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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 406 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6O-04834

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 June 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, as part of its work to further the case for Scottish independence, what specific actions it is taking to strengthen Scotland's democratic infrastructure, authority and state-building preparations to ensure that the Scottish Parliament could become the legislature of an independent Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-37933

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding its policies and guidance for public bodies, what its definition of "woman" is.

The Scottish Government accepts the UK Supreme Court judgment in the appeal brought forward by For Women Scotland against Scottish Ministers, which has confirmed the meaning of woman under the Equality Act 2010. As the Equality and Human Rights Commission are the body responsible for regulating and enforcing the mainly reserved Equality Act 2010, we await their updated Code of Practice while we consider our next steps. The consultation on the draft Code of Practice launched on 20 May 2025 and can be accessed here: Code of practice for services, public functions and associations: consultation 2025 | EHRC

However, the Scottish Government is also taking action now in preparation for the updated Code of Practice. Our internal Short Life Working Group is assessing implications of the Supreme Court judgment in areas such as legislation, guidance and policies . This work will position us towards a state of readiness to take all necessary steps when the EHRC’s Code of Practice is published.

We have also issued a note to all public bodies outlining the steps the Scottish Government’s has taken since the judgment. This note can be found here: UK Supreme Court ruling on meaning of sex in Equality Act: update - gov.scot.

Question reference: S6W-37939

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 13 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it estimates it would need to provide to local authorities to cover the cost of implementing a national council tax freeze in 2026-27.

Question reference: S6O-04826

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6W-37934

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 11 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, as part of its work to further the case for Scottish independence, whether it will consider holding an independence convention during summer 2025.

The Scottish Government is focused on delivering for people across the country and making the case for taking decisions in Scotland for Scotland with independence.

The Scottish Government will publish further material on independence to give the people of Scotland the information they need to make an informed choice about their constitutional future. We are not planning an independence convention this summer.

Question reference: S6W-37938

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 11 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, as part of its work to further the case for Scottish independence, and in light of its series of papers, Building a New Scotland, which aimed to form a prospectus for an independent Scotland, what its policy is for what the weekly state pension entitlement would be in an independent Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-37937

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 11 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken in relation to issuing bonds to finance key infrastructure in Scotland since it announced its intention to do so in October 2023.

On the 4 December as part of the Budget, The Scottish Government published a borrowing memorandum (Scottish Budget 2025 to 2026: Scottish Government borrowing - gov.scot), which included the outcome of the initial phase of Due Diligence on the work towards an inaugural Scottish Government Bond. The second phase of Due Diligence on Bonds issuance is currently ongoing, and the Government will continue to update Parliament over the course of the year as this work progresses

Question reference: S6W-37935

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 10 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it can create a strategic Bitcoin reserve, and, if so, whether it will consider the creation of such a reserve.

Question reference: S6W-37941

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 10 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the current average waiting time is for a patient to have a planned NHS operation, broken down by sex.

The following table shows the number of ongoing waits along with the median (days) and 90th percentile (days) by sex for the patients covered by the Treatment Time Guarantee (TTG) at 31 March 2025.

The statistics provided include the median wait and not an average.

The median is used to indicate that roughly half of patients waited less than the statistic and half of patients waited longer. The median is used because an average (mean) could potentially be skewed incorrectly by a small number of very long waits that may be recorded in error in the national data. The 90th percentile is also included; this is used to indicate that 9 out of 10 ongoing waits at month-end are waiting less than or equal to the number of days shown.

Table 1 – Total number of ongoing waits as an inpatient or day case for NHSScotland, at all specialty level broken down by sex, at 31 March 2025

Sex1,2	Ongoing waits1	Median (days) 1	90th percentile (days) 1
Male	74,243	161	576
Female	84,115	173	577

1.There were 78 ongoing waits where the sex was not recorded. This is due to patients that have opted out of sharing their personal information.

2.Please note that the sex of a patient is taken from the Community Health Index (CHI), which is a register of all patients in NHSScotland.

Question reference: S6W-37942

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 10 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the five types of planned NHS operations are that have the highest current average waiting times, and what the current average waiting time is in each case, broken down by patient sex.

Information on the types of planned NHS operations that have the highest current average waiting times is not held by Scottish Government. Public Health Scotland (PHS) uses the national waiting times datamart to collect electronic patient records covering the waits that patients experience waiting for treatment as an inpatient or day-case under the Treatment Time Guarantee.

This data source can be used routinely to identify the specialty of treatment. However, although the records are designed to collect coded information on the procedure that is planned for the patient, this information is often either incomplete, lacking in essential detail and/or its accuracy cannot be assured. Consequently, PHS is not currently able to report accurately on waiting times to this level of detail.

The table below shows the number of ongoing waits along with the median (days) and 90th percentile (days) by sex for the top five specialties that have the largest median wait across NHSScotland for all specialties covered by the Treatment Time Guarantee (TTG) at 31 March 2025.

The statistics provided include the median wait and not an average. The median is used to indicate that roughly half of patients waited less than the statistic and half of patients waited longer. The median is used because an average (mean) could potentially be skewed incorrectly by a small number of very long waits that may be recorded in error in the national data. The 90th percentile is also included; this is used to indicate that 9 out of 10 ongoing waits at month-end are waiting less than or equal to the number of days shown.

Table 1 – Total number of ongoing waits as an inpatient or day case for NHSScotland, at specialty level broken down by sex for the top five specialties (that have the highest median wait) across NHSScotland, at 31 March 2025

	Male2			Female2			Total
Specialty	Ongoing waits	Median (days)	90th percentile (days)	Ongoing waits	Median (days)	90th percentile (days)	Ongoing waits	Median (days)	90th percentile (days)
Community Dental Practice	967	249	558	799	258	533	1,766	252	545
Paediatric Surgery1	2,361	245	809	321	147	508	2,683	235	775
Gynaecology1	39	287	789	12,784	228	762	12,825	228	762
Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) 1	8,082	213	649	7,720	216	678	15,806	215	662
Neurosurgery	690	209	880	788	203	802	1,478	206	848

1.There were 7 (1 paediatric surgery, 2 gynaecology and 4 ear, nose & throat (ENT)) ongoing waits where the sex was not recorded. This is due to patients that have opted out of sharing their personal information.

2.Please note that the sex of a patient is taken from the Community Health Index (CHI), which is a register of all patients in NHSScotland.