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-39698

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 August 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 29 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many postgraduate study places have been offered at Scottish universities in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S6W-39697

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 August 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 29 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many Scotland-domiciled students have accessed doctoral loans in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S6W-39696

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 August 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 29 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to review doctoral level funding in Scotland, in light of access to repayable doctoral loans being available to students residing in England and Wales, but not to those in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-39123

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 30 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what safeguards have been put in place to ensure transparency in the reform of the school inspection system.

To ensure transparency in the reform of the school inspection system, HM Inspectors introduced a revised approach to stakeholder engagement in November 2024. This approach is designed to support continuous improvement and ensure that inspection activity remains purposeful and inclusive of all stakeholders, including children and young people.

A key safeguard is the establishment of a Stakeholder Forum in December 2024. This forum plays a central role in testing ideas and informing the ongoing review of school inspection. Between December 2024 and May 2025, HM Inspectors engaged with over 1,300 adult stakeholders and 500 children and young people through targeted sessions, national online events, and questionnaires, ensuring a wide range of perspectives were considered.

To further strengthen transparency, professional legitimacy, and system-wide ownership, a public consultation will be launched in Autumn 2025. This will provide an open platform for feedback and help shape reform of the school inspection system.

Question reference: S6W-39223

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 29 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to extending the remit of the next HIV Transmission Elimination Delivery Plan to include a (a) goal of ending new HIV transmissions by 2030 and (b) commitment to ensure that people living with HIV in Scotland are supported to remain in care and have a good quality of life.

The Scottish Government remain firmly committed to the goals outlined within the HIV Transmission Elimination Delivery Plan, published in March 2024, which includes a commitment to ending new transmissions of HIV by 2030 and ensuring that people living with HIV are able to access the high quality, person-centred care, treatment and the support they need to live well. A mid-plan report is expected to be published in late August which will outline progress made against our goals, as well as proposing next steps and prioritisation of some actions within the plan.

Question reference: S6W-39241

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 29 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many recorded accidents there have been on the Edinburgh City Bypass in each year since 1999.

The following table provides the number of injury road collisions recorded by Police Scotland as taking place on the A720 Edinburgh City Bypass.

Year	Number of injury collisions
1999	43
2000	43
2001	46
2002	41
2003	48
2004	52
2005	41
2006	62
2007	66
2008	51
2009	42
2010	43
2011	42
2012	61
2013	63
2014	78
2015	47
2016	57
2017	39
2018	47
2019	42
2020	21
2021	27
2022	32
2023	31
2024*	24

*Note: figures for 2024 are provisional, as they are based on monthly returns received thus far from Police Scotland. This may be an incomplete picture of casualties due to a slight lag between collisions occurring and the data being processed and shared by Police Scotland. These figures are also subject to change due to subsequent corrections and late records.

Question reference: S6W-39221

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 29 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure access to HIV support services for groups that reportedly experience worse health outcomes, including (a) migrants, (b) women, (c) older people and (d) those living in rural communities.

The Scottish Government is committed to equitable access to HIV support services and we continue to work with NHS Boards who provide targeted community outreach, peer support initiatives and digital health solutions particularly focused on underserved groups.

The landmark anti-stigma campaign had a significant impact and laid strong foundations to challenging HIV-related stigma and reducing barriers to HIV prevention. Building on this successful campaign, we are funding further training for health and social care staff to increase awareness and reduce stigma, particularly for underserved groups.

Recently, in partnership with Scotland’s Migration Service, we have developed tailored information on accessing sexual health and HIV services for new arrivals to Scotland, which can be found here .

Question reference: S6W-39220

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 29 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made towards meeting the British HIV Association’s standards for psychological support for people living with HIV in Scotland.

The Scottish Government is currently undertaking a programme of Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus local area visits to Scottish territorial NHS Boards which provides an opportunity to explore the levels of psychological support available for people living with HIV.

Throughout visits we have observed areas of excellent practice in relation to psychological support for people living with HIV, including some Boards bringing clinical psychology pathways into routine HIV care to ensure holistic HIV management and digital solutions for those who live in more rural areas where peer support may be more challenging. We continue to work with NHS Boards and encourage sharing best practices to address any gaps identified throughout these visits.

Question reference: S6W-39222

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 29 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to establishing a national funding framework for HIV testing and prevention services.

The Scottish Government has allocated a budget of around £1.7m per year to support delivery of the Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus Action Plan 2023-26. This funding includes a range of projects focused on HIV testing and prevention including Terrence Higgins Trust HIV Self-Test service, three Emergency Department opt-out testing pilots and a workforce education project led by Waverley Care to reduce stigma in health and social care settings.

In addition to this, we are also proving funding for the roll out of blood borne virus opt-out testing in Emergency Departments starting with those NHS Boards with the highest prevalence.

Question reference: S6W-39028

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 23 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many probationary teachers in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools have not started their placement in each local authority area in each year since 1999.