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-35369

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 17 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to raise awareness of gastrointestinal conditions and symptoms.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all people living with gastrointestinal conditions and symptoms in Scotland are able to access the best possible care and support, and benefit from healthcare services that are safe, effective and put people at the centre of their care.

Information and guidance on gastrointestinal conditions and symptoms such as Inflammatory Bowel Disease including crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis is already widely available to the public via the NHS Inform website: Scottish health information you can trust | NHS inform and we have no plans to commit to a campaign at this time.

Question reference: S6W-35375

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 17 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Competition and Markets Authority’s final recommendations from its infant formula and follow-on formula market study, as they relate to Scotland.

The Scottish Government welcomes the Competition and Markets Authority’s market study on infant formula and follow-on formula. Parents need to be able to make fully informed infant feeding choices. Where a family chooses to formula feed, the cost of essential food for babies should not be out of reach.

Scottish Government will work with UK partners to consider the Competition and Markets Authority’s recommendations, including how they relate to Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-35367

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 12 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to reduce the number of women who leave the workforce due to experiencing menopause.

The health and wellbeing of women at work is a key element of Scottish Government’s approach to Fair Work, including supporting women experiencing menopause and those who feel forced from the workforce due to their symptoms.

In the absence of powers on employment legislation the Scottish Government seeks to drive Fair Work by attaching criteria to grants, contracts and other public funding through our Fair Work First principles. Our Fair Work First Guidance provides good practice examples for supporting women and allowing them to maintain their careers, including menopause support, by directing employers to resources produced by NHS Inform and Close the Gap. Access to flexible working is also of vital benefit to workers who may need to balance work with managing health conditions. Since 2020, the Scottish Government has provided more than £1.1 million to help employers improve access to flexible working. Asking employers to offer flexible working from day one of employment has been a principle of Fair Work First since October 2021. Fair Work First criteria has been applied to over £2.6 billion worth of public sector grants between July 2023 and March 2024.

Through the Women’s Health Plan, in October 2023 NHS Scotland launched their National Menopause and Menstrual Health Workplace Policy for their workforce of around 180,000 as an example of best practice. Supporting resources, including line managers and workplace adjustment guides, are intended for use more widely across a variety of employment sectors and are available on the National Wellbeing Hub which is accessible to the public. Since the publication of the Policy, promotional activities have taken place to share the Policy across sectors.

The recently concluded Workplace Equality Fund supported four menopause-related projects, from which lessons learned and resources created will be shared widely with employers across Scotland alongside wider guidance, advice and support on all aspects of Fair Work as part of a fair work resource hub currently being developed with input from employers.

Question reference: S6W-35280

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 11 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what action is being taken to help improve support and treatment services for children and young people with long COVID.

We have commissioned NHS National Services Scotland to establish a long COVID Strategic Network. This has a multi-disciplinary working group focussed on children and young people, which has worked to develop a clinical pathway to support the appropriate assessment, referral and management of children and young people with long COVID symptoms.

This pathway was completed in June 2024 and disseminated to territorial NHS Boards. Following the dissemination of the pathway, the working group has conducted a survey of NHS boards to identify the routes through which they are providing support to children and young people with long COVID. A report summarising the responses from NHS boards is being developed, after which appropriate next steps will be identified by the group.

Question reference: S6W-34956

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 11 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made towards achieving the aims of the Personality Disorder Improvement Programme.

The Scottish Government is funding a Personality Disorder National Improvement Programme which has been developed in partnership with the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland and is being delivered by Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS).

The aim of the Personality Disorder Improvement Programme is to deliver meaningful improvements in services and supports for people impacted by personality disorder. This includes supporting NHS boards to implement practical changes which will improve care pathways for people with a diagnosis of personality disorder.

Phase 1, which concluded in March 2023, involved developing a national needs assessment, the development and delivery of a Personality Disorder Learning System and developing key performance indications for optimising and standardising data collection across Scotland.

Phase 2 is currently underway. HIS is currently working with NHS Dumfries & Galloway and West Lothian HSCP to review pathways, gather lived experience input and feedback, and capture learning around implementation of new pathways. A working group of internal and external stakeholders has also been established to develop a data and measurement plan.

This will form part of the wider mental health reform programme which aims to reform mental health services by enhancing care quality, access, and equity.

Question reference: S6W-35291

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 28 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 11 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is aware of any public sector organisations breaching existing health and safety legislation regarding the provision of single-sex toilets.

Question reference: S6W-35279

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 11 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to conduct an equality and human rights impact assessment on paediatric long COVID services.

The Scottish Government has no plans to conduct an equality and human rights impact assessment on paediatric long COVID services.

NHS Boards exercise responsibilities in relation to planning, commissioning and delivering healthcare services, and take overall responsibility for the health and wellbeing of the populations they serve. NHS Boards are discrete legal entities and legally accountable and responsible for how they carry out their functions, services, duties and responsibilities.

Question reference: S6F-03900

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 March 2025

To ask the First Minister whether he will provide an update on how the Scottish Government is working to improve healthy life expectancy.

Question reference: S6W-35292

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 28 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 10 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to make the provision of single-sex toilets a condition for receiving public funds, where an organisation occupies or owns a relevant building.

Question reference: S6W-35289

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 28 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 10 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has contacted public sector organisations to clarify health and safety workplace regulations regarding the use of single-sex toilets, and, if not, whether it plans to do so.

The Scottish Government has not contacted public sector organisations to clarify health and safety workplace regulations regarding the use of single-sex toilets and we have no plans to do so. The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 make provision on sanitary conveniences in the workplace. These regulations are a reserved matter. The Health and Safety Executive have issued guidance and an approved Code of Practice on the 1992 Regulations: Workplace health, safety and welfare - L24.