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-00497

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 May 2026
Current Status: Answered by Alison Thewliss on 4 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government when the national rollout of RNID Near You services will be completed.

Question reference: S7W-00499

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 May 2026
Current Status: Answered by Alison Thewliss on 4 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government when Community Glaucoma Services to lower-risk glaucoma patients from hospitals, enabling them to receive care from accredited providers in the community, will be fully embedded across Scotland.

Question reference: S7W-00498

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 May 2026
Current Status: Answered by Alison Thewliss on 4 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the Scottish National Party 2026 manifesto commitment, when the national commissioning model for deafblind services will be implemented.

Question reference: S7O-00057

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 June 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what further assessment it has made of any impact on the environment following the granting of planning consent for the Berwick Bank offshore windfarm, in light of the significant updates and changes to guidance and regulations since consent was granted.

Question reference: S7W-00513

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 May 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 3 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government when the temporary reduction in power of attorney registration fees will begin.

Question reference: S7W-00506

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 May 2026
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 1 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government when the national review of maternity services will conclude.

Question reference: S7W-00436

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 May 2026
Current Status: Answered by Stephen Flynn on 1 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Network Rail Scotland with a view to increasing the number of passing loops on railways in Scotland to increase the frequency of trains serving for rural stations.

Transport Scotland officials engage regularly with Network Rail Scotland to ensure that Scottish Minister’s requirements as specified here: Scottish Ministers’ High Level Output Specification (HLOS) - Control Period 7 - 2024 – 2029 | Transport Scotland are met by Network Rail.

Transport Scotland works with Network Rail to review and revise its programme of works against priorities in the context of available funding. This ensures Transport Scotland can deliver the right projects at the right time as it seeks to progress its rolling programme of decarbonisation, whilst also delivering rail passenger and freight services that meet user expectations.

The railway delivery partners will continue to review and assess suitability of railway infrastructure to ensure it continues to meet the current and future passenger demand, as much as possible and in the context of the available funding.

Question reference: S7W-00524

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 May 2026
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 1 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government when the expansion of rapid cancer diagnostic services will commence and be complete.

The Scottish Government has commissioned Healthcare Improvement Scotland to undertake an independent scalability assessment of our Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Service Pilots. This project will explore what our options are to expand access to non-specific symptom pathways for cancer in the most efficient and effective way, ensuring we reach population level coverage.

This initial phase of work is due to be complete by Spring 2027 after which point the we will work with Healthcare Improvement Scotland, the Centre for Sustainability and NHS Boards to develop an appropriate plan for service expansion.

Question reference: S7W-00503

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 May 2026
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 1 June 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on when the planned 24/7 thrombectomy service with national coverage will become operational.

Question reference: S6W-44451

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 March 2026
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 24 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how it allocates national funding for funded early learning and childcare places, taking into account both the locations where children take up places and population data on where they live.

The Scottish Government’s policy towards local authorities’ spending is to allow local authorities the financial freedom to operate independently. As such, the vast majority of funding is provided by means of a block grant. It is then the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them, including on early learning and childcare places, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities. Ultimately, it is for locally elected representatives to make local decisions on how best to deliver services to their local communities.

Within the formula for the overall block grant, just over £1 billion is distributed based on ELC-related indicators. The formula takes into account both the locations where children take up places and population data on where they live, generally with equal weighting. The formula was structured that way in order to adequately account for children who take up a funded early learning and childcare place in a local authority other than the one in which they live. The formula also accounts for deprivation and rurality. All elements of the funding formula, the data used, weightings, and allocations, are published online at the following link:

Scottish Local Government Finance - Green Book: 2026-2027 - gov.scot