Parliamentary questions
Miles Briggs
4,209 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
27 Mar 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many children and young people have received a private diagnosis for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in each year since 1999.
Answer · Maree Todd: The Scottish Government does not collect this data.The Scottish Government is committed to implementing the National Neurodevelopmental Specification: Principles and Standards of Care for Children and Young People, published in September 2021, which specifies…
27 Mar 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many children and young people have received a private diagnosis for autism in each year since 1999.
Answer · Maree Todd: The Scottish Government does not collect this data.The Scottish Government is committed to implementing the National Neurodevelopmental Specification: Principles and Standards of Care for Children and Young People, published in September 2021, which specifies…
27 Mar 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much each NHS board should have received in funding to reach National Resource Allocation Formula parity, broken down by NHS board.
Answer · Neil Gray: In 2025-26 we will provide an additional £55.6 million in funding for NRAC parity, ensuring that all Boards remain within 0.6% of parity.Since 2012-13, over £4 billion of additional funding has been committed to those NHS Boards below their NRAC p…
27 Mar 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many callouts have been made to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to respond to fires involving rechargeable lithium-ion battery devices in flats in each year since 2010.
Answer · Siobhian Brown: The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) have provided some of the information requested. According to SFRS data since 2009-2010 there have been a total of 39 lithium-ion battery related fires and incidents in purpose-built flats, converted flats and tenem…
27 Mar 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action its ministers and government agencies have taken to investigate the reported number of patients exposed to stilbestrol.
Answer · Jenni Minto: The Scottish Government is not aware of any actions to investigate the reported number of people exposed to diethystilbesterol (also known as DES or stilbesterol).The regulation for the licensing, safety and efficacy of medicines is reserved to the UK Governm…
27 Mar 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the average pupil-teacher ratio has been in schools in each local authority area in each year since 1999, also broken down by (a) primary, (b) secondary and (c) special schools.
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Statistics on pupil teacher ratio at local authority and sector level are published annually the Scottish Government website: https://www.gov.scot/publications/teacher-census-supplementary-statistics/Statistics prior to 2004 are not available.
27 Mar 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what records NHS Scotland holds on the purchasing of the drug stilbestrol.
Answer · Jenni Minto: The NHS in Scotland holds data on the prescribing of diethylstilbestrol (otherwise known as DES or stilbestrol) in both primary care and secondary care.Data on primary care usage of medicines is published and available on the Public Health Scotland website Sh…
27 Mar 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what review has been undertaken into access to cervical screening for young people under the age of 25.
Answer · Jenni Minto: Screening policy in Scotland is based on recommendations from the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), an expert advisory group which advises the UK nations on all aspects of screening. The UK NSC reviewed the starting age for cervical screening in 2013 …
27 Mar 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many children and young people have been refused a co-ordinated support plan in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Where a child or young person requires a co-ordinated support plan, education authorities have a legal duty to have arrangements in place to identify this need.As part of our work through the ASL Action Plan, we are developing national professional learning r…
27 Mar 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what measures it is taking to ensure that colleges remain competitive in attracting international students, compared with colleges in other parts of the UK and internationally.
Answer · Graeme Dey: Scotland’s first International Education Strategy (IES), published in February last year, highlighted the positive impact that international students make to our colleges and sets out the actions that the Scottish Government will take with both colleges…
27 Mar 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what policies are in place regarding the provision of an NHS prescription following a private diagnosis of (a) attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and (b) autism.
Answer · Maree Todd: GPs are responsible for providing patients with appropriate care whether they have been treated on the NHS or privately. This may include medication, depending on an individual patient’s need. GPs are not obliged to follow the recommendations of a priva…
27 Mar 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much Pupil Equity Funding has not been spent or has been returned to it in each financial year since its introduction.
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Since 2017-18, more than £1 billion of Pupil Equity Funding has been allocated to 97% of Scotland’s schools. Headteachers use Pupil Equity Funding to support activity over the academic, rather than financial, year, and the National Operational Gui…
27 Mar 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many Scottish-domiciled students have studied at universities in England in each year since 1999.
Answer · Graeme Dey: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-33295 on 28 January 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-committe…
27 Mar 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to make representations to COSLA in relation to a review of education funding formulas, in light of the introduction of VAT on fees for independent schools and any potential for increased state school admissions.
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Scottish Government has no plans to make such representations.The distribution methodology for calculating the Local Government Settlement is agreed with local authorities and is informed by a number of indicators including pupil numbers from the latest annua…
27 Mar 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what representation its ministers have made to the UK Government regarding patients that have potentially been exposed to stilbestrol.
Answer · Jenni Minto: Scottish Ministers have not made representation to the UK Government on this issue as the regulation for the licensing, safety and efficacy of medicines is reserved to the UK Government and is the responsibility of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regula…
26 Mar 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what measures it is taking to promote the CitizenCard as a mainstream form of identification in Scotland.
Answer · Kaukab Stewart: Nationality and citizenship are matters that are fully reserved to the United Kingdom Government under the Devolution Settlement, therefore the Scottish Government does not control the provision and resultant use of all mainstream forms of identification, suc…
19 Mar 2025 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government when ministers last met with the City of Edinburgh Council to discuss the reported financial pressures facing the capital.
17 Mar 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many applications each year for a high hedge notice under the High Hedges (Scotland) Act 2013 have have been (a) accepted and (b) rejected, broken down by local authority; how many rejections have been subsequently subject to an appeal to its Directorate for Planning and Environ…
Answer · Shona Robison: A copy of the data requested is available from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 65708).Please note Scottish Government do not hold the data relating to applications made direct to Local Authority, this would need to be requested from ea…
17 Mar 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to increase the number of hours of government-funded childcare.
Answer · Natalie Don-Innes: High quality, accessible and affordable early learning and school age childcare is critical to keeping children in Scotland out of poverty. That is why we continue prioritise investment of around £1 billion per year in delivering funded ELC to all eligi…
12 Mar 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many children have been admitted to hospital for treatment for decayed teeth in each year since 1999.
Answer · Neil Gray: The following table provides information on the number of patients under 18 years admitted to hospital where a diagnosis of tooth decay was recorded, from April 1999 to March 2024, in Scotland, by financial year.Table 1: Number of patients under 18 years admi…
12 Mar 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many young people have been recorded as moving into higher education as a positive destination in each year for which data is available, also broken down by local authority.
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: The latest data showing the number of school leavers in each initial destination (three months after the end of the school year) by local authority and nationally for each year since 2009-10 can be found in Table L2.1a in the supplementary tables published al…
12 Mar 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many young people have been recorded as moving into further education as a positive destination in each year for which data is available, also broken down by local authority.
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: The latest data showing the number of school leavers in each initial destination (three months after the end of the school year) by local authority and nationally for each year since 2009-10 can be found in Table L2.1a in the supplementary tables published al…
12 Mar 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many young people have been recorded as moving into personal skills development, including employability, in each year for which data is available, also broken down by local authority.
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: The latest data showing the number of school leavers in each initial destination (three months after the end of the school year) by local authority and nationally for each year since 2009-10 can be found in Table L2.1a in the supplementary tables published al…
12 Mar 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many rural school closures have taken place in each year since 1999, also broken down by local authority.
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: In 2003 there were 1,025 publicly funded schools in Scotland classed as being in either an 'Accessible Rural Area' or 'Remote Rural Area'. In 2023 there were 853 publicly funded schools in Scotland with this classification.Local Authority200320042005200620072…
12 Mar 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many in-school counsellors have been employed in each year since 1999 in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools, also broken down by local authority.
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: The mental health and emotional wellbeing of children and young people in Scotland is of paramount importance. Since 2021 we have provided our local authority partners with £16 million a year in funding to ensure that all school pupils aged 10 and above…
12 Mar 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many young people have been recorded as moving into training as a positive destination in each year for which data is available, also broken down by local authority.
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: The latest data showing the number of school leavers in each initial destination (three months after the end of the school year) by local authority and nationally for each year since 2009-10 can be found in Table L2.1a in the supplementary tables published al…
12 Mar 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent on additional support needs provision as part of the Pupil Equity Fund in each year since its introduction.
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: The information requested is not held centrally. Headteachers know their learners best and they decide how to invest their Pupil Equity Funding, based on their local context. Pupil Equity Funding must enable schools to deliver activities, approaches or resour…
12 Mar 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many young people have been recorded as moving into activity agreements as a positive destination in each year for which data is available, also broken down by local authority.
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: The latest data showing the number of school leavers in each initial destination (three months after the end of the school year) by local authority and nationally for each year since 2009-10 can be found in Table L2.1a in the supplementary tables published al…
12 Mar 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent on police support on school campuses as part of the Pupil Equity Fund in each year since its introduction.
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: The information requested is not held centrally.I refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-35761 on 1 April 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be fo…
12 Mar 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many young people have been recorded as moving into voluntary work as a positive destination in each year for which data is available, also broken down by local authority.
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: The latest data showing the number of school leavers in each initial destination (three months after the end of the school year) by local authority and nationally for each year since 2009-10 can be found in Table L2.1a in the supplementary tables published al…