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-04883

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 August 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it is reportedly downgrading fire station services across the country, including in Helensburgh.

Question reference: S6W-39774

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the delivery of the BE FAST (balance, eyes, face, arms, speech, time) stroke awareness campaign in NHS Forth Valley’s accident and emergency department.

Question reference: S6W-39775

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of NHS Forth Valley delivering the BE FAST (balance, eyes, face, arms, speech, time) stroke awareness campaign in its accident and emergency department, whether it is considering rolling out the campaign to other NHS boards’ accident and emergency departments.

Question reference: S6W-40047

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 22 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 27 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many calls to the Scottish Ambulance Service have been responded to (a) within (i) under 10, (ii) 10 to 29, (iii) 30 to 59 and (iv) 60 to 120 and (b) after over 120 minutes in each year since 2021-22, broken down by triaged category of call.

Question reference: S6W-40118

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 August 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 23 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made on implementing the recommendations of the review of governance of NHS endowment funds, in order to increase the funding available to the NHS.

Question reference: S6W-39778

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 26 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what funding it has awarded to credit unions in each of the last five financial years.

The Scottish Government does not hold a central record of all financial support provided to credit unions. Where funding has been provided, it has generally been through broader third sector or financial inclusion programmes such as those delivered by Social Investment Scotland, rather than as ongoing, dedicated support to credit unions. For example, in total SIS has awarded:

Financial Year	19-20	20-21	21-22	22-23	23-24	24-25
Total Loans to Credit Unions	-	1,637,500	160,000	500,000	2,000,000	1,465,000
Grants Awarded	-	13,500,000	-	-	-	-
Total	-	15,137,500	160,000	500,000	2,000,000	1,465,000

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-21901 on 24 October 2023. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

Question reference: S6W-39779

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 26 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met with the (a) Association of British Credit Unions Limited (ABCUL) and (b) Scottish League of Credit Unions, and what issues were discussed.

Scottish Government officials met with the Association of British Credit Unions Limited in December 2024 (and are due to meet them again in August) and with the Scottish League of Credit Unions in February 2025. Officials and Ministers have also met with individual credit unions over that time and representatives of the credit union sector attended the June meeting of the Financial Services Growth and Development Board (FISGAD). Discussions covered the current operating environment for the sector, opportunities to strengthen resilience and sustainability, and ways in which the Scottish Government and industry can work together to improve access to financial services. Topics also included ongoing engagement on policy developments, the promotion of ethical and affordable financial products, and the role of the sector in supporting financial inclusion across Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-39780

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 26 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to encourage young people to save money using schemes run by credit unions.

The Scottish Government is supporting work to encourage young people to develop good financial habits and increase engagement with credit unions. This includes collaboration with partners on initiatives aimed at improving financial education in schools and helping young people access suitable financial products.

Current work focuses on piloting approaches in selected areas to test how best to increase account ownership among school leavers and reduce financial exclusion, with progress being monitored to inform future policy and potential wider rollout.

Question reference: S6W-39660

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 26 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to ensure that NICE-compliant specialist services for myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) are introduced by NHS boards, and that these services comply with the principles contained in the delivery plan for ME/CFS to ensure that people in Scotland with the condition do not receive inadequate care compared with those in England.

There are no devolved elements of the UK Government’s delivery plan on ME/CFS. It covers the population of England only.

We are unable to formally endorse the Plan due to differing healthcare systems and statutory structures.

However, the 2025-26 Scottish Budget includes an additional £4.5 million to deliver new specialist support across the country for long COVID, ME/CFS and other similar conditions. We want this money to have maximum impact and we are working closely and carefully with health boards across Scotland to allocate it as quickly and effectively as possible.

The provision of healthcare services is the responsibility of NHS health boards. In commissioning boards’ plans for this funding we have stressed the importance of ensuring that services are informed by current clinical best practice, such as National Institute for Excellence in Healthcare (NICE) guidelines NG:206 and NG:188– which are available to clinicians across the UK - and that care is delivered in line with the relevant recommendations, wherever applicable.

Question reference: S6W-39661

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 26 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what practical and financial steps it will take to stimulate myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) research.

The Scottish Government’s Chief Scientist Office (CSO) funded with other health research organisations the James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership that has published priorities for myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) research. In addition, CSO with other research funders have developed a toolkit for researchers to guide them on funding streams that provide opportunities for ME/CFS research. These streams include CSO’s open competitive grant and fellowship schemes that fund applied health research across a wide remit, inclusive of ME/CFS research as well as National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) programmes that can also fund ME/CFS research in Scotland with CSO’s financial contribution to NIHR opening these programmes to applications from researchers in Scotland. Applications submitted to these schemes are assessed through independent expert peer-review with funding recommendations made by independent expert committees.