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-23440

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 11 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has made any assessment of future supplies of banded copper intrauterine devices (IUDs), in light of reports of shortages of medical grade copper.

The Scottish Government is aware that the National Supply Disruption Service (NSDR) has been managing a shortage of 10-year copper coils since June, which affected multiple suppliers and was due to a manufacturer running short of copper. Alternative devices are available, including an alternative 10-year and 5- year copper coil. The NSDR advise that production of the 10 year coil has now resumed.

Advice to clinicians was published by the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare (FSRH) and can be found here: FSRH Statement: Update on national copper IUD shortages - Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare

Question reference: S6W-23431

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Elena Whitham on 11 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of future (a) trends and (b) challenges for young people at risk of problem alcohol use.

The Scottish Government (SG) is clear that tackling alcohol related harm remains a key public health priority, including in relation to children and young people. To assess trends on an ongoing basis a number of sources are considered, including this SG report and the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). The SG continues to utilise, and further develop, public health surveillance data to better understand drug and alcohol trends, particularly amongst younger people.

The 2018 Alcohol Framework sets out the SG's commitment to put the voice of children and young people at the heart of developing preventive measures on alcohol harm. In line with this specific engagement, projects with children and young people have been undertaken in the development of both the continuation and new level of MUP and the public consultation on potential measures to restrict alcohol advertising and promotion in Scotland. In addition to this the SG is investing £1.5 million in Planet Youth, sometimes referred to as the Icelandic Model, which is an evidence based model for substance use prevention.

Question reference: S6W-23434

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 11 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much NHS Scotland has spent on contraceptive education in (a) community settings and (b) NHS settings, such as maternity wards and clinics, in each of the past five years.

Question reference: S6W-23539

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 04 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 11 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of its "health in all areas approach" to tackling health inequalities.

Tackling health inequalities and improving population health remain clear, ongoing aims of the Scottish Government, that directly support our cross cutting missions of Equality, Opportunity and Community. We continue to pursue and promote a “health in all policies” approach as we recognise the building blocks of good health require concentrated action across government to maximise income and address socio-economic factors.

We are making progress and have prioritised tackling key drivers for poor health, including poverty and deprivation through a range of measures. This includes investment of £3bn across a range of programmes to support low income households, delivering the Scottish Child Payment, delivering Best Start Bright Futures to tackle child poverty, free school meals and the council tax reduction scheme. We are also delivering Community Link Workers and Welfare Rights Advisors to offer advice on housing, social security and employability issues within GP practices across our rural and deprived communities.

We are also taking forward work to support and encourage positive health behaviours and assuring the impact of our interventions are appropriately considered. This includes conducting Health Inequality Impact Assessments across our Diet and Healthy Weight Delivery Plan, our Alcohol Framework and any future policy planning as we implement our Tobacco and Vaping Framework.

The Scottish Government will continue to work closely with its partners, including Public Health Scotland, at a national and local level to explore ways to drive improvements in health and embed health considerations within wider future policy making. Over the coming months, we will be working closely with our partners across the health and social care system, local authorities and wider stakeholders to develop long term planning for population health and integrated health and social care services.

Question reference: S6O-02863

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 December 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what value it places on the role of trade unions in delivering and sustaining a wellbeing economy.

Question reference: S6O-02786

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jackson Carlaw (on behalf of the Scottish Parliament Corporate Body) on 23 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body when it will make a decision on the Staff Cost Provision uprating for the financial year 2024-25.

Question reference: S6O-02800

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 November 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the work of the Food Security Unit in relation to the monitoring of food system resilience.

Question reference: S6T-01639

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 20 November 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that stagnating workforce numbers, amongst other factors, are contributing to increased pressure on midwifery services.

Question reference: S6W-22435

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 7 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government by what stage of pregnancy it expects women to have had a face-to-face meeting with their named midwife.

The antenatal booking appointment is usually the first contact point between the primary or named midwife and pregnant women. We expect all women to have an initial assessment of their health, obstetric and social needs completed, and be offered appropriate screening referrals and other care options by the 12th full week of pregnancy.

The Scottish Government Local Delivery Plan standard for early access to antenatal care states that at least 80% of pregnant women in each Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) quintile will have booked for antenatal care by the 12th week of gestation. This standard has been met or exceeded consistently since 2013-14. Public Health Scotland published its latest annual statistical report on antenatal booking, Antenatal Booking in Scotland , in March 2023, which shows that 92.8% of pregnancies were booked by 12 weeks in the year ending 31 December 2022.

Question reference: S6W-22002

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been on abortion care services, and what steps still need to be taken to meet the aspirations outlined in its Women's Health Plan.

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted on all NHS services to an extent, including abortion services.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving access to abortion services and the Women’s Health Plan includes a range of measures which aim to achieve this. Several abortion-related actions within the Women’s Health Plan have been progressed, including:

making telemedicine consultations a permanent option for patients,
continuing to allow women under 12 weeks’ gestation to take mifepristone and misoprostol at home where that is clinically appropriate and also now allowing women to take mifepristone at home at later gestations in certain circumstances,
ensuring patients are offered the progestogen-only pill with their abortion medications, and
working with stakeholders and Gillian Mackay MSP to introduce the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Bill into the Scottish Parliament.

The Scottish Government commissioned NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) to develop a specification to deliver a national service for abortions between 20 to 24 weeks gestation within Scotland. NSS has been discussing its specification with NHS Boards and is also exploring other delivery options for the service. We anticipate that the long-term action within the Plan to review the provision of abortion services in Scotland will be considered as part of the forthcoming review of abortion law.