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 MSPs 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

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Question reference: S6W-43399

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 11 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how much additional revenue it expects to raise from the new council tax bands, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S6W-43401

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 11 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many devices have been distributed to young people through the Connecting Scotland programme in 2025-26 to support digital inclusion amongst school-aged children, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S6W-43398

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 11 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what review it will undertake into the use of the newborn heel prick blood test to screen for childhood dementia.

Question reference: S6W-43400

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 11 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many households will be included in the new council tax bands, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S6F-04602

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 January 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 January 2026

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to address the reported issues with teacher job shortages, caused by temporary teacher contracts.

Question reference: S6W-42685

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 15 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what recommendations it has made regarding ratings for gas boilers versus electric heaters on EPC reports.

In October 2025, the Scottish Government published its updated Government Response to the 2023 Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) reform consultation. This set out that the reformed domestic EPC will include three main ratings:

Heat Retention Rating
Heating System Rating
Energy Cost Rating

The type of heating system installed in the building will not impact the Heat Retention Rating.

The updated Government Response set out that the Heating System Rating will reflect the emissions and efficiency of the main heating system. The rating system will see gas boilers achieve up to an ‘E’ rating, determined by their efficiency and emissions, while direct electric heating will achieve a ‘B’ rating.

The updated Government Response also set out that the Energy Cost Rating would be based on the cost of energy to power a home each year, including costs associated with heating. The rating would use standardised factors, such as energy prices and occupancy, to provide a rating based on the modelled cost to run the home.

Question reference: S6W-42655

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 14 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the Student Awards Agency Scotland regarding the recent audit of student loans by the agency, and what its position is on any additional loan balance adjustments discovered as a result of the audit being added to people’s loans retrospectively, including in cases where it was believed that the loan had been paid off.

The Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) have not conducted an audit. They worked jointly with the Student Loans Company (SLC) to conduct a reconciliation exercise. This identified a small number of customers whose loan balances required correction. This exercise relates to the correction of historic Tuition Fee Loan data, and not the creation of new liabilities. The corrective action taken ensured that loan records accurately reflect what customers had borrowed and was due to be repaid under existing loan terms in the declaration signed by the student.

SAAS recognises the sensitivity of retrospective corrections and is working closely with SLC to ensure that affected borrowers are treated fairly, clearly informed, and supported where adjustments are required.

Scottish Ministers are accountable for the use of public resources and the way in which public funds are spent. This includes payment of student loans and repayment of outstanding balances.

Question reference: S6W-42590

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 12 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many men in Scotland have received prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S6W-42589

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 9 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on the development of the unique learner number system.

To date, the only costs associated with developing a unique learner number relate to staff resource to consider options to ensure best use of public funds. As work progresses, a range of options will be fully assessed and evaluated to ensure any future spending represents good value for public funds.

Whilst we recognise the potential long-term benefits of a unique learner number (ULN), it is a wide-ranging issue requiring careful consideration and we continue to explore how this could be delivered for Scotland. This is complex work which is inherently cross-cutting in nature, and potentially involves sharing the personal, sensitive data of millions of individuals, primarily children and young people. It is right that this work is done properly and thoroughly.

Question reference: S6W-42650

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 8 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the establishment of an independent national whistleblowing office for education and children’s services.

Protecting children from harm is a key priority for the Scottish Government.

There are already relevant systems in place in Scotland to deal with complaints and whistleblowing. We have a framework in place which includes regulatory bodies which provide ongoing inspection, as well as complaint routes to look into specific cases. Adding another body or process into a system with a range of existing processes and functions risks increasing complexity and undermining understanding and clarity of roles.

We acknowledge however that concerns that have been raised in relation to complaints and whistleblowing processes and we are actively considering this issue. The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills raised the concerns at the Education and Childcare Assurance Board in September 2025 and underlined the assurances she required about the robustness of these important processes. This issue has also been discussed by the National Public Protection Leadership Group who acknowledged the challenges with current whistleblowing procedures, especially in terms of clarity and confidence among staff to raise concerns and agreed to support further discovery work on this issue. The National Public Protection Leadership Group will be having a further detailed discussion on the issue at their next meeting on 27 January.

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