Questions and answers

Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for ��˿�� to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S6W-26327

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don on 16 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many children and young people have died in the care of a Scottish local authority prior to their 18th birthday since 2018.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that the tragic death of any looked after child or young person is accurately reported on and reviewed to improve services and ensure that children and young people are receiving the best care possible. A total of 49 children and young people have sadly died in the care of local authorities prior to their 18th birthday since 2018 to the present day. These figures include children and young people with complex/life limiting health conditions.

Question reference: S6T-01914

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 15 April 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its pledge to provide a free bike to every school-age child who cannot afford one.

Question reference: S6W-26322

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 22 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by George Adam on 9 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how often it reviews statistical collection and publishing cycles in order to deliver joined-up policy making.

Scottish Government statistics are produced in accordance with the Code of Practice for Statistics. The Code of Practice states that statistics producers should routinely review the relevance and usefulness of statistics, including the timeliness of the statistics and data.

The Code of Practice also requires statistics producers to maintain and refresh their understanding of the use and potential use of statistics, and that they regularly engage with users. This is to ensure that statistics support the public good, which includes the development and evaluation of public policy.

The application of the Code of Practice in Scottish Government is overseen by the Chief Statistician, with decisions about particular collections and publications made on a case-by-case by the responsible statisticians.

Question reference: S6W-26325

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 9 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what data it collects about care experienced young people's school (a) attendance, (b) achievement, (c) attainment and (d) positive destinations; how any such data is analysed, and when it will next be reviewed.

Data on education outcomes of care experienced young people is collected and published as part of the annual (EOLAC) Official Statistics publication. This covers pupils in publicly funded mainstream schools in the 32 local authorities, and one grant aided school. For the latest EOLAC 2021-22 publication, information was linked from:

Looked After Children statistics, 2008-09 -

Information on the methodology used to match looked after children’s data is available in the of the EOLAC 2021-22 publication. The latest education outcomes for looked after children statistics include analysis for:

All children looked after within the year
Children looked after for the full year
Children looked after for part of the year
Children who had been looked after at some point for any duration since age 5, and since age 12. These statistics were published for the first time in the 2021-22 publication as Experimental Statistics.

The experimental statistics will be reviewed before the next iteration of the statistics, planned for publication in August 2024.

Data on (b) , (c) and (d) is collected annually. Further information on the types of analysis breakdowns provided for these education outcomes can be found in the of the 2021-22 publication. Data on (a) is collected every second year, and was last published in 2020-21. Further information on the types of analysis breakdowns provided for attendance can be found in the of the 2020-21 publication. Information on the groups each of these education outcomes is analysed for can be found in the respective section of the publication report, as per the hyperlinks provided above.

Question reference: S6W-26330

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 27 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many young offenders currently being held in a young offenders institution are (a) 16 and (b) 17 years old.

Question reference: S6W-25926

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 01 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don on 14 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many members of staff were employed by Disclosure Scotland in each year since 2012.

Question reference: S6W-25925

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 01 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don on 14 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many staffing vacancies are currently unfilled within Disclosure Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-25927

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 01 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don on 14 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much Disclosure Scotland has spent on employing temporary staff in each year since 2012.

Question reference: S6O-03237

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 March 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the comments made by the National Autistic Society Scotland that some autistic pupils in Scotland have to “fail” in mainstream education before receiving the support that they need.

Question reference: S6W-25767

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 26 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don on 13 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what training and guidance are provided to professionals who work with children and young people regarding the disclosure process and safeguarding procedures.

I have asked Gerard Hart, Chief Executive of Disclosure Scotland to respond. His response is as follows:

Disclosure Scotland run regular training courses aimed at organisations who work with children and young people and cover a range of topics regarding safeguarding and working with children and young people.

We also target newly registered organisations and signatories to ensure that they have a fuller understanding of safeguarding processes when they start to use disclosure products including the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) Scheme.

Since 2019, Disclosure Scotland have held 198 events to support organisations in understanding their legal duties in relation to PVG referrals about people who have displayed harmful behaviour towards children and young people. These have been attended by 1978 delegates from 979 different organisations.

We have also run 129 events entitled “Helping Employers Recruit Fairly” which aims to broaden the understanding of information disclosed by Disclosure Scotland, how to implement better risk assessment processes and make informed recruitment decisions. These have been attended by 1402 delegates from 390 different organisations.

All of Disclosure Scotland’s training products provide delegates with a range of materials to support their role in working with children and young people including links to downloadable guidance that is regularly reviewed and updated to ensure organisations have access to the most up to date information.

Year	Staff headcount
2012	290
2013	315
2014	336
2015	341
2016	494
2017	609
2018	413
2019	447
2020	474
2021	468
2022	465
2023	456
As of 29 February 2024	457

Year	Temp staff cost (£000)
2012	1,942
2013	2,371
2014	2,407
2015	3,029
2016	5,423
2017	8,029
2018	16,605
2019	15,149
2020	14,701
2021	9,470
2022	7,702
2023	9,175