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-31307

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Dorothy Bain on 3 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what the impact of any delays in post-mortem examinations has been on legal proceedings in Aberdeen.

Question reference: S6W-31315

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Dorothy Bain on 3 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what the current status is of any work to address the recruitment of forensic pathologists in Aberdeen.

Question reference: S6W-31262

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Dorothy Bain on 3 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on forensic pathology services in Aberdeen in each of the last 10 years.

In Scotland, post mortem examinations instructed by the Crown are performed by Forensic Pathologists and NHS Consultant pathologists. Forensic pathologists perform a mixture of Forensic and non-Forensic examinations.

Aberdeen University provided a Forensic pathology service in Aberdeen in eight of the last ten years. Over those eight years, examinations were conducted by Forensic pathologists covering both Forensic and non-Forensic postmortems and it is not possible to separate the Forensic and non-Forensic pathology costs.

There has been no Forensic pathology service provider in Aberdeen in 2023-2024 and 2024-2025. COPFS-instructed non-forensic examinations in Aberdeen have been conducted by locum NHS consultant pathologists and Forensic services have been conducted by other Forensic service providers in Scotland. It is therefore possible to provide the costs of the Forensic pathology caseload in Aberdeen for 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 (forecasted figures from November 2024 to March 2025) and these are shown in the following table:

Year	2023-24	2024-25
Aberdeen University	359,162	0
Forensic pathology costs (outsourced to other areas)	143,360	146,076
Forensic pathology costs (in Aberdeen)	106,130.80*	19,485.37
NHS Grampian	1,120,393	1,589,371
Non-forensic Locum pathology in Aberdeen	103,162	234,188
Total	£1,832,207.80	£1,989,120.37

Please note the costs marked as * are for a locum forensic pathologist performing both forensic and routine postmortems

Question reference: S6W-31268

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Dorothy Bain on 3 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how long the average wait is before a post-mortem is conducted in Aberdeen, and how this compares to (a) Glasgow and (b) Edinburgh.

The average turnaround times for a non-suspicious post mortem to take place - measured from the later of the date of instruction from COPFS or the date the deceased is admitted to the designated mortuary to the date the post mortem takes place – is detailed in the following table:

Average Post Mortem turnaround time for non-suspicious deaths – April to October 2024

Aberdeen	Edinburgh	Glasgow
5 days	4 days	4-5 days

COPFS and pathology providers aim to conduct post mortems for suspicious deaths within 48 hours of the death being discovered.

Average turnaround time from the date of death to the date of postmortem for all deaths - April to October 2024

Aberdeen	Edinburgh	Glasgow
7.7 days	8.3 days	8.9 days

Question reference: S6W-31551

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 28 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the £62 million Energy Transition Fund, announced in June 2020, has been spent, and whether it will provide a breakdown of this spend.

The Energy Transition Fund provided £45.3m of funding to the end of financial year 2023-24. A further £8.7m is expected to be provided over financial year 2024-25.

The following table provides a breakdown of the funding provided across the four projects, which are all based in Aberdeen and the North East, supported by the Fund:

Project	Funding provided to end 2023-24	Expected funding over 2024-25	Total
Energy Transition Zone	£16.9m	£2.5m	£19.5m
Net Zero Technology Transition Programme	£13.8m	£2.1m	£15.9m
Aberdeen Hydrogen Hub	£10.2m	£3.1m	£13.3m
Global Underwater Hub	£4.4m	£1.0m	£5.4m
Fund Total	£45.3m	£8.7m	£54.1m

Question reference: S6O-04077

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to update planning guidance for battery energy storage systems.

Question reference: S6W-31637

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 27 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when the Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy last met the National Energy Systems Operator.

Question reference: S6W-31636

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 27 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when the Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy last met Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks.

Question reference: S6W-31638

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 27 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when the Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy last met Scottish Power.

Question reference: S6O-04031

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what is being done to address the reported shortage of forensic pathologists across Scotland.