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-37007

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 6 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Care Inspectorate will provide data on the unmet demand for childcare, in addition to providing existing data on the number of settings and places available.

Question reference: S6W-37002

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 6 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the implementation of the recommendations in Transport Scotland's March 2023 report, Women's and girls' views and experiences of personal safety when using public transport.

Question reference: S6W-37003

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 6 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when in 2025 it will publish a medium-term financial strategy.

Question reference: S6W-37001

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 6 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking with (a) Police Scotland and (b) the NHS to raise awareness of the dangers of purchasing weight loss injections from illegitimate or unauthorised sources.

Question reference: S6W-36998

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 6 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the potential risks of battery energy storage system sites, in light of reported concerns over public health and fire safety.

Question reference: S6W-36999

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 6 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support small businesses, following the reported concerns of the Federation of Small Businesses over the "perfect storm" of rising energy and labour costs, increased administrative burdens and trade tariffs.

Question reference: S6W-36752

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 17 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce cancer waiting times in NHS Grampian, in light of the NHS board reportedly recording the worst cancer waiting times in Scotland.

Cancer remains a national priority, within the Scottish Government and across NHS Scotland, and I recognise that we must do more to ensure patients with cancer are treated faster.

We have invested over £40 million across NHS Scotland over the past five years to support cancer services and improve waiting times, with a focus on urology, colorectal and breast.

In NHS Grampian specifically, over £1.5 million of cancer funding has been provided to the board in 2024-25, to support delivery of diagnostics and treatment for patients referred with an urgent suspicion of cancer to reduce waiting lists.

Each territorial Health Board across Scotland has agreed performance improvement plans in place, detailing what is being done at local level to drive improvements. The Scottish Government has a sustained focus on the delivery of these plans and meet with Cancer Management Teams in all health boards across Scotland frequently, including NHS Grampian, to identify challenges, explore solutions, and share best practice.

Question reference: S6W-36363

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 17 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to respond to the correspondence of 21 February 2025 from the Equality and Human Rights Commission regarding single-sex facilities, and whether its response will be published and made publicly available.

Question reference: S6W-36364

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 17 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the publication of the report on the review of data, statistics and research on sex and gender (the Sullivan Review), when it will update its 2021 guidance for public bodies on the collection and publication of data on sex, gender identity and trans status, in line with recommendation 23 of the report.

The Office of the Chief Statistician published guidance for public bodies in Scotland on the collection of data on sex and gender in 2021. This guidance recommends that statistics producers should collect data that best serves the needs of users in their specific context, an approach with aligns with the guidance published by the Office for Statistics Regulation in 2024.

The Sullivan Review specifically recommends that the Scottish Government reviews its guidance in light of its recommendations. The Scottish Government has previously committed to reviewing its guidance on collecting data on sex and gender by the end of 2026 as part of the Non-Binary Equality Action plan.

Ahead of this review, the Office of the Chief Statistician is engaged with wider-UK work on this topic. The Government Statistical Service (GSS) Harmonisation Team is currently developing harmonised standards for collecting data on sex and gender identity. The Office of the Chief Statistician is contributing to this work, and will consider its outputs as part of its review of the Chief Statistician’s guidance.

Question reference: S6W-36758

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 8 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when waiting lists for i-Sgoil will reopen; what the current average waiting time is for a place; whether it has had discussions with local authorities about the availability of the programme for pupils who cannot attend school, and whether any financial resources have been allocated to expand the programme.