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: S6O-04637

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what further consideration it has given to increasing or removing the earnings limit for recipients of the Carer Support Payment.

Question reference: S6O-04632

Asked by: James Dornan, MSP for Glasgow Cathcart, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to improve support for disabled people, including when seeking employment.

Question reference: S6O-04612

Asked by: Audrey Nicoll, MSP for Aberdeen South and North Kincardine, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the introduction of Quota Management Groups and whether they would benefit fishers and coastal communities.

Question reference: S6O-04622

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the work that it is doing to improve women’s health outcomes.

Question reference: S6W-37041

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the use of artificial intelligence-based tools to address any delays in cancer treatment and diagnosis.

Scottish Government is committed to the trustworthy, ethical and inclusive use of artificial intelligence (AI) in health and social care, where it can help to transform lives, increase healthy life expectancy and reduce health inequalities across Scotland.

There are promising examples of AI being developed to improve the accuracy and speed of diagnosis and in enhancing decision support tools.

The Accelerated National Innovation Adoption (ANIA) pathway is a programme funded by the Chief Scientist Office within Scottish Government. It has been established to provide a national approach to the identification and adoption of research and proven scientific and technological innovations. Governed by the Innovation Design Authority (IDA), it aims to support improved partnership working, system leadership and joint decisions on the progression of AI innovations across any health condition, including cancer.

Question reference: S6W-37042

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider working jointly with the UK Government to develop a UK-wide cancer strategy, in light of reports of calls for such an approach by expert commentators in The Lancet Oncology.

Cancer remains a national priority, within the Scottish Government and across NHS Scotland. That is why we recently published our 10 year Cancer Strategy for Scotland 2023-2033 along with an initial three year Cancer Action Plan for Scotland 2023 – 2026 in June 2023.

The strategic aim and vision is to improve cancer survival and provide excellent, equitably accessible care across Scotland.

Scottish Government continues to positively engage with the UK Government, including on the development of the new UK Government National Cancer Control Plan 2025.

Question reference: S6W-37006

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the additional £2.6 million in funding announced for National Treatment Centre Highland, how many procedures will be allocated to patients from NHS (a) Grampian and (b) Tayside as a result of the anticipated increase in capacity.

Question reference: S6W-37066

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many hectares of new native woodland have been created under the new Forestry Grant Scheme in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-36989

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it will address the environmental pressures reportedly contributing to salmon stock collapse, including pollution, blocked rivers and fish farm-related disease and parasites.

Question reference: S6W-36725

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will ask Historic Environment Scotland to undertake a study to designate important examples of early electricity generation and transmission infrastructure, in light of reports that some utility companies are destroying significant such infrastructure, such as G-route pylons in Renfrewshire and Glasgow Corporation Electricity Department cabinets.

As the lead public body responsible for preserving, maintaining and promoting the historic environment Historic Environment Scotland will consider any application for designation in line with its published policy ‘Designation Policy and Selection Guidance’.

Any individual can apply for a site to be designated and the designation consideration process by Historic Environment Scotland ensures that the historical and cultural significance of each site is fully considered.

Speciality	Procedure	Allocation
Orthopaedics	Foot and Ankle	70
Orthopaedics	Joints	600
Ophthalmology	Cataract	1753

Speciality	Procedure	Allocation
Orthopaedics	Joints	322
Ophthalmology	Cataract	400

Year	Area of woodland created (native) Hectares
2019-20	4764
2020-21	3991
2021-22	4982
2022-23	3046
2023-24	7978