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

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-39767

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 August 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 3 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what protocols exist to distinguish personal political statements by its ministers from official government positions.

Question reference: S6W-39774

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 August 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 3 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the delivery of the BE FAST (balance, eyes, face, arms, speech, time) stroke awareness campaign in NHS Forth Valley’s accident and emergency department.

Question reference: S6W-39786

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 August 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 3 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of NatureScot’s recommendation in its report, A report on the proposal for a National Park in Southwest Scotland, what plans it has to better resource the Galloway and Southern Ayrshire Biosphere Reserve.

Question reference: S6W-39765

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 August 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 3 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has assessed any legal and diplomatic risks of using the term "genocide" regarding Gaza, in relation to live international conflicts.

Question reference: S6W-39694

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 August 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 3 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has considered the implications of the High Court decision relating to Northumbria Police participating in Pride marches for the impartiality of school teachers in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-39458

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 6 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what modelling it has conducted on future demand for cataract surgery, and how it plans to meet this demand.

Established in 2014, the National Eyecare Workstream was set up to influence and embed change in the way that eyecare services are delivered in Scotland. The workstream focuses on using capacity and capabilities differently within and across Primary and Secondary Care, drawing together the different strands of work that contribute to building a sustainable service.

Throughout its duration, the National Eyecare Workstream has supported extensive data collection and analysis of hospital eyecare services, including future capacity and demand for cataract surgery. In 2018, taking into account population growth and demographic change, demand for cataract surgery was forecast to grow by up to 47% to 2035.

More recently the Royal College of Ophthalmologists has projected an increase in demand of 25% in the next 10 years and 50% over the next 20 years.

The National Eyecare Workstream has been working with Health Boards to streamline each stage in the cataract pathway to ensure maximisation of all available resources across the country.

In May 2021, the National Eyecare Workstream commissioned the Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) to deliver a Short Life Working Group (SLWG) to focus on improving efficiency and productivity within cataract only theatre sessions in line with the latest guidance from the Royal College of Ophthalmologists. This SLWG has supported several new and innovative pathway developments, including high volume cataract surgery in ring-fenced sessions and delivering one cataract every 30 mins. In parallel with this, the National Eyecare Workstream is undertaking clinically-led peer reviews which supports new and efficient ways of working and shares best practices across the country across a number of ocular sub-specialties, including cataracts.

A number of ophthalmic surgeons are now undertaking immediate sequential bilateral cataract surgery to prevent patients having to travel twice for surgical intervention enabling both cataract surgeries to be performed on the same day, one after the other. In a number of Health Board areas, non-medical staff have been upskilled to pre-assess and list patients for cataract surgery freeing-up ophthalmologists’ time to undertake duties only they are qualified to do e.g. perform cataract surgery.

The National Eyecare Workstream has also undertaken a workforce review across the entirety of NHS eye care services in Scotland. This was required to support workforce and service planning, and to ensure ongoing workforce sustainability. The final report, published in 2023, is available here: https://www.nhscfsd.co.uk/media/pjwntap4/national-ophthalmic-workforce-review-may-2023.pdf

In addition, our National Treatment Centres (NTC) programme provides additional protected elective capacity and infrastructure to meet the needs of the aging population, which is projected to grow by 25-30% between 2015 - 2035. We have allocated an additional £2.6 million to National Treatment Centre (NTC) Highland to deliver thousands of additional orthopaedic and ophthalmic operations every year, with approximately 61% of the additional funding intended to support ophthalmic procedures.

This is part of our wider investment of £110 million to address long waits for planned care, which includes over £12 million funding for ophthalmology services.

A number of Health Boards also have additional cataract slots at Golden Jubilee National Hospital.

Question reference: S6W-39436

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 6 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will review its elective care strategy, in light of reported long waits for cataract procedures.

There is an extensive programme of work already in progress to support NHS Boards to reduce waiting times for all planned care procedures, including cataract surgeries.

This year, we have allocated more than £110 million to health boards to help tackle the longest waits for procedures and operations and this includes an investment of more than £12 million for ophthalmology.

The Centre for Sustainable Delivery’s (CfSD) National Eyecare Workstream also works with Scottish Government to support optometrists in the care for patients with cataract. In January 2022, we commissioned CfSD to establish the Scottish National Cataract Short Life Working Group to address current challenges in cataract surgery in Scotland.

This multi-professional group co-developed an agreed set of principles for delivering higher volume cataract surgery in operating theatres on a sustainable basis and assist in future proofing cataract services.

This work has led to the publication of Improving the Delivery of Cataract Surgery in Scotland: a Blueprint for Success which can be accessed here: https://www.nhscfsd.co.uk/media/5sofmknr/cataract-surgery-blueprint-2022.pdf.

Question reference: S6W-39419

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 6 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what specific actions it is taking to reduce waiting times for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) assessments (a) across Scotland and (b) in the NHS Ayrshire and Arran area.

I recognise that there has been a significant increase in children and adults seeking ADHD assessments across Scotland, and that this is creating challenges for a range of services.

The Scottish Government is working with the National Autism Implementation Team (NAIT) to develop national Adult Neurodevelopmental Pathways, building on the pilots we funded in four NHS Board areas and the subsequent learning and recommendations.

We are also continuing to work with NHS Health Boards, including NHS Ayrshire and Arran, and local authorities to support implementation of the National Neurodevelopmental Specification for Children and Young People. We have recently undertaken a review of the implementation of the Specification and established a new Neurodevelopment Taskforce to drive forward identified recommendations.

In addition to investment through Health Boards, we will also be providing £500,000 additional funding in 2025-26 to improve access to neurodevelopmental support for children and young people, including for ADHD assessments. This is in addition to £250,000 provided in 2024-25, which funded a range of individual projects to improve neurodevelopmental assessment and support for children and young people, including projects that support ADHD diagnosis.

Question reference: S6W-39452

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 6 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of delayed cataract surgery on patient safety and quality of life.

The Scottish Government recognises that long waits can have an impact on health and wellbeing. Waiting well | NHS inform on NHS Inform provides patients with information to support their health and wellbeing while waiting for health and social care services. This includes information on physical and mental health, as well as advice about practical issues like money worries.

We know many people are still waiting too long and this is not good enough. We are determined do more and our Budget will provide a record £21.7 billion for health and social care, with more than £110 million allocated to health boards to help tackle the longest waits for procedures and operations.

The funding has been assigned to specialty areas for the year ahead where it can have the greatest impact against the longest waits. This includes more than £12 million for ophthalmology.

Question reference: S6W-39437

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 6 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Governmentfor what reason people are reportedly facing long waits for cataract surgery.

Cataract surgery remains one of the most frequently performed surgical interventions across NHS Scotland. However, our health service has experienced unprecedented pressures over the past few years including the long-term impacts of the pandemic, seasonal and staffing pressures and unprecedented levels of inflation across the public sector. This has inevitably disrupted the NHS’s ability to carry out routine procedures, meaning longer waits for many patients.

The Scottish Government is committed to delivering reductions in waiting times, and has this year allocated an additional £12 million funding to NHS Boards for ophthalmology services.