Paul Sweeney

26 Jun 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) university training placements for dental therapists there currently are across Scotland in total and (b) students are currently studying dental therapy. 

Answer · Jenni Minto: The dental therapy degree, BSc (Oral Health Science), is delivered by Glasgow Caledonian University, University of Dundee, University of Highland and Islands and University of Edinburgh. The Scottish Government had an agreed annual target of 40 dental therapi…

26 Jun 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many dental therapists work in (a) Scotland in total and (b) general dental practices that offer NHS services, as of 2025.

Answer · Jenni Minto: The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally. However, we have been able to access the latest workforce survey, published by NHS Education for Scotland (NES) on 31 December 2024. There are approximately 267 WTE dental therapists currently …

23 Jun 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has provided for the specific purpose of providing support to school pupils with addiction issues in each of the last four years, broken down by the proportion that was provided to (a) local authorities and (b) the third sector.

Answer · Maree Todd: The Scottish Government provides early access to substance use treatment and support for all those who need it through the National Mission. This has been backed by an investment of £250 million over the life of the Parliament.Responsibility for school …

23 Jun 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to a reported increase in the use of, and addiction to, highly concentrated cannabis-infused vape products, also known as BHO vapes or shatter vapes, by school pupils, and what assessment it has made of any link between these products and violence in schools.

Answer · Maree Todd: The use of vapes containing harmful substances among young people is concerning. The Scottish Government is taking forward substance use education work in our schools through Curriculum for Excellence, where children and young people learn about a variety of …

23 Jun 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to promote the creation of safe, long-distance walking routes as part of Scotland's active travel network.

Answer · Mairi Gougeon: NatureScot, on behalf of Scottish Government, currently run a Long Distance Trails Forum which brings together trail managers, including the 4 Long Distance Routes and wider ‘Great Trails’, from across Scotland to share good practice, knowledge an…

19 Jun 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether there is any statutory impediment to Glasgow City Council or any of its network of wholly and partly owned arm's-length external organisations (ALEOs) becoming a registered social landlord.

Answer · Mairi McAllan: The Housing (Scotland) Act 2010 sets out the legislative criteria for becoming a Registered Social Landlord (RSL) and the Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) sets regulatory criteria under section 25 of the 2010 Act. A prospective RSL must meet both sets of crit…

19 Jun 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what progress Social Security Scotland has made in making sure that frontline staff are trained in the particular needs of the veteran community, to ensure that veterans are not subjected to any unnecessary misunderstanding or distress when accessing financial support.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: Social Security Scotland recognises and values a wide range of diverse groups beyond the nine protected characteristics set out in the Equality Act 2010, including a strong commitment to the armed forces community – veterans and their families.The organ…

19 Jun 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether Social Security Scotland (SSS) will follow the example of Scotland's local authorities and NHS boards by creating a network of armed forces and veterans champions within SSS to (a) help raise awareness of issues faced by the armed forces community, veterans and their families and…

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: Social Security Scotland is committed to supporting the Armed Forces Community, including veterans and their families.Following publication of the Scottish Veterans Commissioner’s report and recommendations on veterans’ experiences in accessing be…

19 Jun 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what support is available for patients who have been prescribed naloxegol and are affected by the reported widespread shortages of the drug.

Answer · Jenni Minto: The Scottish Government issued a Medicine Supply Alert Notice (MSAN) relating to supply disruption of the medicine naloxegol on 25 April 2024. The anticipated resupply date for the medicine has since been moved to 15 August 2025 and the medicine is unavailabl…

19 Jun 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S6W- 32914 and S6W- 32915 by Jenni Minto on 16 January 2025, and following the issuing of a Medicines Supply Alert Notice on 25 April 2024, whether it will provide an update on what progress has been made with securing adequate supplies of naloxegol.

Answer · Jenni Minto: The supply of medicines and the associated legislation are a reserved matter for the UK Government and the Scottish Government continues to engage with them on all medicine supply issues. The UK Department of Health and Social Care have stated that while the …

18 Jun 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether Scotland's Railway will commission a project to extend mobile phone network coverage to the Cowlairs Tunnel.

Answer · Richard Lochhead: The member might be aware that on Thursday 26 June 2025 the Secretary of State for Transport announced Project Reach deal signed to boost connectivity and remove mobile signal blackspots on the rail network. ScotRail has engaged with Network Rail to improve c…

18 Jun 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made to develop and align private sector incubators within the national entrepreneurial infrastructure.

Answer · Richard Lochhead: The Scottish Government is committed to strengthening Scotland’s national entrepreneurial infrastructure. As part of this, we have procured CodeBase to deliver the Techscaler programme, which supports the creation and growth of tech startups across the …

18 Jun 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made in the development of a national system of pre-scaler hubs to stimulate early-stage entrepreneurship.

Answer · Richard Lochhead: The Scottish Government is stimulating early-stage entrepreneurship through a range of measures. In 2024, South of Scotland Enterprise led a £1.5m regional pilot of the pre-start approach set out in the recommendations of Ana Stewart and Mark Logan Path…

18 Jun 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will call in planning application 24/01680/FUL for the "erection of purpose-built student accommodation with ground floor food hall (Class 1A), food and drink (Class 3), public house and hot food takeaway (Sui generis), and assembly and leisure uses (Class 11) with associated …

Answer · Shona Robison: This application was notified to Scottish Ministers on 18 June 2025, as Glasgow City Council is minded to approve it against the advice of Historic Environment Scotland. Ministers have an initial 28-day period from the date of notification to consider whether…

17 Jun 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-38261 by Angela Constance on 17 June 2025, what the change in budget in real terms is for 2025-26 once inflation has been taken into account. 

Answer · Siobhian Brown: The 2025-26 budget for the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit (SVRU) is £1.217 million, which represents a £47,000 uplift when compared to their 2024-25 budget, and a 1.3% real terms increase in funding. This increase will allow the SVRU to respond …

13 Jun 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the number of buses ordered to date under the second phase of the Scottish Zero Emission Bus Challenge Fund (ScotZEB 2) by (a) manufacturer and (b) place of manufacture.

Answer · Jim Fairlie: Through the second phase of the Scottish Zero Emission Bus Challenge Fund (ScotZEB) a consortium of companies was awarded £41.7 million capital from the Scottish Government to support the purchase of more than 250 vehicles and the installation of their …

13 Jun 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the number of buses ordered under the first phase of the Scottish Zero Emission Bus Challenge Fund (ScotZEB 1) by (a) manufacturer and (b) place of manufacture.

Answer · Jim Fairlie: Through the first phase of the Scottish Zero Emission Bus Challenge Fund (ScotZEB) operating companies were awarded £62 million capital from the Scottish Government to buy 273 zero emission vehicles and their charging infrastructure. The following table…

9 Jun 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the timescale will be for the publication of the revised Good Food Nation plan.

Answer · Mairi Gougeon: I refer the member to the answers to question S6W-38063 answered on 12 June, and question S6W-38064 answered on 10 June 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found …

8 Jun 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when measurements of the noise of the central urban motorway in Glasgow were last taken, and what noise reduction measures are being introduced on the motorway through Glasgow as part of planned works at key locations such as Charing Cross and the Woodside Viaducts.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: Noise monitoring at Woodside Viaduct is conducted for a range of purposes, including meeting legislative obligations, responding to requests from Glasgow City Council, or upon receipt of a complaint.Monitoring began on 19 July 2021, as part of site compound l…

6 Jun 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to increase business research and development (R&D) spending in Scotland, in light of reported research by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) that shows that Scotland's business enterprise R&D intensity in 2022 was only…

Answer · Richard Lochhead: The Scottish Government recognises that while Scotland is ranked among the top OECD countries and top performing UK regions in Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) spend as a percentage of GDP, Scotland’s Business Enterprise Research and Dev…

6 Jun 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to (a) businesses and (b) public institutions to develop ideas and products through NASA's Technological Readiness Levels 4 to 6, commonly referred to within innovation circles as the "valley of death" due to the complexities of developing a product from the …

Answer · Richard Lochhead: Scotland’s Innovation Strategy sets out actions to make Scotland one of the most innovative small nations in the world. We will use innovation as a productivity driver to grow the economy and create jobs in areas of strength.Scotland’s Enterprise …

6 Jun 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to any Scottish firms bidding for contracts in the UK-wide civil nuclear sector.

Answer · Kate Forbes: Our enterprise agencies provide a range of services to help Scottish companies innovate, grow and access new opportunities. The support provided to individual companies is tailored according to their requirements, and is an operational matter for the agencies.

4 Jun 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what timeline has been set for the next review of the Charter of Patient Rights and Responsibilities.

Answer · Neil Gray: As required under the Patient Rights (Scotland) Act 2011, the Charter must be reviewed at least once every 5 years. The Charter was last published in October 2022 and is scheduled to be reviewed in 2027.

4 Jun 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many dental practices registered with Healthcare Improvement Scotland as independent clinics in 2024-25, and, of those, how many had previously been providers of general dental services with their local NHS boards.

Answer · Jenni Minto: The Scottish Government do not hold this information.Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) can be contacted for information related to independent clinics registered with them.

4 Jun 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether extra resources have been provided to Healthcare Improvement Scotland, in light of reports of an increased number of dentists choosing to register their practices as independent clinics.

Answer · Jenni Minto: The regulation of independent health care, including dentists registered as independent clinics, is funded through fees paid to Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) by its regulated independent health care services. These fees fund HIS’ regulation acti…

4 Jun 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) pharmacists and (b) pharmacy technicians have registered with Healthcare Improvement Scotland as independent clinics since the coming into force of the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978 (Independent Health Care) Modification Order 2024 on 19 June 2024.

Answer · Jenni Minto: This information is not held by the Scottish Government however Health Improvement Scotland (HIS) have advised that since pharmacists and pharmacy technicians were added to the definition of an independent clinic on 19 June 2024, four pharmacists led independ…

4 Jun 2025 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will reconsider its policy to not use public money to support the manufacture of munitions in order that Scottish Enterprise can reconsider the eligibility of the £2.5 million grant funding towards the £11 million investment in a new naval welding centre on the Cly…

1 Jun 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it anticipates that the population of Glasgow city will recover to one million people.

Answer · Angus Robertson: I have asked Alison Byrne, Chief Executive of NRS to respond. Her response is:As of mid-2023 (30 June 2023), the population of Glasgow City council area was estimated at 631,970. National Records of Scotland (NRS) has produced mid-year population estimates fo…

1 Jun 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish the current full reserve list of projects for the 2025-26 Regeneration Capital Grant Fund (RCGF).

Answer · Kate Forbes: We do not intend on publishing a list of reserved projects. Two projects have been reserved, these are Springburn Winter Gardens in Glasgow City Council and Glenboig Community Greenspace, North Lanarkshire Council.

31 May 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of (a) direct employment and (b) agency employment on current public sector construction contracts.

Answer · Ivan McKee: Scottish Government does not centrally collect this information for its own construction contracts or for those awarded by other Scottish public bodies.