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-32356

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 19 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on what the impact of using paper patient notes in hospitals is on (a) patient outcomes and (b) mortality.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. This is a matter for individual NHS Boards. However, the digitisation of records remains a strategic priority and the Scottish Government is committed to ensuring all healthcare staff have access to the right information at the right time to ensure that the best care possible can be provided.

The Scottish Government encourages all health and social care organisations to move from paper to electronic record keeping and sharing as this improves efficiency and supports transfers of care between different parts of the health and care system. Our ambitions and priorities for electronic record keeping, sharing of records, and improving access to health and care data for both staff and people who use services are set out in our Digital Health and Care and Health and Social Care Data strategies.

Question reference: S6W-32246

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 19 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much unspent funding has been returned to it from other public bodies in each year since 1999.

All public bodies sit within the Scottish Government budgeting boundary and public bodies underspend forms part of the overall Scottish Government financial position for each financial year. Individual public bodies may not spend their full allocated budget each year - they may return budget for reallocation elsewhere across the budgeting boundary through the Autumn Budget and Spring Budget Revision process; or they may not fully drawdown on their cash budgets in a financial year. Any reallocations of budget or underspends at year-end form part of the overall Scottish Government budget position. The Scottish Government does not maintain a record of the individual underspends by body for each year.

Details of the financial position for any individual body will be set out in their audited accounts for each year. Links to these are provided on the National public bodies directory (https://www.gov.scot/publications/national-public-bodies-directory/).

Question reference: S6W-32355

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 19 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many hospitals still use a paper patient note system.

The Scottish Government does not request this information from hospitals regarding their individual systems and therefore does not hold it.

Although the Scottish Government sets the regulatory guidelines as to how long health records should be retained, and when they should be destroyed, the responsibility for the overall conduct and management of patient records sits with NHS Boards directly. Therefore, to obtain information regarding the format of individual hospital records, the member should request it via the individual NHS Boards.

Question reference: S6W-32180

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 19 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that women with endometriosis are supported in the workplace, including protection from discrimination, implementation of reasonable adjustments and incorporation of menstrual health into workplace wellbeing initiatives.

Question reference: S6W-32058

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 19 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what consultation it has had with local authorities regarding the ScotRail proposal to reduce the opening hours of a number of station ticket offices, in light of the specific requirement for face-to-face sales of local authority concessionary fares.

Question reference: S6O-04181

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 December 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to strengthen Scotland’s ferry fleet over the coming year.

Question reference: S6O-04182

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 December 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the impact of the increase in employer national insurance contributions on the public and third sectors in Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-04179

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 December 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to reform planning regulations to enable the construction of new nuclear power stations.

Question reference: S6O-04180

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 December 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to invest in frontline primary healthcare to support rural pharmacies.

Question reference: S6O-04178

Asked by: Karen Adam, MSP for Banffshire and Buchan Coast, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 December 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported calls from constituents to save local government services, in light of reports that some services across Banffshire and Buchan Coast are under threat of closure.