Parliamentary questions
Miles Briggs
4,209 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
29 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many exit interviews have taken place for teachers leaving the profession in each local authority area in each year since 1999.
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: This information is not held centrally.
29 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many teachers have been signed off work due to mental ill health in each local authority area in each year since 1999.
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: This information is not held centrally.
29 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when it anticipates that it will deliver on its commitment to allocate 10% of NHS spend to mental health and 1% to child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS).
Answer · Maree Todd: Latest data published by Public Health Scotland on 25 February 2025 shows total spend on mental health in Scotland has increased by £179.6 million to £1.486 billion in 2023-24. That is 9.03% of total net NHS expenditure, up from 8.53% in 2022-23. …
29 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent on supply teachers in secondary schools in each local authority area in each year since 1999.
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Data on how much each local authority spends on supply teachers is not held or collected by central government.Data on local authority expenditure on teachers is available from the Local Government Financial statistics data collection. The latest figures are …
29 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what innovative approaches it is considering to identify undiagnosed individuals living with hepatitis C.
Answer · Jenni Minto: The most recent surveillance report from Public Health Scotland indicates that the number of people tested for hepatitis C (HCV) antibody in Scotland in 2023 had surpassed pre-pandemic levels in almost all settings. Nonetheless, detecting more infections is a…
29 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the independent schools sector regarding the impact of the implementation of VAT on school lunches.
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Scottish Government officials have continued to engage with the Scottish Council of Independent Schools and Local Authorities on the impact of the removal of the VAT exemption for independent school fees on independent schools, their pupils, families and the …
29 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many shared headteacher roles have been in place in schools in each local authority area in each year since 1999.
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Following clarification, this question refers to multi-establishment leadership models.The following table shows the number of schools which share a headteacher with at least one other school, known as multi-establishment leadership models, by Local Authority…
29 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been fined for parking on pavements in each local authority area since the introduction of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019.
Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 introduced a national ban on pavement parking, double parking, and parking at dropped kerbs, which came into effect on 11 December 2023. Enforcement of these prohibitions is the responsibility of local authorities.Transport S…
29 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much (a) it and (b) its educational bodies have spent on consultants in each year since 1999.
Answer · Ivan McKee: a) Under the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010, the Scottish Government published information relating to consultancy spend. The return specifies how consultancy spend is defined and returns dating back to 2015-16 can be found on the Scottish Governm…
29 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has regarding co-locating social workers in schools, and how many schools have developed such hubs, broken down by (a) primary and (b) secondary school in each local authority area.
Answer · Natalie Don-Innes: The Scottish Government, through policy initiatives such as Getting it right for every child, emphasises the importance of professionals such as social workers and teachers working together to achieve the best outcomes for children and young people. This will…
29 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many incidents of whistleblowing have takenplace in each public service organisation in each year since 1999.
Answer · Kate Forbes: The Scottish Government does not maintain a central record of whistleblowing in each public service organisation.
29 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how it is working with industry partners to identify undiagnosed individuals living with hepatitis C.
Answer · Jenni Minto: The Scottish Government does not currently have any formal arrangements with industry partners to identify undiagnosed individuals living with hepatitis C. However we are aware of local community testing initiatives that have been developed and delivered with…
22 Jan 2025 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the education secretary has had with ministerial colleagues regarding action to improve access to books for, and encourage reading by, children and young people.
15 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether there have been any consequences for any of its officials as a result of any investigations into any leaking of ministerial statements or other information to the media, and, if so, what the consequences were.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: The Civil Service Code requires that officials must not disclose official information without authority. No investigations have identified that officials have deliberately leaked information. We have offered guidance and engaged with teams on improving the ha…
15 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on how many children and young people have been reported to (a) the police, (b) social work services and (c) education support services for carrying a knife or weapon in school since 1999.
Answer · Angela Constance: In terms of part (a), statistics on police recorded crimes of weapon possession within a school are available in the following table. Information is available from 2017-18 onwards, the first year that data was collected separately for school settings. The fal…
15 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to introduce a child and young person exploitation offence.
Answer · Angela Constance: The Scottish Government is currently awaiting the UK Government’s proposals on introducing new child criminal exploitation (CCE) offence as part of the upcoming Crime and Policing Bill in England and Wales.My officials are in regular contact with Home O…
15 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many students from (a) Scotland have accessed further and higher education courses in English institutions and (b) England have accessed further and higher education courses in Scottish institutions in each year since 1999.
Answer · Graeme Dey: UCAS data can be used to look at the number of Scottish and English domiciled applicants securing university places across the UK, typically at full-time undergraduate level. Data is available in background tables back to 2006: https://www.ucas.com/data-and-a…
15 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much funding has been provided to neighbourhood watch schemes in each year since 1999.
Answer · Siobhian Brown: The Scottish Government has provided £1.19m to Neighbourhood Watch Scotland since 2014.A breakdown of funding per financial year is provided in the following table.Financial YearTotal2024-25£ 105,000.002023-24£ 140,000.002022-23£ 140,0…
15 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many play parks have been upgraded in each local authority area in each year since 2021.
Answer · Natalie Don-Innes: The Scottish Government is investing £60 million to renew play parks in Scotland, so children have access to free, high-quality outdoor play in their own communities. Since funding began in 2021, a total of 887 play parks have been renewed or are in the…
15 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many students from (a) Scotland have accessed apprenticeship courses in English institutions and (b) England have accessed apprenticeship courses in Scottish institutions in each year since 1999.
Answer · Graeme Dey: 1.The Scottish Government do not hold this information on Modern Apprentices centrally.2.Skills Development Scotland (SDS) have operational responsibility for apprenticeships in Scotland. They have supplied the following data: Modern Apprenticeship…
15 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many reports of children and young people being exploited have been recorded by Police Scotland in each year since 1999.
Answer · Angela Constance: The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Police Scotland would be the best suited to provide the required information on this matter.
15 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to develop educational standards.
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: The Scottish Government published the National Improvement Framework (NIF) for Scottish education in December 2024. The 2025 NIF has been streamlined and refreshed to include a long-term strategy for improvement which will provide clarity and focus to our wor…
15 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on how many children and young people have been placed on part-time timetables in schools in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: The number of pupils that have been recorded with a part-time timetable absence code for 1 or more openings (half-day sessions) in each local authority from 2018-19 is set out in the following table.Local Authority2018-192020-212022-232023-24Aberdeen City1752…
15 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what NHS patient record digitisation projects are being taken forward.
Answer · Neil Gray: The Digitisation of records is an operational responsibility of individual Health Boards and GP practices.At a national level, and building on the existing use of electronic patient record systems, we are focussed on allowing medical records to be stored, lin…
15 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what NHS digitalisation projects it is taking forward.
Answer · Neil Gray: The refreshed Digital Health and Care strategy sets out our digitalisation ambitions and its associated delivery plan highlights our achievements to date and summarises the key commitments to be achieved.The specific actions being taken can be read in the Str…
15 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the estimated cost is for delivering a new Edinburgh eye hospital.
Answer · Neil Gray: As set out in answer S6W-32929 on 15 January 2025, the Scottish Government have confirmed that the replacement of the Eye Pavilion is a strategic priority and the 2025-26 Draft Budget has provided the necessary funding to allow the development of the business…
15 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much has been allocated to each local authority to upgrade play parks in each year since 2021.
Answer · Natalie Don-Innes: The Scottish Government is investing £60 million to renew play parks in Scotland, so children have access to free, high-quality outdoor play in their own communities.Funding to support the Play Parks renewal programme has been allocated as follows:2021-…
15 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the current spend per individual on palliative care by each Integrated Joint Board (IJB).
Answer · Jenni Minto: This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.In Scotland, it is for Integration Joint Boards (IJBs) to govern, plan and resource adult palliative care in their areas, using the delegated budgets under their control, to meet the needs of t…
15 Jan 2025 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the remit of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry remains appropriate.
14 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what funding grants are available for home owners to help make their property more environmentally-friendly.
Answer · Alasdair Allan: The Home Energy Scotland (HES) Grant and Loan Scheme is available to homeowners in Scotland and provides a grant, interest free loan or a combination of both to support the installation of energy efficiency measures and clean heating systems.The scheme provid…