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-33808

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 3 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-32168 by Jenni Minto on 23 December 2024, in light of funding not being ring-fenced, how it is ensuring that NHS boards prioritise endometriosis care within their overall budgets.

The Scottish Government is providing investment of over £19.5 billion for health and social care in 2024-25 and supporting delivery of the specific actions relating to women’s health as we continue to drive forward the implementation of the Plan.

The Scottish Government provides this baseline funding to NHS Boards, to best meet the healthcare needs of their population, including for women with endometriosis.

Endometriosis is one of the key priorities in the Women’s Health Plan and will continue to be so. Through the implementation of the Women’s Health Plan we have established Women’s Health Lead Network with a Lead in every NHS Board. The Network enables the Leads to identify both common and local challenges and exchange ideas on innovation and best practice, along with discussions on progress to implement the Women’s Health Plan priorities at local level.

Question reference: S6W-33801

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 3 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-32174 by Jenni Minto on 23 December 2024, for what reason data on the percentage of women accessing multidisciplinary care is not routinely collected; whether this will change; if so, when; what timeline has been set to ensure that all NHS boards have established multidisciplinary teams for endometriosis, and how progress will be reported.

We are continuing work to improve the data we have on women’s health so that we can better understand the health of women and girls in Scotland – including endometriosis.

Information on women’s health data in Scotland can be found in the recently published Women’s Health Plan Data Landscape Review. It sets out the range of publicly available data on the health of women in Scotland and highlights where there appear to be gaps. Further work will be undertaken to explore data sources and gaps in more detail.

The endometriosis care pathway for NHS Scotland aims to support healthcare professionals to provide holistic and timely care for those with endometriosis and endometriosis-like symptoms. All NHS Boards should be taking steps to implement the pathway.

As set out in the Pathway, clinicians should consider women’s individual needs in order to determine treatment for example symptoms, aspects of daily living and whether fertility is a priority for that individual.

Question reference: S6W-33803

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 3 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-32175 by Jenni Minto on 23 December 2024, what proactive steps are being taken to ensure that women with endometriosis receive timely fertility advice, rather than waiting until conception difficulties arise; what percentage of women currently diagnosed with endometriosis have been referred to fertility specialists, and what the current average waiting time is for referrals to these services.

Data regarding post-diagnosis referral to fertility services is not held by the Scottish Government.

As set out in the Endometriosis Care Pathway for NHS Scotland, clinicians should consider women’s individual needs in order to determine treatment, for example symptoms, aspects of daily living and whether fertility is a priority for that individual. The Pathway notes that discussions regarding fertility should happen in the first presentation and that management and long-term impact including fertility should be discussed during initial assessment.

Question reference: S6W-33810

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 3 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-32158 by Jenni Minto on 23 December 2024, how it plans to evaluate the long-term impact of the menstrual health resource on increasing awareness and early diagnosis of endometriosis, and whether there is a plan for follow-up surveys or studies to assess whether engagement with the platform correlates with improved diagnosis rates or better health outcomes.

Question reference: S6W-33815

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 3 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-32159 by Jenni Minto on 23 December 2024, whether it has considered tracking and reporting how many women in each NHS board are using the menstrual health resource.

Question reference: S6W-33799

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 31 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S6W-32184 and S6W-32185 by Jenni Minto on 23 December 2024, how many young people engaged with the campaign; what measurable outcomes were achieved, and what steps have been taken to ensure that menstrual health, including endometriosis, is integrated into the school curriculum as part of standard health education.

A campaign report evaluating the campaign on Endometriosis for young people in Scotland was provided by Young Scot in April 2023 which measured young people’s engagement with the campaign.

High engagement was achieved across the campaign webpages through social media and paid marketing:

2.3 million impressions which is the number of times a user sees a piece of content, regardless of whether they interact with it;
56,000 social media engagements which represents number of people interacting with the social media accounts and content; and
84,000 video views which reflects the number of times the video content was watched.

With regard to ensuring menstrual health, including endometriosis is included in the school curriculum, I refer the member to the answer to questions S6W-30034, on 3 October 2024, and S6W-32189, on 23 December 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Question reference: S6W-33798

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 31 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-32178 by Tom Arthur on 19 December 2024, what percentage of employers in Scotland have adopted the Menopause and Menstrual Health Workplace Policy, and what specific action it is taking to ensure that self-employed women with endometriosis are not excluded from workplace support initiatives.

The Menopause and Menstrual Health Workplace Policy, launched on 31 October 2023, is for NHS Scotland. There are 22 NHS Scotland Boards, who have all adopted this policy (each being separate employers). There are 124,032.8 whole time equivalent (WTE) female staff working across NHS Scotland and women represent 77.1% of the NHS Scotland workforce as of September 2024.

The policy has supporting resources, including line managers, workplace adjustment guides, and signposting to more information on symptoms and conditions including endometriosis. These are intended for use more widely across a variety of employment sectors and are available on the National Wellbeing Hub, which is accessible to the public and self-employed women.

For self-employed women workplace support via income replacement benefits such as Employment and Support Allowance and Universal Credit, which provide financial support to people of working age who are unable to work due to illness, are fully reserved to the UK Government. However, our Adult Disability Payment provides financial support to recognise the additional costs of living with a disability or long-term health condition.

The health and wellbeing of women at work is a key element of fair work and we know that lack of support for women experiencing menstrual or reproductive health conditions can have a detrimental impact on their employment.

Our Fair Work First Guidance provides good practice examples for supporting women and allowing them to maintain their careers. For example, access to flexible working is of vital benefit to workers who may need to balance work with managing health conditions. Asking employers to offer flexible working from day one of employment has been a principle of Fair Work First since October 2021.

Question reference: S6W-33378

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 28 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the expansion of guidance on breast screening protocols by risk category in 2023, and as set out in the Scottish Cancer Network's Breast Cancer Clinical Management Pathway, what support has been provided to NHS boards to provide screening to women aged 25 to 30 who are identified as very high risk, as per the updated guidance.

The Familial Breast Cancer pathway which is hosted by the Scottish Cancer Network’s Clinical Management Pathway website is a consensus document which is not a rigid constraint on clinical practice, but a concept of good practice against which the needs of the individual patient can be considered by health care professionals.

Surveillance for high-risk breast cancer is the responsibility of NHS Health Boards and are managed locally by health care professionals. The inclusion of a treatment or approach within a consensus document is not a guarantee of immediate access.

Question reference: S6W-33379

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 24 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it is monitoring NHS boards' adherence to the Scottish Cancer Network's Breast Cancer Clinical Management Pathway guidance on breast screening protocols by risk category, following the update to the guidance in 2023.

The Scottish Government does not specifically monitor the individual use of the familial breast cancer consensus document’s ‘framework for undertaking germline genetic testing and risk assessment for breast cancer’ which is hosted on the Scottish Cancer Network website. For other formally approved Clinical Management Pathways, assurance is sought via the NHS Boards’ Annual Delivery Plan review process.

Question reference: S6O-04281

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met with Borders College.