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-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.

Question reference: S7W-02096

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 how much the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service paid to the ALLIANCE to facilitate the consultation on the Strategic Service Review Programme.

Question reference: S7W-02097

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 whether the ALLIANCE provided a report on the consultation events held by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service as part of its Strategic Services Review Programme, including a report on the Helensburgh consultation event.

Question reference: S7W-02289

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 21 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the Clyde Cod Targeted Science Programme, for what reason the Clyde Fishermen's Association is the only stakeholder with guaranteed access to the resulting data.

Question reference: S7W-02290

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 21 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the Clyde Cod Targeted Science Programme, when the memorandum of understanding with the Clyde Fishermen's Association was signed by Scottish Ministers, in light of the published document being dated 1 April 2026, which was during the election purdah period.