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: S7W-02098

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 25 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether the current Cabinet Secretary for Justice has met representatives of the Fire Brigades Union and, if so, what was discussed.

Question reference: S7W-02118

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 25 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) total expenditure on prescription medicines and (b) average cost per prescription item dispensed was, in each financial year from 2021-22 to the latest date for which information is available.

The requested information is shown in the following table.

Table 1: Prescription Cost Analysis Totals

Paid Financial Year	Number of dispensed Items	Gross ingredient cost (£)	Cost per item (£)
2021-22	106,601,987	1,168,834,872	10.96
2022-23	110,339,683	1,235,560,290	11.20
2023-24	113,609,076	1,305,189,021	11.49
2024-25	116,527,075	1,318,286,930	11.31

Source: Public Health Scotland Prescribing Information System

This data is based on prescriptions dispensed by community pharmacy contractors, appliance suppliers and dispensing doctors. This data also excludes prescriptions dispensed in England. Gross Ingredient Cost (GIC) is the cost of medicines and appliances dispensed and reimbursed at list price.

Question reference: S7W-02119

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 25 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent on prescribing (a) aspirin and (b) paracetamol, in each financial year from 2021-22 to the latest date for which information is available.

The requested information is shown in the following table.

Prescription Cost Analysis – Aspirin and Paracetamol

Paid Financial Year	BNF drug/device name	Number of dispensed items	Gross ingredient cost (£)
2021-22	ASPIRIN	1,786,645	1,798,992
	PARACETAMOL	2,362,586	9,775,540
2022-23	ASPIRIN	1,756,051	2,678,122
	PARACETAMOL	2,459,823	11,755,882
2023-24	ASPIRIN	1,746,735	3,109,038
	PARACETAMOL	2,472,463	14,154,347
2024-25	ASPIRIN	1,741,667	3,149,495
	PARACETAMOL	2,530,044	15,500,371

Source: Public Health Scotland: Prescribing Information System

The data shown is based on prescriptions dispensed by community pharmacy contractors, appliance suppliers and dispensing doctors only.

The data excludes prescriptions dispensed in England and does not include combination products.

Gross Ingredient Cost (GIC) is the cost of medicines and appliances dispensed and reimbursed at list price.

Question reference: S7W-02666

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 August 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 22 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to consult with charities and healthcare providers as part of any evaluation of the rollout of the Young Patients Family Fund.

Question reference: S7W-02669

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 August 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 22 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will expand the Young Patients Family Fund eligibility criteria to include under-25s.

Question reference: S7W-02670

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 August 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 22 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that claims are increasing year on year, for what reason it has reduced the budget for the Young Patients Family Fund in real terms since its inception in 2021.

Question reference: S7W-02671

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 August 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 22 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made since January 2021 of the accessibility and suitability of the Young Patients Family Fund.

Question reference: S7W-02095

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 24 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what revenue will be available for reallocation (a) overall and (b) at Helensburgh Fire Station, as a result of the changes made following the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service Review.

The changes approved by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) Board will be delivered over the next 5 years with SFRS developing a change programme.

a) In the short term, there will be no net savings from the review as the total number of wholetime firefighters employed by SFRS will not reduce and there will be additional on-call firefighters (20 new posts) to be recruited. 69 wholetime firefighters in front-line fire stations will be redirected to the essential training and prevention roles. It is expected any savings from building maintenance or future capital expenditure avoided will be invested in other parts of the SFRS estate.

b) With regards to Helensburgh Fire Station, when the changes are implemented, around four wholetime pump crews (17 people), equating to £779,000 salary costs, would be available for reallocation elsewhere in the service, as only one expanded crew would be required for operating the Day Shift Duty System (DSDS). Additional on call staff, costing approximately £109,000 per annum, will be required for providing additional resilience in the evenings and weekends for the DSDS/On-call pump. Costs of approximately £67,000 in relation to training the on call crew and swift water and flood response capability will also be required. This reduced staff footprint will realise property related cost reductions of approximately £23,000 annually. It should be noted that Helensburgh and the wider area will benefit from staff being redeployed into community safety/prevention and training roles.

Question reference: S7W-02105

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 24 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S7W-00815 by Maree Todd on 16 June 2026, what the timetable is for bringing bowel screening in line with the UK NSC recommendations.

S7W-00815 refers to prostate cancer screening. Information on both bowel and prostate cancer screening is set out below.

Since 2009, Scotland has offered bowel screening in line with the current UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) recommendations; screening is offered every two years to people aged between 50 and 74. Those aged 75 and over can also request a kit every two years. In July 2026, the Scottish Government submitted a proposal to the UK NSC to review their recommended age range, highlighting that the number of bowel cancers are increasing in those under the age of 50.

As noted in the answer to S7W-00815, our initial focus is on strengthening existing high-risk surveillance pathways for prostate cancer, which already allow eligible men to access testing in line with the UK NSC recommendation. This work will progress at pace, and will be completed ahead of any implementation of a national screening programme, which will require a number of formal processes to be developed, including a dedicated IT system.

To support both pieces of work, we have established a multi-disciplinary Prostate Cancer Screening Working Group (PCSWG).

Question reference: S7W-02103

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 24 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S7W-00820 by Maree Todd on 16 June 2026, whether there are any plans to run recruitment campaigns to increase the number of people volunteering for clinical trials.

Individual Clinical Trials run public recruitment campaigns if needed to meet their recruitment targets.

The NHS Research Scotland Infrastructure is available to support this activity through both the Scottish Research Register and Biobank Recruitment to clinical trials | NHS Research Scotland | NHS Research Scotland, and Topic-specific Research Networks Research Areas | NHS Research Scotland | NHS Research Scotland.