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-20025

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 15 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many schools were in good or satisfactory condition, from 2016-17 to date, (a) in total and (b) broken down by local authority.

The total number of publicly funded schools reported as in good or satisfactory condition in the School estates annual survey from 2016 to 2022 is shown in the table below. Figures from the 2023 survey are not yet available.

The number of schools by condition rating for each local authority is reported separately for Primary, Secondary and Special schools in Tables 4.2 to 4.4 in the annual school estate statistics supplementary data tables .

Table 1: Schools in good or satisfactory condition by local authority and year

	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
All authorities	2,119	2,165	2,166	2,200	2,238	2,239	2,239
Aberdeen City	61	63	61	61	61	60	60
Aberdeenshire	168	169	169	168	169	169	168
Angus	56	58	59	58	59	59	59
Argyll and Bute	91	90	91	92	92	90	88
City of Edinburgh	109	110	99	98	110	115	116
Clackmannanshire	24	24	23	22	24	24	22
Dumfries and Galloway	104	102	101	104	108	106	108
Dundee City	32	33	35	39	39	39	36
East Ayrshire	56	57	55	53	54	53	52
East Dunbartonshire	43	44	44	41	41	41	41
East Lothian	39	31	31	33	33	32	35
East Renfrewshire	25	25	27	28	28	28	28
Falkirk	58	58	59	60	57	57	59
Fife	134	137	143	145	152	152	153
Glasgow City	149	167	172	188	191	191	191
Highland	122	126	118	122	122	125	131
Inverclyde	28	28	28	28	27	28	28
Midlothian	31	31	32	33	34	35	32
Moray	11	16	16	24	24	30	29
Na h-Eileanan Siar	27	23	23	24	24	24	23
North Ayrshire	63	63	61	61	61	61	58
North Lanarkshire	123	131	131	124	129	122	124
Orkney Islands	24	25	24	24	24	24	26
Perth and Kinross	71	70	72	74	74	74	74
Renfrewshire	59	62	61	61	61	56	57
Scottish Borders	44	45	46	47	49	50	50
Shetland Islands	34	32	35	35	35	35	35
South Ayrshire	29	31	32	37	39	42	42
South Lanarkshire	148	148	149	148	149	149	147
Stirling	48	49	47	47	47	46	46
West Dunbartonshire	28	34	38	37	37	38	39
West Lothian	80	83	84	84	84	84	82

Question reference: S6W-20026

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 14 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the number of school buildings that currently pose a risk to life, (a) in total and (b) broken down by local authority.

Question reference: S6W-20028

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 14 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of school buildings are currently believed to be past their estimated initial design life, which could be extended with adequate maintenance, broken down by local authority.

Question reference: S6W-20022

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 14 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many schools have been identified as containing asbestos, from 2015 to date, (a) in total and (b) broken down by local authority.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. However, local authorities are required to keep an up-to-date record of the location of asbestos in their schools.

Although Health and safety legislation is not devolved to the Scottish Government, we take the issue of asbestos within schools very seriously and expect local authorities to strictly follow Health and Safety Executive recommendations. Moreover, we remain in close contact with the Health and Safety Executive regarding asbestos in schools.

Question reference: S6W-20027

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 14 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the cost was of using external designers for school building projects, from 2016-17 to date, (a) in total and (b) broken down by local authority.

Question reference: S6W-20023

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 14 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the total current overspend costs are on building new (a) schools and (b) nursery buildings, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S6W-20019

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 14 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many schools have a dedicated car park for staff, (a) in total and (b) broken down by local authority.

Question reference: S6W-20020

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 11 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many new schools are currently planned to be built, broken down by local authority.

Question reference: S6W-20021

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 31 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many schools have been built, from 2017 to date, broken down by local authority.

A total of 147 school builds were completed between 2016-17 and 2021-22. Figures for 2022-23 are not yet available.

Table 1 shows the breakdown by local authority. Only builds with a cost of £500,000 or more for primary and £1 million or more for secondary and special are included.

A breakdown by individual year is available from Table 7.1 in the school estate statistics supplementary data tables .

Table 1: Schools built by local authority between 2016-17 and 2021-22.

Local Authority	Schools Built
Aberdeen City	5
Aberdeenshire	3
Angus	5
Argyll and Bute	3
City of Edinburgh	4
Clackmannanshire	0
Dumfries and Galloway	5
Dundee City	9
East Ayrshire	11
East Dunbartonshire	4
East Lothian	2
East Renfrewshire	2
Falkirk	1
Fife	5
Glasgow City	16
Highland	8
Inverclyde	2
Midlothian	7
Moray	3
Na h-Eileanan Siar	0
North Ayrshire	5
North Lanarkshire	2
Orkney Islands	1
Perth and Kinross	7
Renfrewshire	3
Scottish Borders	6
Shetland Islands	1
South Ayrshire	5
South Lanarkshire	10
Stirling	2
West Dunbartonshire	7
West Lothian	3
Total	147

Question reference: S6W-20024

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 31 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many schools have been substantially refurbished, from 2016-17 to date, (a) in total and (b) broken down by local authority.

A total of 255 substantial refurbishment projects were completed between 2016-17 and 2021-22. These figures do not include new-build schools. Figures for 2022-23 are not yet available.

Table 1 shows the breakdown by local authority. Only refurbishments with a cost of £500,000 or more for primary and £1 million or more for secondary and special are included. School extensions meeting the cost thresholds are counted as substantial refurbishments.

A breakdown by individual year is available from Table 7.2 in the school estate statistics supplementary data tables .

Table 1: Substantial refurbishments by local authority between 2016-17 and 2021-22.

Local Authority	Substantial refurbishments
Aberdeen City	11
Aberdeenshire	18
Angus	1
Argyll and Bute	2
City of Edinburgh	8
Clackmannanshire	2
Dumfries and Galloway	12
Dundee City	0
East Ayrshire	2
East Dunbartonshire	1
East Lothian	5
East Renfrewshire	4
Falkirk	6
Fife	17
Glasgow City	73
Highland	35
Inverclyde	4
Midlothian	2
Moray	11
Na h-Eileanan Siar	2
North Ayrshire	6
North Lanarkshire	1
Orkney Islands	2
Perth and Kinross	5
Renfrewshire	2
Scottish Borders	1
Shetland Islands	2
South Ayrshire	6
South Lanarkshire	10
Stirling	2
West Dunbartonshire	0
West Lothian	2
Total	255