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: S6O-04499

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 1 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the University of Edinburgh’s reported announcement that it is seeking to make around £140 million of cuts to its budget.

The Scottish Government fully appreciates the financial sustainability challenges being faced by many universities due to a range of factors, including inflation, the impact of UK Government immigration policies on international student recruitment, and the increase to employers’ National Insurance Contributions.

Universities are autonomous institutions with responsibility for their own strategic and operational decision making. The Scottish Government and Scottish Funding Council will continue to work closely with the sector as they develop their own plans to mitigate financial challenges.

Question reference: S6O-04539

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it monitors the effectiveness of Social Security Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-35390

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 18 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications to prescribe medicines have been made under the Peer Approved Clinical System (PACS) Tier Two process in each NHS board in each year since the accompanying guidance was issued in March 2018.

There is a requirement for Health Boards to maintain accurate and up to date information on PACS Tier Two requests. The Scottish Government does not hold validated data on the number of PACS applications that Health Boards have received from clinicians. This information would need to be requested from Health Boards directly.

Health Boards are required to capture and share data as retrospective “in confidence” summary reports with the Scottish Government on a quarterly basis. The data received by Scottish Government is retained for internal management purposes only and is not formally validated.

Notably, the majority of collated PACS Tier Two requests are for fewer than five medicines; and data for numbers fewer than five are deemed to be patient identifiable and cannot be published.

Question reference: S6W-35391

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 17 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications to prescribe medicines have been granted under the Peer Approved Clinical System (PACS) Tier Two process in each NHS board in each year since the accompanying guidance was issued in March 2018.

There is a requirement for Health Boards to maintain accurate and up to date information on PACS Tier Two requests and their outcomes. The Scottish Government does not hold validated data on the number of PACS applications that Health Boards have granted. This information would need to be requested from Health Boards directly.

Health Boards are required to capture and share data as retrospective “in confidence” summary reports with the Scottish Government on a quarterly basis. The data received by Scottish Government are retained for internal management purposes only and are not formally validated.

Notably, the majority of collated PACS Tier Two requests are for fewer than five medicines; and data for numbers fewer than five are deemed to be patient identifiable and cannot be published.

Question reference: S6W-35387

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 17 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether its guidance on the Peer Approved Clinical System (PACS) issued to NHS boards in March 2018 remains valid, and what modifications to the guidance have been issued since that date.

Question reference: S6W-35388

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 17 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government under what circumstances an application can be made to prescribe a medicine under the Peer Approved Clinical System (PACS) Tier (a) One and (b) Two process.

The Peer Approved Clinical System (PACS) Tier One process is designed to provide an opportunity for clinicians, on a case by case basis for individual patients, to request the use of a licensed ultra-orphan medicine that is not recommended by the Scottish Medicine Consortium (SMC).

The PACS Tier Two process is designed to provide an opportunity for clinicians, on a case by case basis for individual patients, to request the use of a licensed medicine (other than an ultra-orphan medicine) that:

is a medicine for an indication that has been considered and not recommended by the SMC for routine use in NHS Scotland; or
is a medicine accepted for restricted use by the SMC but the intended use is out with the SMC restrictions; or
is a medicine which has been submitted to the SMC and is awaiting/undergoing evaluation.

Question reference: S6W-35389

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 17 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) oversight is exercised and (b) data collection is undertaken by ministers regarding the Peer Approved Clinical System (PACS).

The Peer Approved Clinical System (PACS) decisions are clinical decisions taken independently of Ministers and Parliament and remain a matter for Health Boards.

There is a requirement for Health Boards to maintain accurate and up to date information on PACS Tier Two requests and their outcomes. Health Boards are required to capture and share data as retrospective in confidence summary reports with the Scottish Government on a quarterly basis. The data is retained for internal management purposes only and is not formally validated.

Question reference: S6O-04448

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it is working with the heritage sector to conserve historic sites.

Question reference: S6W-35175

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 11 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, of the reported 513 residential rehabilitation beds in Scotland, how many are designated for (a) alcohol detoxification and (b) drug rehabilitation; also broken down by how many are currently occupied, and what the lowest occupancy rate was in the calendar year, 2024.

The residential rehabilitation bed capacity survey, published in November 2024, received responses from 25 residential rehabilitation facilities with bed capacity currently in operation that met the definition of residential rehabilitation developed by the Residential Rehabilitation Development Working Group. The bed capacity is not broken down into the number of alcohol detoxification or drug rehabilitation beds.

Facilities were asked to report on their maximum number of beds for residential rehabilitation treatment, and it should be noted that this is not the same as the number of beds occupied.

Unfortunately, the Scottish Government do not hold information on how many beds are currently occupied and what the lowest rate was in 2024. We have however responded to calls for more transparency and accountability by commissioning Public Health Scotland to develop a National Core Minimum Dataset which will form the basis for the monitoring of residential rehabilitation.

Question reference: S6W-35167

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 11 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much from its 2025-26 budget has been allocated towards the potential purchase of Ardrossan Harbour.

Consideration of potential purchase of Ardrossan Harbour involves confidential commercial discussions between Peel Ports Group and CMAL. We are not able to share detail on potential costs at this point. An indicative allowance has been made within the wider Vessels and Piers line in table 8.06 of the Scottish Government Budget to support this should an agreement be reached. As indicated, any consideration on purchase is subject to a fair settlement being negotiated and due diligence undertaken.