways in 2022.

Question reference: S6T-02447

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Monday, 24 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers that the reported £203 million it spent on external advisers to help administer agricultural support payments to be good value for money.

Question reference: S6T-02446

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider an independent external evaluation of the pilot scheme that provides victims in rape and serious assault cases with access to transcripts, in light of reports of some waiting a year for transcripts of their court cases.

Question reference: S6T-02448

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 24 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what practical steps it is taking to review the funding model for Scottish universities, in light of recent reports that the number of international students enrolled at Scottish universities fell by more than 10% between 2023 and 2024.

Chamber and committees