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: S6F-04000

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 April 2025

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-03999

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 April 2025

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-04008

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 April 2025

To ask the First Minister, in light of the reported issues arising from proposed rural nursery closures or mothballing, including the potential impact on the sustainability of rural communities and the operation of primary schools, whether the Scottish Government will review the relevant legislation and the guidance on criteria for protecting rural primary schools from closure.

Question reference: S6F-04001

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 April 2025

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-36811

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 22 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of a recent UK-wide survey suggesting that 17% of NHS staff did not consider their building to be safe, whether it will commission a similar survey of NHS Scotland staff.

The iMatter Continuous Improvement Programme, which was developed by NHSScotland staff, enables the measurements of staff experience and employee engagement across all 22 Health Boards as well as participating Health and Social Care Partnerships.

This enables Health Boards to ensure that the insights and experiences of staff are captured and acknowledged, helping to influence and shape initiatives to enhance staff support.

Question reference: S6W-36772

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 22 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the teacher vacancy rate has been in each of the last five years, broken down by (a) local authority area, (b)(i) primary, (ii) secondary and (iii) special schools and (c) subject for secondary education.

Question reference: S6W-36633

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 07 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 22 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-35365 by Jenny Gilruth on 11 March 2025, what progress it has made on any commitments in relation to (a) mainstreaming instrumental music tuition and (b) ensuring General Teaching Council for Scotland registration for instrumental music teachers.

As stated in my previous response to S6W-35365, Instrumental Music Tuition is offered in all local authority areas as an optional extra complementing classroom music lessons which form part of the Expressive Arts curriculum for all children.

Since 2021-22 the Scottish Government has provided dedicated funding to local authorities to remove fees for instrumental music. A further £12 million will be provided to councils in 2025-26, bringing the total funding since 2021-22 up to £51.3 million.

The Scottish Government continues to engage closely with a range of partners, including local authorities, teacher unions and the GTCS, to implement our commitments on instrumental music tuition. We intend to discuss detailed options in relation to GTCS Registration with interested parties in the coming months.

Question reference: S6W-36635

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 22 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether brokerage will be available to any NHS board in 2025-26.

Alan Gray, Director of Health and Social Care Finance, wrote to Chief Executives of NHS Scotland on 04 December 2024 to provide the details of the indicative funding settlement for NHS Boards in the Scottish Government Budget 2025-26.

The letter confirmed that brokerage would not be available for 2025-26 and that NHS Boards would be expected to work towards a break-even trajectory in their three-year financial plans.

Following submission of three-year plans, Boards who are not anticipating to breakeven have been required to submit recovery plans for 2025-26 to achieve set levels of overspend. Should these not be agreed, these boards will be required to seek authority from the Scottish Government to spend above agreed levels.

NHS Board overspends in 2025-26, up to and inclusive of the agreed levels, are not repayable and will not be included in historic cumulative brokerage levels. For NHS Boards who are forecasting breakeven positions in their financial plan, no deficit is permitted and any overspend will be included as an overspend in their financial statements.

Question reference: S6W-36568

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 04 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 22 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that people across Scotland are able to exercise their legal rights to (a) assembly, (b) demonstrate and (c) peacefully protest, without fear of undue harassment or victimisation by law enforcement.

The Scottish Government is fully committed to supporting people’s rights to public assembly and protest. The operational policing of protests and demonstrations is rightly a matter for Police Scotland and their priority will always be maintaining public safety. The Scottish Government supports Police Scotland, as a rights-based organisation, to take appropriate and proportionate action in response to any criminal offences and to maintain public order at, and around, such events. We have funded the Centre for Good Relations to run training courses to upskill stewards and marshals involved in facilitating marches, parades and protests. This training is available free of change and has received very positive feedback in 2024-25, which is why we are continuing to support this in 2025-26.

Question reference: S6W-36558

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 22 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it has issued regarding the use of AI in schools.

Decisions about the use of AI are currently determined by Local Authorities and schools. Guidance for teachers regarding the use of AI is available through Education Scotland: Teaching and Learning with Artificial Intelligence (AI) | Resources | Education Scotland.

Guidance around the use of Generative AI in assessments is available through the SQA: Generative artificial intelligence (AI) in assessments - SQA. This guidance is currently under review and will be updated in the near future.

The Scottish Government is actively considering the role of AI in schools. Following the recent International Summit on the Teaching Profession, we have committed to consider carefully the guidance produced by the OECD and Education International, and to create an equivalent set of guidelines and guardrails for the Scottish context.