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-02522

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Stephen Flynn on 3 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has identified any priority schemes on the A75 and A77 that could be progressed before completion of the Corridor Action Plans.

Transport Scotland continues to invest in the A75 and A77 through ongoing maintenance and improvement works. A substantial programme of resurfacing, drainage, signage, landscaping, geotechnical and active travel improvements will continue to be delivered across both routes during 2026-27.

For example, road safety improvement works on the A75 Glasgow Road / Cuckoo Bridge Roundabout, including roundabout signalisation, footway upgrades, crossing installation, and carriageway widening in an effort to reduce collisions is due to begin in November 2026.

Question reference: S7W-02516

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Stephen Flynn on 3 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects consultants to be appointed to develop Corridor Action Plans for the A75 and A77, and what timescale has been set for the completion of this work.

Question reference: S7W-02521

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Stephen Flynn on 3 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assurance it can provide that the Corridor Action Plans for the A75 and A77 will result in capital investment projects being progressed, rather than further review and assessment work.

The development of the Corridor Action Plans marks an important step in identifying and prioritising specific future investment projects for both routes. The plans will ensure that this is targeted to sections of both corridors where the need is greatest and that they are phased in an affordable and meaningful way. Decisions on investment need to be based on robust evidence and stakeholder support.

Question reference: S7W-02517

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Stephen Flynn on 3 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what funding has been allocated for the commissioning and delivery of Corridor Action Plans for the A75 and A77, and from which budget line this expenditure will be met.

Question reference: S7W-02519

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Stephen Flynn on 3 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to engage with local communities, businesses, freight operators, ferry operators, elected representatives and other stakeholders in Dumfries and Galloway and South Ayrshire during the development of the Corridor Action Plans for the A75 and A77.

Engagement with stakeholders during development of the Corridor Action Plans will be an important part of the process. It is anticipated that a wide range of engagement techniques and formats will be used to ensure that all individuals and organisations are able to participate in the process. Further details are available at: South West Scotland Strategic Corridor Improvements | Transport Scotland

Question reference: S7W-02518

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Stephen Flynn on 3 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what criteria will be used by the consultants developing the Corridor Action Plans to assess potential upgrades to the A75 and A77, including improvements to road safety, journey reliability, resilience and economic connectivity.

The development of the Corridor Action Plans will be informed by the Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance (STAG), the Design Manual for Road and Bridges (DMRB) and Transport Scotland business case guidance. Potential interventions will be assessed against a range of criteria including road safety, journey reliability, resilience and economic connectivity, alongside environmental impacts, affordability, value for money and deliverability. Further details are available at: South West Scotland Strategic Corridor Improvements | Transport Scotland

Question reference: S7W-02520

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Stephen Flynn on 3 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will commit to publishing a timetable for investment in, and delivery of, any recommended improvements identified in the A75 and A77 Corridor Action Plans, and, if so, when it anticipates publishing such a timetable.

The Corridor Action Plans will identify and prioritise potential interventions and establish a phased pipeline of short, medium and long-term measures to inform future investment decisions. Timescales for completion of the plans will be confirmed following procurement and appointment of consultants. The Scottish Government intends that any transport improvements identified through the A75 and A77 Corridor Action Plans will be reported through updates to the Scottish Government's Infrastructure Delivery Pipeline and subject to the annual budgetary processes and Capital Spending Reviews. Further details are available at: South West Scotland Strategic Corridor Improvements | Transport Scotland

Question reference: S7O-00188

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 September 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that local authorities have sufficient resources to support town centres.

Question reference: S7W-02436

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 1 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many GP practices have reported operational difficulties following migration to the Vision 3 GP clinical system, broken down by (a) NHS Board area and (b) the nature of the issue reported.

Migrations began in 2022 and we do not hold information on service desk contacts for the full period of the migration programme.

We have provided data from 9 December 2025, when OneAdvanced took over support desk arrangements, to 23 August 2026 showing the number of calls logged to the service help desk broken down by Health Board area.

There were 2,658 issues logged with OneAdvanced .These ranged from routine requests, such as password resets, to more significant issues, including system slowness and disconnections, and include reports from long-term Vision users, new users and recently migrated practices.

The highest numbers of issues were recorded in NHS Lothian (580), NHS Grampian (483), NHS Lanarkshire (469), NHS Tayside (403), NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (372) and NHS Highland (196). Other NHS Boards reported NHS Forth Valley (70), NHS Dumfries and Galloway (59), NHS Orkney (10), NHS Borders (5), NHS Western Isles (4) and NHS Ayrshire and Arran (3) issues. No issues were recorded for NHS Fife, while Public Services Delivery Scotland recorded 2 issues.

Question reference: S7W-02435

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 1 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many GP practices have migrated to the Vision 3 GP clinical system, broken down by NHS Board area.

As of July 2026, 492 practices (around 55% of the total in Scotland) have successfully migrated. 91% (372 of 408) of practices using the previous version of Vision have migrated to the Cloud hosted version, and 25% (120 of 480) of practices previously using EMIS have migrated.

This is broken down by Boards as follows:

NHS Ayrshire and Arran (1), NHS Borders (4), NHS Dumfries and Galloway (25), NHS Fife (1), NHS Forth Valley (10), NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (68), NHS Grampian (66), NHS Highland (49), NHS Lanarkshire (97), NHS Lothian (103), NHS Orkney (5), NHS Shetland (0), NHS Tayside (60), NHS Western Isles (1), The State Hospital (1) and Scottish Prison Service (1).