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-34392

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 20 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what powers it has to influence grid management in Scotland, and whether it has assessed the possibility of using any such powers to align Scottish transmission impact assessment thresholds with those in England and Wales.

The Scottish Government has no powers to influence grid management in Scotland as legislation and regulations relating to gas and electricity networks are reserved to the UK Government. The independent system operator, National Energy System Operator (NESO), is responsible for strategic planning and day-to-day operation of the electricity network, working with network companies across Great Britain. Regulation of the electricity and gas networks is carried out by the independent energy regulator Ofgem.

The Scottish Government has no role in networks regulation apart from its statutory planning and consenting process.

Question reference: S6W-34006

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB) on 20 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body how much has been spent on new and replacement (a) televisions and (b) monitors in each of the last 10 years.

Question reference: S6W-34001

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB) on 20 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what bee disease mitigation measures it has in place.

The beekeeper takes measures to prevent diseases and pests, maintains the hygiene and safety of the bee colonies and ensures that all disease prevention treatments are provided. This includes checking for notifiable pests and diseases, which if found would be reported to the Honey Bee Health Inspectors.

The beekeeper maintains accurate beekeeping records, carries out hive inspections during the summer months and provides appropriate care and/or preventative maintenance as required.

Question reference: S6W-34009

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB) on 20 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body how many flags it owns, and whether it will publish a list of them.

Question reference: S6W-34004

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB) on 20 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it has conducted a review into the environmental impact of supplying sauce sachets and salt and pepper sachets.

We consistently monitor and review the use of single-use items throughout the catering services with our contractor, with sauce sachets now only available by request at the till to minimise waste. We have previously tried using pump-style dispensers to reduce the number of sachets, however there were several challenges around stocking, cleaning, and maintenance. We will continue to work with our service provider to identify measures to reduce single-use items across the services where possible.

Question reference: S6W-34015

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB) on 20 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body how many desk chairs it has purchased, and what the total cost of this has been, in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-34017

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB) on 20 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what the total cost of gardening and landscaping services has been in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-34013

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB) on 20 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body how many of any flags that it owns have (a) gone missing and (b) been wilfully damaged in each of the last 15 years.

Question reference: S6W-35115

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 February 2025
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Neil Gray on 20 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the progress and impact of the £30 million allocated in 2024-25 to reduce NHS waiting times.

NHS Boards have exceeded the commitment to deliver 64,000 appointments and procedures in 2024-25, funded through our additional investment of £30 million to drive action to address the longest waits.

To the end of January 2025, Boards are reporting delivery of 75,500 appointments and procedures, as follows:

Over 9,800 of 12,000 new outpatient appointments;
almost 9,200 of 12,000 surgeries delivered;
and almost 56,500 diagnostic procedures delivered, exceeding the original plan to deliver 40,000 by 41%.

Funding was targeted in specialties including Ophthalmology, Orthopaedics, Urology, Diagnostics and Cancer. Since April 2024, Scottish Government has been closely monitoring progress and impact and will continue to do so until the end of March 2025.

Across Scotland, the latest published data in the PHS Stage of Treatment Statistics show that, between April 2024 and September 2024, compared to the same period in 2023, there has been an 8.3% increase in activity for inpatient/daycase procedures and 2.5% increase for new outpatients appointments. While the activity through the additional investment cannot be directly attributed to the increased activity, we are confident that has supported increased throughput.

The targeted funding has also helped reduce the total national diagnostics waiting list size. Between April 2024 and September 2024 imaging list size reduced by 7.5% and scopes by 7.3%.

At Board level, we have seen significant percentage reductions in waiting times across a number of specialities where funding has been targeted, as set out in the following table:

NHS Board	Speciality	Activity Type	% change between ongoing waits April to end Sept 2024
Ayrshire & Arran	Imaging	Diagnostics	-35.2%
Fife	Imaging	Diagnostics	-44.3%
Forth Valley	Imaging	Diagnostics	-22.9%
Golden Jubilee National Hospital	Imaging	Diagnostics	-16.7%
Grampian	Imaging	Diagnostics	-34.3%
Highland	Imaging	Diagnostics	-6.0%
Lanarkshire	Imaging	Diagnostics	-7.3%
Tayside	Imaging	Diagnostics	-11.4%
Borders	Scopes	Diagnostics	-19.0%
Greater Glasgow & Clyde	Scopes	Diagnostics	-26.7%
Grampian	Scopes	Diagnostics	-9.0%
Highland	Scopes	Diagnostics	-6.5%
Lanarkshire	Scopes	Diagnostics	-16.1%
Tayside	Scopes	Diagnostics	-8.6%
Lanarkshire	Ophthalmology	Inpatient / Daycase	-14.9%
Shetland	Ophthalmology	Inpatient / Daycase	-35.5%
Fife	Orthopaedics	Inpatient / Daycase	-5.2%
Greater Glasgow & Clyde	Orthopaedics	Inpatient / Daycase	-0.4%
Highland	Orthopaedics	Inpatient / Daycase	-6.2%
Lanarkshire	Orthopaedics	Inpatient / Daycase	-9.3%
Lothian	Orthopaedics	Inpatient / Daycase	-7.6%
Forth Valley	Urology	Inpatient / Daycase	-22.4%
Lothian	Urology	Inpatient / Daycase	-12.7%
Highland	ENT	Inpatient / Daycase	-19.0%
Lothian	General Surgery	Inpatient / Daycase	-9.8%
Highland	Gynaecology	New Outpatients	-9.6%
Highland	Orthopaedics	New Outpatients	-8.5%

Following the budget announcement in December 2024 to invest a further £200 million to reduce waiting and support reductions in delayed discharge, we will continue to build on progress to ensure that no one is waiting over 52 weeks by March 2026.

Question reference: S6W-35005

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 20 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when it will conduct its review of the package of student financial support available for nursing and midwifery studies, and whether, as part of that review, it will explore any changes to reflect those who choose rural and remote work.

The Paramedic, Nursing and Midwifery (PNM) student financial support review is currently ongoing. The review aims to ensure that all PNM students are adequately supported to complete their studies, this includes students from remote and rural locations. A key aspect of the work associated with the review is to hear directly from PNM students about their experiences and opinions on financial support during their studies.

Parliament dissolved ahead of election

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