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-33307

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 28 January 2025

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.

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 fall in 2020-21 will reflect the closure of schools due to the Covid pandemic. Information is not held centrally on the age of the perpetrator, so whilst it is likely the majority of these crimes in a school involve a child or young person, it is not necessarily the case for every incident.

	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24
Possession of an offensive weapon in a school – not used	33	36	34	18	28	35	42
Having in a school an article with a blade or point – not used	128	91	112	56	98	112	94
Possession of an offensive weapon in a school - used	32	38	40	27	65	69	60
Having in a school an article with a blade or point - used	29	34	21	9	37	27	35
Total	222	199	207	110	228	243	231

Source: Recorded Crime Accredited Official Statistics, 2023-24

In terms of parts (b) and (c), the information requested is not held centrally.

Question reference: S6W-33310

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 28 January 2025

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.

Question reference: S6W-33297

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 28 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many play parks have been upgraded in each local authority area in each year since 2021.

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 process of being renewed by local authority partners, up to April 2024. Local authority partners will be reporting on progress in 2024-25 in April 2025. Local authority partners have confirmed that all funding provided to date is allocated to the current and future renewal of play parks that have been identified by the local authority in need of improvement.

Local Authority	Play parks renewed in 2021-22	Play parks renewed in 2022-23	Play parks renewed in 2023-24
Aberdeen City	11	46	28
Aberdeenshire Council	15	13	20
Angus Council	6	3	8
Argyll and Bute Council	0	0	0
City of Edinburgh Council	14	16	22
Clackmannanshire Council	1	2	6
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar Council	0	0	0
Dumfries and Galloway Council	0	28	18
Dundee City Council	0	4	18
East Ayrshire Council	12	40	57
East Dunbartonshire Council	1	3	8
East Lothian Council	1	1	24
East Renfrewshire Council	3	4	4
Falkirk Council	2	7	9
Fife Council	12	9	10
Glasgow City Council	1	5	8
Highland Council	0	38	16
Inverclyde Council	6	5	5
Midlothian Council	2	18	14
Moray Council	1	6	6
North Ayrshire Council	0	29	19
North Lanarkshire Council	7	4	12
Orkney Islands Council	1	1	2
Perth and Kinross Council	3	10	21
Renfrewshire Council	2	3	7
Scottish Borders Council	1	1	4
Shetland Islands	0	1	4
South Ayrshire Council	6	4	4
South Lanarkshire Council	0	0	12
Stirling Council	9	6	8
West Dunbartonshire Council	5	5	9
West Lothian	42	6	22

Question reference: S6W-33295

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 28 January 2025

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.

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:

Information on the number of Scottish domiciled students enrolling at English Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), and English domiciled students enrolling at Scottish HEI courses, covering all levels, years and modes of study is published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). Data, covering 2014-15 to 2022-23, is available on HESA’s website:

Earlier university data can be found in the publication archive under the “Students in Higher Education” section: . Between 2009-10 and 2013-14 information can be found in table 7g. Between 1999-2000 and 2008-09 information can be found in tables 5a and 5b. HESA data prior to academic year 2013-14 counted all enrolments at the Open University, regardless of domicile, as at English Providers, so data is not fully comparable.

Data for Scottish domiciled students enrolling at English colleges is not held by the Scottish Government. Data for English domiciled students enrolling at Scottish colleges is collected by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), and provided below:

English domiciled students (headcount) at Scottish colleges by academic year

Academic year	Further Education (headcount)	Higher Education (headcount)
1999-00	1,300	385
2000-01	1,120	425
2001-02	1,730	640
2002-03	1,310	530
2003-04	1,260	535
2004-05	1,505	490
2005-06	1,490	450
2006-07	1,630	415
2007-08	1,835	360
2008-09	1,505	315
2010-11	1,065	250
2011-12	820	165
2012-13	755	190
2013-14	640	125
2014-15	675	105
2015-16	620	115
2016-17	640	160
2017-18	570	190
2018-19	930	325
2019-20	920	370
2020-21	1,400	405
2021-22	1,425	380
2022-23	1,735	315

Source: SFC, Further Education Statistics (FES), Secondary Analysis

Note: The data above covers headcounts, however some students may have enrolled on an FE and an HE course in the same year. There is also a potential for double counting where an individual undertook more than one enrolment at different points in the academic year.

Question reference: S6W-33309

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 28 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to introduce a child and young person exploitation offence.

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 Office officials on the progress of these plans, and when the finalised proposals are made available, we will be in the position to assess the potential to extend this measure to Scotland through the Legislative Consent process.

Question reference: S6W-33296

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 28 January 2025

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.

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 Apprenticeships Total Starts	England volumes with Scottish Employer based on trainee postcode	% England volumes with Scottish Employer based on trainee postcode
2008-09	10,579	31	0.29%
2009-10	20,216	52	0.26%
2010-11	21,561	42	0.19%
2011-12	26,427	69	0.26%
2012-13	25,691	55	0.21%
2013-14	25,284	51	0.20%
2014-15	25,247	41	0.16%
2015-16	25,818	74	0.29%
2016-17	26,262	65	0.25%
2017-18	27,145	52	0.19%
2018-19	27,270	79	0.29%
2019-20	27,875	66	0.24%
2020-21	18,655	70	0.38%
2021-22	25,401	96	0.38%
2022-23	25,447	71	0.28%
2023-24	25,365	83	0.33%
Total	384,243	997	0.26%

Eligibility criteria for apprenticeships in Scotland can be accessed on the SDS website

SDS were formed in 2008 so they do not hold data prior to this date.

Question reference: S6W-33303

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 24 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what NHS digitalisation projects it is taking forward.

Question reference: S6W-33304

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 24 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what NHS patient record digitisation projects are being taken forward.

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, linked, and shared securely. This will support our ambition set out in the 2021 Digital Health & Care Strategy to make the right information available to all appropriate staff, when and where it is needed.

To achieve this, most Health Boards have a Clinical Portal. This system works across organisational, regional, and national boundaries to provide a timely transfer of information. The key projects to improve the sharing of information within Health Boards and GP Practices is the GPIT Programme, the National Digital Platform, TRAK Care and Clinical Portal.

HEPMA (Hospital Electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration) is a system that can also replace paper prescribing and medication administration systems within hospitals. It has already been successfully implemented in thirteen Health boards across Scotland with the remainder being progressed. We are also developing the Digital Prescribing and Dispensing Pathways (DPDP) programme which will replace the current paper prescription in Scotland with a digital approach.

The specific actions being taken can be read in the Strategy:

Question reference: S6W-33294

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 23 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding has been provided to neighbourhood watch schemes in each year since 1999.

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 Year	Total
2024-25	£ 105,000.00
2023-24	£ 140,000.00
2022-23	£ 140,000.00
2021-22	£ 118,000.00
2020-21	£ 107,000.00
2019-20	£ 115,000.00
2018-19	£ 115,000.00
2017-18	£ 103,725.00
2016-17	£ 103,725.00
2015-16	£ 103,725.00
2014-15	£ 40,758.83
Grand Total	£1,191,933.83

Information on funding provided to Neighbourhood Watch Scotland prior to 2014 could only be obtained at disproportionate cost and has therefore not been provided.

Question reference: S6O-04275

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 January 2025

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.