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-03196

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scot and Lothians West, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 September 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 25 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many students domiciled in England, Wales and Northern Ireland were admitted to dentistry at each Scottish institution, in each of the last three academic years.

Question reference: S7W-03197

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scot and Lothians West, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 September 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 25 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish, on an annual basis and alongside existing widening access reporting, a breakdown of funded intake targets for controlled subjects by student domicile.

Question reference: S7W-03195

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scot and Lothians West, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 September 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 25 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many funded dentistry intake places at the University of Glasgow and the University of Dundee were assumed to be for Scottish-domiciled students by the Scottish Funding Council, and how many for students domiciled in the rest of the UK and the Republic of Ireland, in each of the last three academic years.

Question reference: S7W-03194

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scot and Lothians West, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 September 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 25 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the number of Scottish-domiciled applicants who (a) meet the entry requirements for dentistry but are not offered a place, and (b) subsequently study dentistry elsewhere in the UK at their own expense.

Question reference: S7W-02583

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scot and Lothians West, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 10 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what costs may be incurred by applicants to the First Homes Fund, including any application, administration, legal, valuation or other fees, and at what stage in the process any such costs become payable.

Question reference: S7W-02585

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scot and Lothians West, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 10 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to its commitment to support 2,000 households through the First Homes Fund within the first 100 days of the current parliamentary session, how many households had, as of the 100-day point, (a) made an enquiry, (b) submitted an application, (c) received approval in principle, (d) received an offer of support, (e) entered into a shared-equity agreement and (f) completed the purchase of a property using support from the scheme.

Between April to 28 August 2026

A) 604 calls were received and supported by the administering agent on the First Homes Fund

As of COP 7 September 2026:

B) 444 applications have been submitted

C) 372 have had their applications approved

D) 372 received an offer of support

E) 53 have entered into a shared equity agreement

F) 53 have completed a purchase of a property using support from the Fund.

The First Homes Fund is a demand led scheme and the Scottish Government is committed to delivering this fund alongside our other wider package of home ownership support to help first-time buyers including our popular Open Market Shared Equity (OMSE) Scheme which reopened last month.

Ahead of phase two of the First Homes Fund roll-out, we are committed to learning lessons and making the Fund as accessible as possible including planned additional marketing and working closely with key stakeholders in the finance and housing sectors.

Question reference: S7W-02335

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scot and Lothians West, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 3 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has estimated the total unmet need for housing adaptations among disabled tenants in Scotland and, if so, what that estimate is.

Since the integration of health and social care, overall responsibility for the planning and delivery of adaptations, and for developing services to improve outcomes for people who require adaptations, lies with Integration Joint Boards through powers and budgets delegated from Local Authorities.

Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) are responsible for assessing the needs of their tenants including older tenants and disabled tenants, and RSLs will submit funding requests accordingly. The Scottish Government does not independently assess the funding requirements of individual RSLs. Instead, it seeks to distribute available funding in a fair and equitable manner across RSLs, with the aim of ensuring tenants can access necessary adaptations as promptly as possible.

Question reference: S7W-02329

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scot and Lothians West, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 3 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how much of the funding allocated to the Registered Social Landlord Adaptations Programme in its Budget for 2026-27 has, so far, been (i) committed and (ii) spent, and (b) how much of this funding remains unallocated.

Question reference: S7W-02431

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scot and Lothians West, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Alison Thewliss on 1 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its pledge to expand community audiology services and hearing tests on the high street, how many NHS boards currently provide these services through community providers, and what funding has been allocated in 2026-27 to support expansion of this model.

The information requested on the number of NHS Boards that currently provide audiology services through community providers is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. Audiology services are operated by NHS Health Boards, which hold information on their own service delivery arrangements.

For 2026-27, the Scottish Government has allocated an additional £1 million in funding for community audiology policy, increasing total funding to £1.2 million. This additional funding underlines our commitment to support community audiology policy development and the Service Renewal Framework vision to shift the balance of care to the community. This funding will also continue to fund the “Near You” service run by the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID). The service is operating in five Scottish health board areas and provides hearing checks and after-care support to hearing aid users, including maintenance, battery replacement, sign-posting and peer support, and we have signalled our intention to go further in our manifesto.

Question reference: S7W-02430

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scot and Lothians West, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Alison Thewliss on 1 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what reduction in NHS audiology waiting times it expects to achieve through the introduction of community-based hearing services, and what the current median waiting time is for (a) a first audiology appointment and (b) hearing aid fitting in each NHS board area.

The information requested on audiology waiting times is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. Information on waiting times within individual NHS Health Board areas is held by, and is therefore a matter for, the respective NHS Health Boards.

The Scottish Government remains committed to improving audiology services across Scotland and we continue to work closely with partners to determine how best to move the provision of audiology care into community settings. On 27 August 2026, I wrote to the Health, Care and Sport Committee to provide an update on my meeting with NHS Heads of Service, community audiology providers and other key stakeholders as part of this government’s 100 days prospectus. This meeting centred on a draft proposal for development of a Target Operating Model for audiology, and my letter sets out more detail on the Scottish Government’s immediate priorities for audiology services. It can be read in full here: 20260827 Minister for Community Care to Convener | Scottish Parliament Website