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-04049

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scot and Lothians West, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 3 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what additional planning and development delivery support it expects More Homes Scotland to provide to local authorities beyond that already available through the National Planning Hub.

Question reference: S7W-04047

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scot and Lothians West, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 3 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it anticipates that More Homes Scotland's role in supporting strategic sites will include land assembly, infrastructure funding, direct equity participation, master-planning support or other interventions, and whether it will publish guidance on this.

Question reference: S7W-04048

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scot and Lothians West, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 3 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how More Homes Scotland will determine which housing projects are suitable for aggregation under its proposed regional delivery approach, and what role local authorities will have in that decision-making process.

Question reference: S7W-03527

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scot and Lothians West, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 6 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assurances it can provide that treatment and support services for conditions arising following mesh removal surgery are equitable across Scotland.

The Scottish Government expects women who experience conditions following mesh removal surgery to have access to appropriate treatment and support based on their individual clinical needs, regardless of where they live in Scotland or where their mesh removal surgery was undertaken.

Care after removal surgery is expected to be provided by the patient’s local Health Board wherever possible, allowing care to be delivered closer to home. Where treatment cannot be provided locally, processes are in place to enable patients to access appropriate services elsewhere within the NHS.

We recognise that access to services and waiting times can vary and that lengthy waits can have a significant impact on women’s quality of life. That is why the Scottish Government has invested £13 million in additional funding to Health Boards to help reduce long waits for gynaecology services.

Question reference: S7W-03526

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scot and Lothians West, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 6 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what referral pathways are currently in place in each NHS board area for women seeking assessment and treatment for conditions arising following mesh removal surgery.

Patients’ needs following mesh removal surgery can be varied and complex, and may require input from a number of specialties, and so there is no single referral pathway that applies to every patient. Care and onward referral are determined by individual clinical need.

Following mesh removal surgery, patients are expected to receive two follow-up appointments with their surgeon or a specialist nurse from the provider. Independent providers are also expected to share relevant clinical, operative and pathology information with the patient’s local NHS Board to support continuity of care. If patients have immediate concerns following surgery, they should contact their GP or local clinical team so that appropriate advice and care can be arranged.

Responsibility for a patient’s ongoing care rests with their local NHS Board, regardless of where mesh removal surgery is undertaken.

Further treatment may be provided locally, regionally or nationally within the NHS, depending on the procedure required and the individual patient’s needs. Where a local NHS Board is unable to provide the required care, processes are in place to access appropriate treatment elsewhere within the NHS.

Before undergoing mesh removal surgery, patients are expected to be advised that symptoms of incontinence or prolapse may recur. Where further care is required for recurrence or reconstruction, conservative treatment may be considered while healing and recovery take place, with further surgical intervention considered where clinically appropriate.

Question reference: S7W-03528

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scot and Lothians West, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 6 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many women are currently awaiting assessment by the National Complex Pelvic Mesh Removal Service, broken down by NHS board.

There are currently 26 patients awaiting a first outpatient appointment with the National Complex Mesh Surgical Service (CMSS) operating in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

Due to the small numbers involved, a full breakdown by NHS Board cannot be provided to protect patient confidentiality. NHS Lothian has six patients awaiting an appointment. NHS Ayrshire & Arran, NHS Borders, NHS Fife, NHS Forth Valley, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, NHS Highland, NHS Lanarkshire and NHS Tayside each have fewer than five patients waiting.

The current average waiting time for a first outpatient appointment is 15 weeks. This represents a significant reduction from 54 weeks in April 2023.

Patients who are referred to the CMSS receive a letter informing them of their referral and advising them of the expected waiting time. This letter also includes a QR code which takes patients to the CMSS website where they can access information about what to expect during their visit. In addition, patients are contacted by telephone prior to their arrival, giving an opportunity to better understand what will happen during their visit, and to discuss any questions or concerns.

Question reference: S7W-03525

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scot and Lothians West, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 05 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 2 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what guidelines are in place to ensure that patients with post-mesh removal conditions receive equitable aftercare across all NHS boards.

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: Answered by Alyn Smith 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.

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) publish a wide range of college and university statistics in various Official Statistics publications, including the Report on Widening Access (RoWA). The content of statical publications, including the RoWA, undergo reviews in order to ensure they continue to meet the core pillars of Trustworthiness, Quality and Value as outlined in the Code of Practice for Statistics and remain valued by users of SFC’s publications.

The RoWA was recently consulted on with the latest report available on the SFC website: https://www.sfc.ac.uk/publications/rowa-consultation-report/

The SFC continue to work with users of statistics and will consider all requests for new statistics in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics.

The SFC can be contacted via their website: https://www.sfc.ac.uk/about-us/contact-us/

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: Answered by Alison Thewliss on 23 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.

Universities are autonomous institutions that are responsible for their own admission procedures, including offer-making, and the Scottish Government therefore does not hold the information requested.

Places at Scottish dental schools are highly sought after with applications far exceeding places, and the selection process is extremely competitive. An assessment of UCAS published data suggests the numbers of Scottish-domiciled students leaving Scotland to study dentistry are very low, with UCAS data showing that in 2025, only 15 Scottish students aged 18 and under left Scotland to study either Medicine or Dentistry.

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: Answered by Alison Thewliss on 23 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.

Data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), set out below, provides a breakdown of the domicile of students studying dentistry at Scottish universities, rounded to the nearest 5. HESA have published Official Statistics up to 2024-25, with 2025-26 data to be published in the winter.

Full-time first degree entrants to Dentistry (100266 & 100275) at Scottish Universities by Domicile and provider, 2024-25
	University of Aberdeen	University of Glasgow	University of Dundee	Total
Scotland	15	50	35	105
England	5	15	10	30
Northern Ireland	0	5	0	5
Wales	0	0	0	0
EU	0	0	0	0
Non-EU	0	15	10	25
Total	20	85	55	165

Full-time first degree entrants to Dentistry (100266 & 100275) at Scottish Universities by Domicile and provider, 2023-24
	University of Aberdeen	University of Glasgow	University of Dundee	Total
Scotland	15	60	35	105
England	5	15	15	30
Northern Ireland	0	0	0	5
Wales	0	0	0	0
EU	0	0	0	0
Non-EU	0	20	10	35
Total	20	95	60	175

Full-time first degree entrants to Dentistry (100266 & 100275) at Scottish Universities by Domicile and provider, 2022-23
	University of Aberdeen	University of Glasgow	University of Dundee	Total
Scotland	10	55	40	105
England	5	10	10	25
Northern Ireland	0	0	5	10
Wales	0	0	5	5
EU	0	0	0	0
Non-EU	0	15	10	25
Total	20	80	70	170

Source: HESA Student Data, SG Secondary Analysis

Based on HECOS Codes 100266 (Clinical Dentistry) and 100275 (Pre-Clinical Dentistry) https://www.hesa.ac.uk/collection/coding-manual-tools/hecoscahdata/hecos

Based on Domicile as defined by HESA