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-44439

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 March 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 23 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what variation there is between the shortest and longest average waiting times for a first gynaecology appointment in each NHS board, and what targeted interventions it is deploying in the most deprived SIMD quintiles to ensure that its goal of eliminating cervical cancer and reducing gynaecology waits does not leave women in these communities behind.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) publish median and 90th percentile for length of time patients wait to be seen as a new outpatient on a monthly basis.

The median waiting time is the middle waiting time, calculated by ordering patients from shortest to longest wait. This represents typical length of time patients have waited. The 90th percentile reflects the upper limit on how long nine out of ten waits have lasted.

The latest data covers all waits for an ongoing new outpatient appointment up to 31 January 2026, as set out in the following table.

Table 1. Gynaecology: New Outpatient Ongoing Waits – 31 January 2026

NHS Board of Treatment	Median Ongoing Wait (Length In Days)	90th Percentile Ongoing Wait (Length In Days)
NHSScotland	107	327
NHS Ayrshire & Arran	85	220
NHS Borders	76	193
NHS Dumfries & Galloway	89	256
NHS Fife	72	194
NHS Forth Valley	65	138
NHS Grampian	64	243
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde	93	260
NHS Highland	90	298
NHS Lanarkshire	130	316
NHS Lothian	163	498
NHS Orkney	14	54
NHS Shetland	79	193.6
NHS Tayside	179	451
NHS Western Isles	18	64.6

Source: Dashboard - Stage of treatment waiting times - Inpatients, day cases and new outpatients 24 February 2026 - NHS waiting times - stage of treatment - Publications - Public Health Scotland

The Cervical Cancer Elimination Strategic Action Plan will be published later this month following the Expert Group Final Report. With a focus on Vaccination, Screening and treatment the core of progress will be monitored through identifying, addressing and reducing barriers and inequity.

High uptake of the HPV vaccine in Scotland has already reduced the highest-grade cervical precancer by almost 90%, and maintaining high coverage is central to the Scottish Government’s approach to cervical cancer elimination.

However, we recognise that there are variations in HPV vaccine uptake, including lower uptake in more deprived communities, with recent S1 coverage ranging from 62% in the most deprived quintile to 83.4% in the least.

Tackling inequalities in vaccine uptake is therefore a primary focus of our work to eliminate cervical cancer in Scotland and aligns with the objectives of the Scottish Vaccination and Immunisation Programme’s 5 Year Framework and Delivery Plan. We are working with Health Boards and Public Health Scotland to increase vaccination opportunities, strengthen targeted promotion such as the chat.sign.protect campaign, and support those facing barriers to immunisation.

Targeted cervical screening, including self-sampling for unvaccinated and more deprived groups, will also help ensure no community is left behind.

Using some of the actions that have been identified through the Cervical Cancer Elimination work, we plan to raise attendance among under-screened women by:

Introducing patient navigators to work directly with under-screened groups and encourage screening attendance, starting with the boards participating in the first stages of HPV Self-Sampling.
Working towards full roll-out of self-sampling, beginning with making kits available opportunistically within GP Practices in areas of some of the highest levels of non-attendance and deprivation.
Establishing new partnerships with third sector organisations working with under-served women (including homeless women, those with disabilities and women in prison) to provide practical pathways for women to be offered screening when overdue.

In addition to this, National Screening Oversight (NSO), now Screening Oversight and Assurance Scotland (SOAS), developed an Equity in Screening Strategy published by Scottish Government on 27th July 2023, with a vision of equitable access for all eligible individuals, across the full screening pathway. To support this work, we have provided £1 million annually through the Screening Inequalities fund.

Question reference: S6W-44436

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 March 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 23 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the £12.9 million allocated to gynaecology services in 2025-26 has been directed specifically toward increasing theatre capacity for gynaecological procedures, and what mechanism is in place to track the direct impact of this funding on the number of women removed from the surgical waiting list each month.

Of the £12.9 million allocation into gynaecology services in 2025-26, over £9.4 million has been directed to inpatient/day-case activity.

The impact of this investment is tracked centrally through routine self-reported returns submitted by NHS Boards and via Public Health Scotland’s (PHS) monthly Stage of Treatment publication.

As of 31 January 2026 (latest), PHS data shows that waits of over 52 weeks for gynaecology inpatient or day-case had reduced by 21.8% since 31 July 2025.

Question reference: S6W-44293

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 March 2026
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 23 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how often the Union Street fire ministerial oversight group will meet, and which individuals and organisations will attend.

The Ministerial Oversight Board in relation to the Union Street fire first met on 11 March 2026 and has subsequently met a further three times. These meetings drew together Cabinet Secretaries and Ministers with a role in the response to and recovery from the fire, as well as policy and operational teams across the Scottish Government and Transport Scotland. We also extended the invitation to the meetings to senior leaders from Glasgow City Council. Processes to ensure effective Ministerial oversight will be kept under review by the group as we move from the immediate response into the longer-term recovery phase.

Question reference: S6W-44249

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 March 2026
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 20 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has been informed of any delays and disruptions to Royal Mail postal deliveries by public bodies, including NHS Scotland, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) and the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS).

Question reference: S6W-44190

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 March 2026
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 20 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what financial and other practical support it will consider making available to individuals, businesses and other organisations affected by the devastating fire on Union Street in Glasgow on 8 March 2026, including for complex legal and insurance-related matters.

On 14 March, the First Minister announced a financial package worth up to £10 million to help businesses rebuild and renew the part of Glasgow affected by the Union Corner fire. Glasgow City Council will administer the scheme based on engagement with local businesses to understand how they have been affected.

In addition, up to £1 million will be made available to help the council with demolition costs.

Local authorities can also award up to 100% non-domestic rates Hardship Relief to ratepayers if they are satisfied that the ratepayer would be in financial difficulty without it and awarding it is in the interests of local people.

Scottish Government’s contribution to discretionary non-domestic rates Hardship Relief in Glasgow City Council for those impacted will increase from 75% to 95%.

Question reference: S6W-44251

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 March 2026
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 20 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to meet with the Communication Workers Union (CWU) to discuss concerns that the trade union may have about the current and future provision of postal services in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-44250

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 March 2026
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 20 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has had any discussions with Royal Mail about postal services in Scotland, and if so, on what date, and if no such discussions have taken place, what plans it has to meet with Royal Mail in this regard.

Question reference: S6W-44252

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 March 2026
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 20 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what risk assessment it has conducted regarding the impact of Royal Mail delays on Scottish communities.

Question reference: S6W-44247

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 March 2026
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 20 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government in relation to current and future provision of postal services in Scotland.

On 6 March, the Scottish Government wrote to the UK Minister for Small Business & Economic Transformation in relation to the Future of the Post Office Green Paper, and made clear that postal services are a vital lifeline for communities across Scotland, particularly rural and island communities, and for vulnerable or digitally excluded consumers. Post offices, for example, often act as a community hub.

Scotland has many communities and small businesses in rural and island areas, as well as an ageing population, all of whom rely on receiving mail in a timely fashion. That is why work continues to make the case for maintaining the Universal Service Obligation (USO) and ensuring that post office services are available across rural and island parts of Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-44484

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 March 2026
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 20 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will establish a City Centre Fire Recovery Fund, similar to the one created after the 2018 Glasgow School of Art fire, to provide immediate financial relief and business rates holidays for the small businesses that have lost their premises, stock, and livelihoods due to the Union Street blaze in Glasgow on 8 March 2026.