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-38798

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 June 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 16 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the development of the final code of practice for regenerative agriculture, and when it expects it to be laid before the Scottish Parliament.

Question reference: S6W-38799

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 June 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 16 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how often it plans to review its code of practice for regenerative agriculture once published, and how it will engage stakeholders on their views ahead of these updates.

Question reference: S6W-38800

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 June 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 16 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to accelerate the adoption of soil health measures on farms.

Question reference: S6O-04850

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 June 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with local stakeholders regarding the protection of wild goats in the Scottish Borders.

Question reference: S6W-37947

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 18 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to family consent and post-mortem tissue retention, whether it has considered updating the Human Tissue (Scotland) Act 2006 to align with changes implemented in the Human Tissue Act 2004 for England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The Scottish Government has no plans to change the Human Tissue (Scotland) Act 2006 (the 2006 Act) and believes that the Act sufficiently addresses consent and the handling of tissue in relation to post-mortem examinations.

The Human Tissue Act 2004 applies in its entirety in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It allows for tissues/samples to be returned to the next of kin, whereas under the 2006 Act in Scotland these become part of the medical record. The 2006 Act includes a schedule for disposal of medical records in Scotland.

The current situation in Scotland is that where a post-mortem is instructed by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) as part of an investigation into a death, consent is not required and some samples may be retained for future evidentiary purposes. COPFS endeavour to inform the family in advance of such steps. Where a post-mortem is not part of a COPFS investigation into a death, for example where the death occurs in a hospital, consent is always required for the post-mortem from the next-of-kin or the deceased themselves in advance.

The Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee is currently considering the petition PE1911 – Review of Human Tissue (Scotland) Act 2006 as it relates to post-mortems. The petition calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to review the Human Tissue (Scotland) Act 2006 and relevant guidance to ensure that all post-mortems can be carried out only with the permission of the next of kin, do not routinely remove brains, and offer tissue samples to the next of kin as a matter of course.

On 8 August 2024, the Committee wrote to the Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health seeking views on the petition and asking about pathology services in Scotland. The Minister responded to the Committee on 19 September 2024, taking into account views from the Office of the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) and COPFS. The Minister noted that the Scottish Government had responded to the Committee’s call for a review of the 2006 Act, in particular regarding tissue sample handling, in the submissions of 15 November 2021 and 5 January 2022. The position has not changed, as it is essential that COPFS are able to undertake independent investigations into a cause of death, without which the death cannot be registered.

Scottish Government officials continue to work with COPFS and other partners to consider how current and future forensic pathology services may be improved.

Question reference: S6W-38295

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 18 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on when it expects eligible stroke patients in the NHS Borders area to receive the same standard of care as stroke patients in Edinburgh by being able to receive a mechanical thrombectomy, should they need one, at weekends.

The Scottish Government remains committed to implementing a high quality and clinically safe thrombectomy service. We have invested £39 million to date on expanding access to thrombectomy. While we continue to face significant financial challenges, we are committed to further expanding the service, ensuring access is as equitable as possible.

Whilst the Scottish Government cannot currently provide a timeline for expanding the service, Scottish Government officials and NHS planners have been asked to work at pace on developing a plan for the next steps for service expansion.

We have provided funding for thrombectomy nurse posts in spoke sites with high rates of ischaemic stroke, including NHS Borders, and this will support maximising access to thrombectomy across Scotland.

Procurement of a national artificial intelligence imaging tool is underway and, once implemented, this will help delivery of the service by improving detection of patients with strokes suitable for thrombectomy.

Question reference: S6W-38296

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 18 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has undertaken regarding (a) the financial impact that stroke will have on Scotland’s health and social care services in the next 10 years and (b) what savings can be made by investing in the expansion of the national thrombectomy service.

The Scottish Government has not undertaken an analysis on the financial impact of stroke on Scotland’s health and social care services in the next ten years.

Research suggests that, on average, every patient treated with a thrombectomy procedure could save the NHS £47,000 over five years, due to the reduction in length of hospital stays and a reduced need for social care input. This economic benefit is in addition to the significant improvements in outcome and quality of life for patients.

We have already invested over £39 million in the thrombectomy service and remain committed to expansion of the service and maximising access to thrombectomies.

Question reference: S6W-38123

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 16 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of the £28 million provided to local authorities in 2025-26 to support additional support needs provision in schools has been allocated to Scottish Borders Council.

Spending on additional support for learning by local authorities reached a record high of over £1 billion in 2023-24. The latest finalised local government statistics show that Scottish Borders spent £13.912 million on additional support for learning last year.

Local government will receive an additional £28 million of investment from 2025-2026 to help improve outcomes from all children and young people with Additional Support Needs (ASN) through an enhanced offer of support to develop the ASL education workforce.

The Allocation for Scottish Borders Council was £0.554m

The allocation of the £28m investment to individual authorities is based on pupil numbers, as agreed through the standard CoSLA Settlement & Distribution Group process, agreed by Leaders.

Question reference: S6W-38126

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 13 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it evaluates whether local authorities, including Scottish Borders Council, are fulfilling their duties under the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004.

Local authorities are supported in fulfilling their duties under the 2004 Act through the statutory code of practice on additional support for learning.

In instances where parents/carers are concerned that education authorities may not be fulfilling their duties under the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004, there are a range of dispute resolution mechanisms available under the 2004 Act. These include mediation, independent adjudication, and referral to the Additional Support Needs Tribunal.

Under section 70 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 any interested party can make a reference to the Scottish Ministers that a responsible body (the managers of a school or education establishment, an education authority or other persons) has failed to discharge a duty imposed on them by or for the purposes of any enactment relating to education.

Question reference: S6W-38125

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 13 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to introduce ringfenced funding for additional support needs provision in secondary schools.

Spending on additional support for learning by local authorities reached a record high of over £1bn in 2023-24

We have continued to invest £15m per year since 2019-20 and provide over £11m of funding, to directly support pupils with complex additional support needs and services to children and families.

The 2025-26 budget sets out a further £29m of additional investment, specifically for ASN for local and national programmes to support the recruitment and retention of the ASN workforce.

We are also providing £186.5m to councils this year to restore teacher numbers to 2023 levels and maximise the number of teaching posts available.

Scottish Government and COSLA work in partnership on additional support needs through the Additional Support for Learning Project Board. The new Education and Childcare Assurance Board provides a further opportunity for jointly agreeing priorities and joint working in this context.