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-44162

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 March 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 24 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has conducted any analysis of the number of Scottish-domiciled students who have enrolled in undergraduate courses in (a) other UK nations or (b) overseas because their course of choice was not available in Scottish universities, in each year since 2021-22.

Question reference: S6W-44161

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 March 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 24 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many Scottish-domiciled students have studied in (a) England, (b) Wales, (c) Northern Ireland and (d) overseas, in each year since 2021-22.

Question reference: S6W-44026

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 March 2026
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 10 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether civil servants who live in (a) island and (b) remote communities can apply for an exemption from its hybrid working target of 40% of contracted hours spent in-person at their contractual workplace.

The Permanent Secretary to the Scottish Government has responsibility for the operational running of the organisation, including the workforce related hybrid working policy.

The Scottish Government’s hybrid working policy provides flexibility for alternative arrangements where regularly working in person in line with the 40% target may not be practical. Staff are able to have their circumstances considered via an interim, informal location-exemption process, which recognises that some staff may, for historical reasons, live a considerable distance from their contractual workplace.

I would encourage the member to direct any further questions on this matter to the Permanent Secretary.

Question reference: S6W-43965

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 9 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in the light of the decision to arrange NHS boards into two sub national planning structures for the west and east of Scotland, what impact this will have on the planned establishment of a northern medicines formulary to complement the existing east formulary and the west formulary, which is in development.

This work is being taken forward by Health Boards using a regional collaborative consensus model, which builds upon proven existing local governance and decision-making processes for formulary development.

Work to establish a formulary for the north region has not yet begun, however, as the new sub-national planning structures are implemented, we expect Health Boards to evolve their approach to regional formulary work and consider the possible impact this will have on both the established and developing regional formularies.

Question reference: S6W-43948

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 9 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that (a) NHS boards and (b) Health and Social Care Partnerships are able to fully-fund independent advocacy services for patients.

The Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003is clear that every person with a mental disorder shall have a right of access to independent advocacy. The 2003 Act places these duties at local level, allowing services to be designed and commissioned in a way that reflects local needs and circumstances. This is an essential part of delivering a person-centred system of health and social care.

As8 such, responsibility for securing and commissioning independent advocacy services rests locally with NHS Boards and Local Authorities, working in partnership through Integration Joint Boards and Health and Social Care Partnerships. In 2026-27, NHS Boards will see an increase in their baseline funding, bringing total investment of over £17.6 billion, an average real terms uplift of 1.8%.

Question reference: S6W-43947

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 9 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government which (a) NHS boards and (b) Health and Social Care Partnerships have yet to retender a contract for the provision of independent advocacy services for patients.

Question reference: S6W-43966

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 5 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in the light of the decision to arrange NHS boards into two sub national planning structures for the west and east of Scotland, what the implications this might have for the continued work of the North Cancer Alliance, which brings together boards from the Scotland East and Scotland West groupings.

DL (2025) 25, Implementation of Sub-National Planning: Co-operation and Planning Directions 2025 came into force on 13 November 2025. This document requires Health Boards to organise themselves into two collaborative sub-national structures – Scotland East and Scotland West – to co-operate in planning and delivering the objectives specified in the Directions. The objectives stated in the directive are as follows:

‘Treatment time guarantee for orthopaedic elective care services’
‘Emergency healthcare services’
‘Once for Scotland approach to business systems’
‘Mycare.scot service’

There are no current plans for cancer services to be organised within this subnational structure.

The Scottish Government and the newly established National Scottish Cancer Collaborative (previously Scottish Cancer Network) continue to work closely with the three regional cancer networks, Southeast Scotland Cancer Network, West of Scotland Cancer Network and the North Cancer Alliance, to align on national direction and to provide for once for Scotland solutions where appropriate.

Question reference: S6O-05597

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 February 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what additional support it will provide to local authorities to address ageing infrastructure, including bridges.

Question reference: S6W-43684

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 19 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to reopen the Local Bridge Maintenance Fund.

Question reference: S6W-43641

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 17 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many non-UK-owned fishing vessels, including vessels operating under foreign flags, (a) visited and (b) transhipped catches in (i) Ullapool, (ii) Lochinver, (iii) Scrabster and (iv) Lerwick ports in (A) 2024 and (B) 2025.

The number of vessels visiting i.e. entering port but not landing, was,

Port/Year	2024	2025
Lerwick	71	121
Lochinver	9	12
Scrabster	5	6
Ullapool	0	1

Note, Lerwick experiences significant numbers because Norwegian vessels take advantage of a tax exemption on fuel.

Transhipment refers to landing direct to another vessel. There were no vessels transhipping in the ports. There were the following landings, i.e. where a vessel lands to a lorry or market.

Port/Year	2024	2025
Lerwick	48	16
Lochinver	170	163
Scrabster	100	120
Ullapool	10	2