Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-39098

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 17 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what financial assessments have been undertaken regarding the proposed merger of NHS Education in Scotland and NHS National Services Scotland, as set out in the Health and Social Care Service Renewal Framework.

Consultation on bringing NHS Education in Scotland and NHS National Services Scotland together will take place over 2025 and work is underway to establish the full range of functions of the new organisation. Financial assessment will be part of this. The aim throughout will be to optimise the delivery of national services, creating opportunities for further improvement, innovation and efficiency across NHS Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-38882

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 17 July 2025

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.

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 organisation remains committed to reviewing and enhancing how it supports people accessing benefits. In particular, how to strengthen colleagues’ understanding of veterans, particularly in light of the report and recommendations published by the Scottish Veterans Commissioner’s June 2025 report on veterans’ experiences with the benefits system.

To promote internal awareness and understanding, Social Security Scotland has delivered sessions highlighting the lived experiences of the armed forces community featuring contributions from veterans now employed within the organisation.

In 2024, the organisation worked closely with Scottish Government colleagues to recruit veterans as Client Advisers on 12-month fixed-term contracts, with the option to extend. Hiring managers received training to help support these new colleagues, recognising the challenges they may have faced.

While there is no specific training tailored exclusively for individual groups like veterans, all colleagues involved in assessing applications receive comprehensive training. This training is developed in consultation with people with lived experience of health conditions and disabilities and is informed by the Scottish Government’s benefit take-up strategy and focuses on understanding each person’s unique circumstances.

Question reference: S6W-38881

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 16 July 2025

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 (b) protect veterans' rights when accessing services.

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 benefits in June 2025, the organisation is actively exploring ways to strengthen its support for veterans and service members.

Senior Social Security Scotland officials have met with the Minister for Veterans and held constructive discussions with key organisations, including BLESMA and the Scottish Veterans Commissioner, which aim to deepen understanding and gather insights and information on supporting veterans.

Question reference: S6W-39087

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 30 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 15 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many foreign direct investment (FDI) projects in Scotland in each of the last 10 years have been mergers and acquisitions of Scottish-headquartered businesses.

The Scottish Government uses a variety of sources to measure Scotland’s inward investment performance, including data from Scottish Enterprise and independent analysis published annually in the EY UK Attractiveness Survey for Scotland. Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) is not a classification that the Scottish Government or Scottish Enterprise use when measuring the performance of inward investment projects into Scotland. Scottish Enterprise classifies projects as new, expansion and safeguarding projects and as such, does not collect information on M&A activity. The UK Government’s Department for Business and Trade (DBT) provides estimates for M&A activity in Scotland based on their own internal definitions, classifications and methodology.

Scotland continues to attract new high quality investment projects, according to the latest EY survey published in June 2025. Scotland has maintained its position as the top performing region or nation of the UK for foreign direct investment (FDI) projects outside of London, for a record tenth year and is the sixth best performing region in Europe.

Question reference: S6W-38903

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 20 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 15 July 2025

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.

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 criteria to be eligible for registration. The SHR have set out their registration criteria and constitutional requirements for social landlords in their Regulatory Framework. They will assess each application to determine whether the applicant body will be a viable organisation that can meet the demands of managing a social landlord’s business and providing services to tenants.

Question reference: S6W-39340

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 11 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the expected timeline is for the conclusion of NatureScot's review of the Scotland's Great Trails brand and purpose.

Question reference: S6W-38953

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 14 July 2025

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.

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 funding, education provision and pupil support rests with local authorities. Under the Curriculum for Excellence framework, schools and practitioners are empowered to design the curriculum in a way that best meets the needs of learners.

School Nurses are equipped to support school aged children and young people with concerns regarding substance use. Scottish Government continues to promote the role of the school nurse and their strong focus on prevention, early intervention and support for the most vulnerable school-aged children and young people. Between 2019 and 2024 the Scottish Government invested over £34 million to support the recruitment and retention of over 216 additional school nurses. Funding has now been added to annual Health Board budgets to support retention of the school nurse workforce.

The Scottish Government has invested £1.5 million over the last 2 years in Planet Youth. Also known as the Icelandic Model, Planet Youth is a universal approach to prevention which empowers communities to support their young people to reduce the risk of substance use and harms. The Scottish Government has committed a further £750,000 to Planet Youth over 20025-26.

Through the Whole Family Wellbeing Fund, the Scottish Government has also provided nearly £4 million funding between the years 2023-24 and 2025-26 to expand the Routes programme. This model provides support for young people who are affected by substance use in their families.

Question reference: S6W-38952

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 14 July 2025

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.

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 substances including alcohol, medicines, drugs, tobacco and solvents. Learning sets out the impact these substances can have on their life and health and helps support better informed decision making. Education alone will not turn the tide of substance use but it is an important strand within a broad range of measures designed to tackle this issue.

Each establishment, working with partners, should take a holistic approach to promoting health and wellbeing. This should take account of the stage of growth, development and maturity of each pupil, and the social and community context.

We welcome the work of Ayrshire’s Vaping Taskforce comprising of Trading Standards, Police Scotland, Alcohol and Drug Partnerships and GPs. This Taskforce is actively working to raise awareness on vaping and the potential for them to contain illegal substances. We will monitor the impact of the Taskforce and the introduction of devices which can test vape liquids for illegal substances.

Our Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research (BISSR), published in November 2023, identified vaping as an emerging behaviour of concern. While BISSR did not highlight links with violence in schools, it did identify that the rise in prevalence of use of vapes among secondary pupils was resulting in reduced attendance within classes as young people gathered to vape in toilets throughout the school day. As part of the Scottish Government’s response to BISSR, our Relationships and Behaviour in Schools Action Plan 2024-27 we have committed to developing guidance on vaping in schools, which we will begin later this year.

Question reference: S6W-39110

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 10 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when the Democracy Matters steering group last met; what current work it is undertaking, and when it anticipates that the next stage of Democracy Matters will commence.

The Democracy Matters steering group last met on 11 June 2025. The steering group is focused on developing the views that communities shared during the Democracy Matters engagement process into practical models for democratic decision-making.

The Programme for Government outlined that, as part of the conclusion of our joint review of local governance with COSLA, by the end of the Parliament we will publish a blueprint for community decision-making models.

Question reference: S6W-38925

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 23 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 10 July 2025

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.

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 and experience. NatureScot also fund promoting Scotland’s long distance trails. There is currently a review being carried out of Scotland’s Great Trails, which includes active travel provision, visitor experience, enjoyment of the outdoors, connection with nature, green tourism and community connections.

Local Authorities and Regional Transport Partnerships can apply for funding for active travel from Transport Scotland’s , which could include long distance walking routes where they deliver against Scotland’s . The Scottish Government also funds the National Cycle Network which is also used for walking and wheeling, forming long distance active travel routes that are also used for everyday journeys.

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