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-37834

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 4 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any inflationary impact of the NHS pay deal.

Forecasts for the Scottish economy, including inflation, are produced by the independent Scottish Fiscal Commission. Their most recent forecasts were published on 29 May (https://fiscalcommission.scot/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Scotlands-Economic-And-Fiscal-Forecasts-May-2025.pdf).

The Scottish Government has costed the one percentage point above inflation that the Agenda For Change pay deal for 2025-26 and 2026-27 guarantees and is monitoring monthly.

Question reference: S6W-37873

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 4 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many children have died in the past five years as a result of a late diagnosis of cancer.

Question reference: S6W-37631

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 4 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of what the risk of legal challenge would be for any public bodies that continue to apply policies of gender self-identification in relation to access to single-sex spaces.

All public bodies must comply with the law. It is not for the Scottish Government to direct public bodies in matters relating to compliance with reserved matters in the Equality Act 2010, for which the EHRC is the regulator and enforcer.

Public bodies and service providers with questions regarding how the law may affect them in their circumstances should contact the EHRC as it is the body responsible for regulating and enforcing the Equality Act 2010.

Question reference: S6W-37156

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 4 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will review future grant funding for any activist groups found to have been spreading misinformation and hostility in relation to the expression of gender-critical views.

Question reference: S6W-37630

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 4 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether it is acceptable for different parts of the public sector to apply different policies regarding access to single-sex facilities.

It is not for the Scottish Government to issue immediate instructions or temporary guidance to public bodies or services, and we are not responsible for monitoring or enforcing compliance with the Equality Act 2010. That is the statutory role of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). Each public body should consider the impacts of the Supreme Court ruling and prepare for the updated Code of Practice from the EHRC.

Question reference: S6W-37154

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 4 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it will take to ensure that all perspectives, including those of women’s rights campaigners, are included in future stakeholder consultations on sex-based rights and equality policy.

There are many ways in which the Scottish Government consults citizens and organisations. For example, through written consultations, which are open to anyone who is interested in contributing their views, public and stakeholder meetings, focus groups, and questionnaires. In addition, the Scottish Government engages regularly with a wide range of stakeholders, including organisations working to promote gender equality and women's rights.

We will shortly begin engaging with stakeholders and women with diverse lived experience on the development of a strategy to tackle gender inequality and realise the rights of women and girls and we will take steps to ensure that we hear the perspectives of a range of organisations that work with women and girls and advocate for their rights.

Question reference: S6W-36971

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 4 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it has issued to the Care Inspectorate in relation to children in care and the protection of biological sex-based rights.

Question reference: S6W-36970

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 4 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the Care Inspectorate's Guidance for children and young people’s services on the inclusion of transgender including non-binary young people is compatible with the value of free speech.

Question reference: S6W-37850

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 3 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether all (a) NHS boards and (b) local authorities have fully tested and resourced (i) disaster recovery and (ii) IT resilience plans.

The Network and Information Systems (NIS) regulatory requirements for the NHS require that each Health Board provides evidence on their improvements to resilience and capabilities through the Scottish Health Competent Authority regulatory audits, which are against the Public Sector Cyber Resilience Framework.

The Scottish Government published the Cyber Resilience Public Sector Action Plan for all organisations in Scotland’s public sector, including Health and Local Authorities. This plan, alongside a number of other actions, sets out the minimum standards for cyber security that public sector organisations are expected to meet. Controls within the Public Sector Cyber Resilience Framework require that disaster recovery and resilience policies and procedures be in place.

https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-public-sector-cyber-resilience-framework-v2-0/pages/1/

Question reference: S6W-37824

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 3 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what urgent steps it is taking to reduce the waiting time for NHS hearing aid replacements, to bring it in line with the national 18-week treatment target.

The Scottish Government does not capture patients on waiting lists for hearing aid replacements specifically and it is the responsibility of Health Boards to manage these lists appropriately.

Scottish Government officials meet monthly with Health Boards to review performance and delivery across all Planned Care specialities, including ENT, and Health Board Action Plans in relation to the Independent Review, which has been published online, are reported and monitored by the NHS Planning and Delivery Board.

Work continues with the NHS, Third Sector and private providers to identify and cost an appropriate model of community care for any future service reform and ensure that the voices of those with lived experience inform this work