Parliamentary questions
Pam Duncan-Glancy
1,119 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
7 Apr 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how the £900,000 that was allocated to local authorities in March 2024 to provide professional learning for school support staff in response to distressed behaviour was distributed; what criteria were used to determine allocations; what proportion of support staff has received trai…
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: I refer the member to question S6W-36439 on 22 April 2025. 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-quest…
2 Apr 2025 · Written Question
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.
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: 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 …
1 Apr 2025 · Written Question
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 yearsince 2007-08 in (i) cash and (ii) real terms.
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: 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…
28 Mar 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that all aspects of the child contact process, including legal proceedings, court-ordered contact arrangements and the use and condition of contact centres, (a) meet the needs of children with additional support needs, including autism, (b) prioritise …
Answer · Siobhian Brown: The Scottish Government plans to lay secondary legislation in summer 2025 to add child contact services to the list of care services that the Care Inspectorate regulates. The Care Inspectorate will develop a Quality Framework for child contact services to hel…
26 Mar 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to encourage GP practices in Glasgow to assess the access requirements of their patients.
Answer · Neil Gray: GP practices in Glasgow, and elsewhere, must meet minimum standards for their practice premises which comply with their obligations under the Equality Act. This includes taking such steps as are reasonable to provide for ease of access to the practice premise…
19 Mar 2025 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the economy secretary has had with ministerial colleagues regarding the contribution that the cultural sector makes to Glasgow and the west of Scotland’s economy.
11 Mar 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing through its No One Left Behind programme to help disabled people access employment.
Answer · Tom Arthur: No One Left Behind, has a key role to play in meeting our commitment to halving the Disability Employment Gap by 2038. Through a concerted focus on delivering person centred, place-based employability support, there has been significant progress in reaching a…
11 Mar 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to support disabled people's access to digital connectivity, including in rural areas.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: The Scottish Government recognises that both rurality and disability can create additional barriers to accessing the internet and is, across a number of programmes, addressing these barriers.The Scottish Government’s Connecting Scotland programme, deliv…
11 Mar 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to support peer support networks for disabled people (a) in Glasgow and (b) nationally, and what its position is on the importance of such networks with regard to their human rights.
Answer · Kaukab Stewart: The Scottish Government greatly values Disabled People’s Organisations (DPOs) across Scotland. We know that many disabled people currently face significant barriers. DPOs support thousands of disabled people across Scotland through programmes which buil…
11 Mar 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to provide advocacy for disabled (a) children and young people and (b) adults in education.
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: The Scottish Government continues to fund Partners in Advocacy with £295,00 per year to deliver the My Rights, My Say, Children’s Service. This service supports children aged 12-15 to access advocacy and legal representation to enable them to be f…
10 Mar 2025 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to support cultural activities for children and young people in Glasgow.
5 Mar 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to creating a unique learner number system; whether legislation would be required to implement such a system, and, if so, whether it plans to bring forward such legislation.
Answer · Graeme Dey: The Scottish Government is in the early stages of considering afresh the purpose and potential benefits a unique learner number could bring including the role, if any, of existing reference numbers held on data sources.It is not yet possible to say if legisla…
4 Mar 2025 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to review the experience of support staff in schools.
3 Mar 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Educational Institute of Scotland's MSP Briefing on Instrumental Music Provision, which was published in February 2025.
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: The most recent Instrumental Music Survey published in January 2025 shows the number of pupils accessing free instrumental music tuition was the highest on record since the survey began in 2012.Since 2021-22 we have provided dedicated funding to local authori…
27 Feb 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to change initial teacher education places for primary school teachers, and, if so, what changes it is considering.
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Following our annual teacher workforce planning process, which included detailed statistical modelling, and advice from the Teacher Workforce Planning Advisory Group, we wrote to the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) in February 2025, with recommendations for In…
27 Feb 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what funding is available for NHS boards to implement A&E department opt-out HIV and blood borne virus testing.
Answer · Jenni Minto: The Scottish Government has provided specific funding (totalling around £145,000) for Emergency Department (ED) opt-out blood borne virus testing pilots in NHS Lothian, Grampian and Highland. At present, any other ED opt-out testing would be delivered b…
27 Feb 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-27708 by Jenni Minto on 29 May 2024, when it plans to make a final decision on the long-term roll-out of A&E department opt-out HIV and blood borne virus testing (a) in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, (b) in other areas regarded by the National I…
Answer · Jenni Minto: Work is ongoing to establish whether Emergency Department (ED) opt-out testing for blood borne viruses would be acceptable, deliverable and cost-effective in areas of higher diagnosed prevalence, or across the whole of Scotland. Two of the pilot projects comm…
26 Feb 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to outline its plans to examine options for teacher training on additional support needs (ASN) and analyse the number of teacher training hours attributed to ASN.
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: All teachers undertake additional support needs (ASN) training during Initial Teacher Education (ITE), which is a requirement to meet the Professional Standards for registration with the General Teaching Council of Scotland.We have asked the Scottish Council …
26 Feb 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to support data-sharing arrangements as part of the pilot of the wider basket of measures on widening access to higher education.
Answer · Graeme Dey: The Scottish Government is committed to breaking down the barriers to higher education. To help towards achieving the widening access targets we are working with partners in the North-East of Scotland on a pilot to evaluate the impact of Free School Meal data…
26 Feb 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the reported proportion of blind or seriously visually-impaired entrants to university in 2022-23 being 0.1%, the same proportion as 2012-13, and what action it has taken to improve this figure.
Answer · Graeme Dey: The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all students with a disability, long term medical condition or additional support needs are able to access further and higher education and are fully supported throughout their studies.It is for institutio…
25 Feb 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what support it has given to youth work organisations to engage in the Scottish Educational Exchange Programme (SEEP); how many such organisations have (a) applied for and (b) received funding each year through SEEP; how it is ensuring that SEEP has a focus on quality…
Answer · Graeme Dey: The Scottish Education Exchange Programme Test and Learn Project (SEEP) has been developed in partnership with colleges and universities and over the first 2 years has supported 56 projects focusing on closing the shortfall between the UK Government Turing Sc…
20 Feb 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many patients were on waiting lists for physical activity programmes (a) in total and (b) for over a year, in each of the last five years.
Answer · Maree Todd: Physical Activity referral schemes are operated by Health Boards according to local need. The information requested on waiting lists is not held centrally.
20 Feb 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many patients were on waiting lists for physiotherapy (a) in total and (b) for over three months, in each of the last five years.
Answer · Neil Gray: The requested statistics are collected and published by Public Health Scotland (PHS).Published statistics on the length of time patients wait for a first outpatient appointment at Allied Health Professional (AHP) led Musculoskeletal (MSK) services are availab…
20 Feb 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many patients were on waiting lists for rheumatology services (a) in total and (b) for over three months, in each of the last five years.
Answer · Neil Gray: Public Health Scotland's (PHS) Stage of treatment (Sot) Publication provides statistics on the length of time patients wait to be seen as a new outpatient or admitted for treatment as an inpatient or day case The latest publication release contains data to qu…
20 Feb 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many patients were on waiting lists for orthopaedic surgery (a) in total and (b) for over a year, in each of the last five years.
Answer · Neil Gray: Public Health Scotland's (PHS) Stage of Treatment (SoT) publication provides statistics on the length of time patients wait to be seen as a new outpatient or admitted for treatment as an inpatient or day case. The latest publication release contains data up t…
20 Feb 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what work it is undertaking to address the needs of the reported 1.7 million people in Scotland with a musculoskeletal (MSK) condition.
Answer · Jenni Minto: The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that people living in Scotland with musculoskeletal conditions can access the best possible care and support.We expect health care professionals and NHS Boards to deliver high quality person-centred care to tho…
17 Feb 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to publish the results of the consultation on homecare medicines services, and any resulting recommendations.
Answer · Jenni Minto: In April 2023, the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer (CPO) announced an Independent Medicines Homecare Review in response to reports of failings in the standards of care provided across Scotland and the increasing demand for medicines homecare provision.The CPO wi…
5 Feb 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-32776 by Jenny Gilruth on 14 January 2025, whether it will publish its analysis of the relocation options for the accreditation function of the SQA, and, if so, by what date.
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: In 2022 the Scottish Government conducted a full analysis of the different options for relocating the SQA’s accreditation function. As of 11 March 2025 and in response to this question the analysis has now been published at Education reform: location of…
30 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what quality standards are required to be met by any providers used by Social Security Scotland to supply letters in an accessible format.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: Social Security Scotland recognises that clients can have complex and varied accessibility needs. Letters are available in a number of different languages and formats, including Braille, easy read and large print.Before letters are changed to an alternative f…
30 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether a request to Social Security Scotland for communication via email to meet the access requirements of someone with a visual impairment is a reasonable request, and what it is doing to facilitate this.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: Social Security Scotland recognises that clients have complex and varied accessibility needs for communicating with us. Clients have told us that they require a choice in how we communicate with them. For example, some clients may prefer to engage with us thr…