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-36112

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 15 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether safety standards, including minimum overhead clearance heights for new electricity infrastructure, should exceed the statutory minimum requirements to anticipate future developments in agricultural machinery.

Question reference: S6W-36110

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 15 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks regarding the potential hazards associated with agricultural irrigators near high-voltage overhead power lines, and how these have influenced project design.

Question reference: S6W-36109

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 15 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that electricity infrastructure projects receiving public funding, such as the Tealing to Kintore upgrade project, comply with safety standards that adequately protect those working in the agriculture sector.

Question reference: S6W-36098

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 15 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks regarding the safety standards, including minimum clearance heights, proposed for the Tealing to Kintore upgrade project, and what the outcomes of those discussions were.

Question reference: S6W-36100

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 15 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any potential impact on agricultural productivity and safety of the minimum pylon heights proposed by Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks for the Tealing to Kintore upgrade project.

Question reference: S6W-36113

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 15 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that any public concerns raised during consultations on electricity infrastructure projects are transparently addressed, and how it will monitor this in relation to the Tealing to Kintore upgrade project.

Question reference: S6W-35743

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 15 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many exclusions of (a) primary and (b) secondary school pupils have taken place in each year since 1999, broken down by (i) local authority area and (ii) pupil year group.

The number of exclusions in primary and secondary schools broken down by local authority from 2005-06 is set out in Table 1 and Table 2.

Statistics on the number of exclusions in primary and secondary schools broken down by pupil stage for 2002-03-2022-23 are published in Table 1.5 of the school exclusions 2022-23 statistics.

Table 1. Cases of exclusion in primary schools by local authority since 2005-06

Local Authority	2005- 06	2006- 07	2007- 08	2008- 09	2009- 10	2010- 11	2012- 13	2014- 15	2016- 17	2018- 19	2020- 21	2022- 23
Aberdeen City	392	335	385	310	343	316	349	293	c	276	77	73
Aberdeenshire	191	223	162	182	175	102	124	118	c	c	94	c
Angus	123	172	194	134	173	94	36	29	71	84	55	65
Argyll and Bute	37	48	33	64	30	50	35	27	29	36	6	c
City of Edinburgh	390	293	339	294	265	311	245	233	268	261	137	179
Clackmannanshire	76	72	54	66	c	40	45	134	76	c	c	0
Dumfries and Galloway	82	118	121	113	94	130	84	91	132	97	38	128
Dundee City	344	376	358	255	277	264	293	205	142	80	34	40
East Ayrshire	261	148	173	143	115	94	140	201	199	185	47	c
East Dunbartonshire	50	57	49	41	43	30	47	18	25	45	17	21
East Lothian	56	111	116	148	159	110	104	94	103	38	39	86
East Renfrewshire	48	55	39	20	26	7	0	0	c	0	c	c
Falkirk	90	85	97	90	89	69	71	113	132	122	c	c
Fife	398	478	379	307	307	237	269	233	324	319	169	c
Glasgow City	874	814	794	685	530	537	420	351	520	195	79	79
Highland	137	107	163	194	189	143	138	114	c	113	78	c
Inverclyde	116	131	126	123	127	92	45	13	c	17	c	8
Midlothian	109	136	182	115	109	127	104	83	121	125	51	33
Moray	92	85	61	75	158	172	175	151	128	99	21	20
Na h-Eileanan Siar	c	9	12	c	c	c	c	0	c	c	8	c
North Ayrshire	222	170	166	148	62	101	58	42	62	c	21	50
North Lanarkshire	357	451	376	352	252	261	285	240	379	287	128	c
Orkney Islands	c	11	c	c	0	c	c	0	c	6	c	0
Perth and Kinross	309	301	232	189	136	114	153	94	97	80	58	40
Renfrewshire	213	206	151	196	149	121	65	38	81	87	35	60
Scottish Borders	134	144	179	125	133	170	170	46	85	37	7	12
Shetland Islands	10	10	c	c	c	c	c	0	0	c	c	c
South Ayrshire	46	87	83	73	41	51	32	37	38	27	15	c
South Lanarkshire	174	166	192	174	146	151	142	145	239	112	63	59
Stirling	49	84	44	80	57	62	29	55	48	53	11	8
West Dunbartonshire	127	175	102	78	54	75	55	65	92	95	37	57
West Lothian	267	356	240	164	151	144	137	215	271	130	c	c

Table 2. Cases of exclusion in secondary schools by local authority since 2005-06

Local Authority	2005- 06	2006- 07	2007- 08	2008- 09	2009- 10	2010- 11	2012- 13	2014- 15	2016- 17	2018- 19	2020- 21	2022- 23
Aberdeen City	1,237	1,426	1,157	885	1,059	951	725	579	726	945	331	573
Aberdeenshire	979	1,045	982	762	734	699	642	613	654	755	423	965
Angus	612	761	701	641	541	340	235	207	268	322	122	290
Argyll and Bute	684	729	697	534	353	334	261	191	134	169	139	c
City of Edinburgh	1,681	1,436	1,297	1,085	1,315	1,048	794	692	693	525	374	540
Clackmannanshire	366	463	488	463	402	178	100	183	121	c	c	0
Dumfries and Galloway	677	869	967	864	564	524	338	360	260	336	260	263
Dundee City	1,927	1,912	1,646	1,552	1,689	1,534	1,300	960	545	357	185	333
East Ayrshire	1,073	1,053	668	709	629	610	577	443	486	90	123	222
East Dunbartonshire	658	721	699	606	454	454	298	167	137	108	101	116
East Lothian	568	706	631	531	569	532	374	398	379	205	106	234
East Renfrewshire	144	140	118	140	142	101	47	18	c	53	c	c
Falkirk	785	801	576	547	455	426	461	293	271	226	161	150
Fife	2,385	2,645	2,341	1,943	1,677	1,573	1,255	973	868	643	469	659
Glasgow City	6,180	6,329	5,460	3,989	3,012	2,685	1,852	1,612	1,276	642	314	495
Highland	630	620	612	706	565	558	558	514	551	521	315	587
Inverclyde	826	860	805	621	559	487	328	171	154	172	121	135
Midlothian	501	566	514	526	423	476	333	401	428	269	77	165
Moray	399	411	451	281	250	282	276	280	268	172	151	227
Na h-Eileanan Siar	68	86	104	93	62	86	83	19	c	c	71	c
North Ayrshire	1,916	1,895	1,613	1,154	898	705	529	367	300	178	152	320
North Lanarkshire	2,794	3,165	2,470	2,408	2,254	1,817	1,530	1,189	1,152	1,293	603	500
Orkney Islands	16	18	23	39	41	21	9	c	c	11	c	43
Perth and Kinross	655	703	552	465	501	457	354	386	346	411	181	328
Renfrewshire	1,533	1,406	1,200	1,048	948	852	609	348	408	553	446	638
Scottish Borders	383	422	501	486	522	375	479	239	228	255	58	116
Shetland Islands	43	38	39	42	32	21	16	c	21	c	c	c
South Ayrshire	1,126	1,157	818	594	415	329	246	230	213	216	198	c
South Lanarkshire	2,329	2,224	2,302	1,763	1,763	1,517	1,254	929	986	802	472	721
Stirling	246	217	217	154	165	134	162	138	156	168	78	124
West Dunbartonshire	1,376	1,120	816	732	520	574	338	295	437	276	180	181
West Lothian	1,492	1,519	1,440	1,341	1,152	1,008	743	889	859	602	410	330

These statistics include temporary exclusions only. These statistics relate to cases of exclusion so due to pupils being excluded multiple times, some pupils may be double-counted.

The Scottish Government does not hold exclusion data from before 2005-06.

Since 2010-11, the Scottish Government has collected exclusion data every two years, meaning data is only available for odd-numbered years after this point.

Question reference: S6W-36103

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 15 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether proposed minimum safety clearance heights for overhead power lines should be adjusted in response to the increasing size of modern agricultural machinery used across Angus and Aberdeenshire.

Question reference: S6W-36064

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Dorothy Bain on 15 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of fatal accident inquiries have resulted in criminal proceedings or disciplinary action in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-36102

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 15 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the potential environmental impact, whether it has raised or plans to raise any concerns with Ofgem regarding the adequacy of the Accelerated Strategic Transmission Investment standards, particularly the minimum height requirement for overhead power lines in areas of prime agricultural land.