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: S7O-00364

Asked by: Steven Bonnar, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 September 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what role it expects volunteering to play in the delivery of its proposed public service reform agenda, particularly in relation to prevention, health and wellbeing.

Question reference: S7W-03457

Asked by: Steven Bonnar, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 29 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of whether current cancer waiting times standards provide sufficient monitoring and accountability for women with suspected endometrial cancer, given that it is not one of the 10 cancer types covered by the 62-day cancer waiting times standard, and what consideration it has given to including this cancer within the 62-day cancer waiting times standard or introducing a separate national waiting-time measure for its diagnosis and treatment.

The cancer waiting times standards were originally monitored against 10 major cancer groups: breast, colorectal, head and neck, lung, lymphoma, ovarian, melanoma, upper gastrointestinal, urological and cervical cancers. These were selected because they accounted for a large proportion of cancer cases and referrals, allowing meaningful performance measurement.

Many rarer cancers, such as endometrial cancer, have very small patient numbers, making quarterly reporting less statistically reliable and potentially raising patient confidentiality concerns when results are published by NHS Board and tumour type.

However, The Scottish Government commitment to ‘carrying out a clinically led review of latest data and evidence to determine whether there is merit in specific additional or alternative cancer waiting times standards for different types of cancer and cancer treatment’ is underway.

A project steering group is being established which will support the review, determining if any amendments to the standards would enhance patient experience and meet the needs of the NHS for the future.

Evidence review commissions were shared with key partners in April with the full clinical consensus review expected to conclude with recommendations within 18- 24 months.

Monitoring and accountability of standards of care for endometrial cancer is still provided through a number of different means including national set of Quality Performance Indicators (QPIs), developed through the Scottish cancer quality programme and overseen by Healthcare Improvement Scotland, with performance reported by Public Health Scotland. These indicators are used to support continuous quality improvement in cancer services across NHS Scotland.

Question reference: S7O-00277

Asked by: Steven Bonnar, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 September 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that the new national approach to additional support for learning delivers more consistent support for children and young people across Scotland, and provides schools and families with greater clarity about what support is available.

Question reference: S7O-00187

Asked by: Steven Bonnar, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 September 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address delays in the provision of Remedial Service Statements to NHS pension scheme members affected by the McCloud/Sargeant remedy, including measures to prevent financial detriment to members, in light of reports that some former NHS employees have been waiting almost four years to receive their statements.

Question reference: S7W-02457

Asked by: Steven Bonnar, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 28 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service regarding the number of Adult Disability Payment (ADP) appeals requiring second or subsequent hearings, including where additional evidence is required, and what assessment it has made of any delays to determining ADP appeals resulting from such additional hearings.

The Scottish Government engages regularly with the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) regarding the operation of social security appeals, including Adult Disability Payment appeals. These discussions cover a range of operational matters including appeal volumes, processing times, hearing arrangements and adjournment rates.

A second or subsequent hearing may be required when the Tribunal determines additional information is needed before a decision can be reached. This can include obtaining further supporting information, seeking clarification of information presented during a hearing, or allowing additional time to secure representation.

Social Security Scotland has not undertaken a specific assessment of delays resulting from appeals that require second or subsequent hearings. However, it continues to engage with SCTS on appeals performance and the efficient operation of the appeals system.

Decisions about the management of appeals, including whether to adjourn a hearing and when any further hearing takes place, are matters for the independent First-tier Tribunal for Scotland and administered by Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service.

Question reference: S7O-00166

Asked by: Steven Bonnar, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 August 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that people with complex needs, including mental ill health and problematic substance use, receive joined-up support and continuity of care.

Question reference: S7W-01886

Asked by: Steven Bonnar, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 18 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding a coordinated oversight framework for large-scale data centre and AI infrastructure developments, in light of the cross-cutting issues that such developments raise across devolved planning powers and reserved matters, including energy and digital infrastructure.

Question reference: S7W-01885

Asked by: Steven Bonnar, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 13 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what national guidance exists for NHS boards regarding the assessment of risk and discharge planning for patients presenting with co-existing mental ill health, substance misuse and homelessness, what its position is on whether that guidance is sufficient and consistently implemented across Scotland and whether it has any plans to review or strengthen the guidance.

The Scottish Government has developed a range of national guidance, including the Discharge Without Delay approach, which promotes multidisciplinary assessment, person-centred discharge planning and collaboration between health, social care, housing and homelessness services. This approach is reinforced by Scotland's homelessness prevention duties, which, when enacted, will require relevant public bodies to ask and act where a person is at risk of homelessness and ensure housing needs are considered as part of assessment and discharge planning.

In addition, the National Mental Health and Substance Use Protocol sets expectations for joined up working between mental health and substance use services, common assessment processes, information sharing, and coordinated care pathways for people with co-occurring needs. Healthcare Improvement Scotland continues to support Health and Social Care Partnerships to support local implementation of the Protocol.

The Scottish Government will continue to work with NHS boards, local authorities and Health and Social Care Partnerships to support consistent implementation of existing guidance and consider where further improvements to national guidance and practice may be needed.

Question reference: S7W-01337

Asked by: Steven Bonnar, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 June 2026
Current Status: Answered by Hannah Mary Goodlad on 22 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the increasing scale and strategic significance of proposed data centre developments, whether it will consider establishing a centralised ministerial oversight framework, similar in principle to the Energy Consents Unit for major energy infrastructure, to ensure a coordinated national approach to assessing cumulative impacts on energy demand, water use, land use and infrastructure, while also ensuring meaningful community benefit and alignment with Scotland’s net zero ambitions.

The Scottish Government has on the 13th of July repositioned the energy consents unit within an expanded Planning Directorate, creating a single, stronger centre of expertise in planning and consenting within the Scottish Government.

As the First Minister set out in Parliament on 25 June 2026, we are giving active consideration to whether we should provide planning guidance to balance the potential economic opportunities from the creation of data centres, with concerns raised by communities, and our national energy and climate goals which are vital to our future prosperity.

All issues about local and national decision making and the implications for energy use will be considered fully.

Question reference: S7W-01336

Asked by: Steven Bonnar, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 June 2026
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 17 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding a coordinated oversight framework for large-scale data centre developments, including those supporting AI infrastructure, in light of the intersecting issues that such developments raise across devolved planning powers and reserved matters, including energy and digital infrastructure.

The complexity of large scale data centre developments, and interplay across reserved and devolved policy areas, makes discussions with UK Government across a range of areas particularly important. To this end, the Scottish Government has met with UK Government counterparts across HM Treasury (HMT), Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), and the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ).

In respect of a co-ordinated framework, we have, together with the UK and Welsh Governments, jointly commissioned NESO to produce a Strategic Spatial Energy Plan (SSEP) for Great Britain. The SSEP will spatially optimise a specified volume of flexible data centre demand (1-2GW). This will indicate where opportunities for energy system benefits exist, such as co-location of renewables and data centres, supporting the development of government policy on the spatial location of data centre demand. The Regional Energy Strategic Plan for Scotland will further enable the coordinated development of the energy system across multiple vectors.