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-31269

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Dorothy Bain on 23 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many post-mortems have been conducted in (a) Aberdeen, (b) Glasgow and (c) Edinburgh in each of the last 10 years.

The following table details the number of post mortem examinations which have been instructed by the Procurator Fiscal in Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh in each of the last ten years.

COPFS does not hold figures for hospital post mortem examinations conducted by NHS boards.

Year	Post Mortems Conducted in Aberdeen	Post Mortems Conducted in Glasgow	Post Mortems Conducted in Edinburgh	Total of Post Mortems Conducted in Aberdeen, Glasgow & Edinburgh	Total of Post Mortems Conducted in Scotland
2014-15	531	2580	1462	4573	6365
2015-16	528	2614	1558	4700	6646
2016-17	446	2457	1306	4209	5705
2017-18	424	2577	1411	4412	5858
2018-19	451	2491	1434	4376	5678
2019-20	415	2602	1395	4412	5701
2020-21	516	3106	1539	5161	6695
2021-22	539	3114	1568	5221	7082
2022-23	557	3053	1779	5389	7022
2023-24	600	2763	1564	4927	6479

Question reference: S6W-32354

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 23 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many medical specialty training places it anticipates will be available in each of the next five years.

The allocation of medical specialty training places is made annually to ensure it meets the needs of the healthcare workforce, recognising that completion of specialty training can take a minimum of 3 to 8 years depending on the specialty. This process is overseen by a group of senior representatives from the Scottish Government, NHS Education for Scotland, professional bodies, and Health Boards. Based on workforce data and service demands, the group makes recommendations to Scottish Ministers regarding any changes needed, including the potential expansion of training places in specific specialties.

Question reference: S6W-32329

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 23 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what the current average time is to prosecute a criminal case, broken down by court type.

Since April 2023, the Scottish Government has published the median time from offence date to verdict date by court type. The most recent data covering 2023-24 reported in the Journey times in the Scottish Criminal Justice System: 2023-24 bulletin, shows the median offence to verdict times figures in supplementary table 4. Further information including median police known to verdict times can be found in the Journey times in the Scottish Criminal Justice System interactive dashboard.

Question reference: S6W-32320

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

To ask the Scottish Government how many court sittings were cancelled due to a lack of resources at Aberdeen courts in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-32321

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

To ask the Scottish Government how many cases were handled by Aberdeen courts in each of the last five years, broken down by court type.

Question reference: S6W-32266

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 19 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how the investment of £21 billion in health and social care in its draft Budget 2025-26 will be allocated across different services and regions.

The draft budget for 2025-26 includes £21.7 billion of investment in health and social care services – an uplift exceeding consequentials and taking funding to an all-time high.

A full breakdown of how the £21.7 billion will be allocated across different services and regions can be found in tables 3.02 and 3.04 in the published Scottish Budget 2025-26 document. This can be found online here:

Scottish Budget: 2025-26

Further information is also set out in the 2025-25 level 4 budget tables here:

Supporting documents - Scottish Budget 2025 to 2026 - gov.scot

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-32358

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 when the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care last met the (a) chair, (b) chief executive and (c) board of NHS Grampian.

Both Ministers and Scottish Government officials are in regular contact with senior representatives of all NHS Boards, including NHS Grampian.

The Scottish Government has been working very closely with NHS Grampian in relation to the recent pressures on local services. I attended a meeting with the Board leadership team, including the Chair and Interim Chief Executive, and local elected representatives on 29 November 2024 to discuss the Board’s operational resilience plan and cover the actions underway to resume business as usual at the earliest opportunity.

Question reference: S6W-32378

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 19 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many child protection cases have involved fabricated induced illnesses over the last five years.

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.