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-35730

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 13 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to develop a single passporting system of support for students in (a) further and (b) higher education to support widening access.

Question reference: S6W-36382

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 29 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many children and young people have received a private diagnosis for autism in each year since 1999.

The Scottish Government does not collect this data.

The Scottish Government is committed to implementing the National Neurodevelopmental Specification: Principles and Standards of Care for Children and Young People, published in September 2021, which specifies service standards that all children’s services should follow, to ensure access to support is effective and consistent across Scotland.

The Scottish Government have also established the National Autism Implementation Team, in partnership with Queen Margaret University, to support Health and Social Care Partnerships to consider best practice and support improvement through the redesign of autism diagnostic services.

The National Implementation Team is supporting NHS Boards to examine diagnostic pathways for autism and establish regional experts to assist with improving tiered autism specialisms across health boards.

Question reference: S6W-36373

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 29 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action its ministers and government agencies have taken to investigate the reported number of patients exposed to stilbestrol.

Question reference: S6W-36381

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 29 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what review has been undertaken into access to cervical screening for young people under the age of 25.

Screening policy in Scotland is based on recommendations from the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), an expert advisory group which advises the UK nations on all aspects of screening. The UK NSC reviewed the starting age for cervical screening in 2013 and recommended it should be increased from 20 to 25. The Scottish cervical screening programme therefore offers routine screening to women and people with a cervix who are aged between 25 and 64.

Since 2008, the HPV vaccination has also been offered to women under 25, which provides immunity to the virus that causes the majority of cases of cervical cancer. No cervical cancers have been found in those vaccinated in Scotland.

Nonetheless, in August 2021, the then Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health, Maree Todd, wrote to the UK NSC to ask them to keep the merits of lowering the age for cervical screening under review. To date, the evidence continues to support cervical screening beginning at the age of 25; a study found that for every 100,000 women invited for screening from the age of 20, an extra 8,000 women would need further investigation and 3,000 more would have unnecessary and potentially harmful treatment.

Question reference: S6W-36384

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 29 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what policies are in place regarding the provision of an NHS prescription following a private diagnosis of (a) attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and (b) autism.

GPs are responsible for providing patients with appropriate care whether they have been treated on the NHS or privately. This may include medication, depending on an individual patient’s need. GPs are not obliged to follow the recommendations of a private provider, but should always provide care based on their own judgement if patients are in need.

The Scottish Government funds the National Autism Implementation Team (NAIT), which published guidance on Prescribing ADHD medication to adults following private sector diagnosis in Scotland in April 2022. The guidance was drafted in consultation with practising Psychiatrists, the Royal Colleges of Psychiatry and General Practice and individuals with ADHD.

The guidance highlights that shared care arrangements may be put in place between private and NHS providers. For such arrangements to work properly, everyone involved must communicate effectively. Recommendations from specialists for ongoing prescribing on the NHS need to be made at an NHS consultation with an NHS specialist.

Some NHS Boards may have shared care policies, but it remains at the clinical discretion of each individual GP to decide the best course of action for their patients.

Question reference: S6W-36375

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 29 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what records NHS Scotland holds on the purchasing of the drug stilbestrol.

Question reference: S6W-36370

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 29 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it is taking to ensure that colleges remain competitive in attracting international students, compared with colleges in other parts of the UK and internationally.

Scotland’s first International Education Strategy (IES), published in February last year, highlighted the positive impact that international students make to our colleges and sets out the actions that the Scottish Government will take with both colleges and universities, to promote Scotland as a study destination and to attract and diversity our international student population.

In 2024-25, we launched the Come to Study: Find Scotland campaign aimed at attracting prospective international students to institutions across the breadth of the country. We will continue to work with partners to enhance our marketing and promotional efforts in the year ahead.

We have worked closely with Colleges Scotland in the development of the Scottish Education Exchange Programme. To date, 8 colleges (11 projects) have benefited from SEEP funding which has enabled the delivery of projects that are helping build international partnerships across the globe.

Furthermore, the Scottish Government has appointed a new Trade Envoy for International Education who will promote Scotland’s colleges and universities to international students and organisations across the world.

Question reference: S6W-36377

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 29 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many Scottish-domiciled students have studied at universities in England in each year since 1999.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-33295 on 28 January 2025. 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.

HESA published 2023-24 student data in March 2025 with the data available from the same link referenced in the answer for S6W-33295:

https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/table-59

Question reference: S6W-36372

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 29 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what representation its ministers have made to the UK Government regarding patients that have potentially been exposed to stilbestrol.

Question reference: S6W-36584

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 28 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) primary and (b) secondary schools have been in (i) red and (ii) amber warning levels for potential violence from pupils in each local authority area in each year since 1999.