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-41706

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 November 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 19 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that people with cleft lips or cleft palates are able to access appropriate dental treatment.

Question reference: S6W-41667

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 November 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 18 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the forthcoming expansion of the Armed Forces Covenant, which might include an expansion into social care, what discussions it has had with (a) local authorities and (b) health and social care partnerships to ensure that the covenant is embedded in social care.

Question reference: S6W-41669

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 November 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 18 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the forthcoming expansion of the Armed Forces Covenant, which might include an expansion into early years and childcare, what discussions it has had with the Care Inspectorate to ensure that it considers the covenant in its inspections.

Question reference: S6W-41668

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 November 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 18 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the forthcoming expansion of the Armed Forces Covenant, which might include an expansion into criminal justice, what discussions it has had with the Scottish (a) Courts and Tribunals Service and (b) Prisons Service to embed the covenant throughout its services.

Question reference: S6W-41670

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 November 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 18 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the forthcoming expansion of the Armed Forces Covenant, which might include an expansion into early years and childcare, what discussions it has had with local authorities to ensure armed forces families are able to access childcare in their area.

Question reference: S6W-41057

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 31 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to introducing a paid expedited Protecting Vulnerable Groups application service under Disclosure Scotland, in light of reported delays impacting businesses' and voluntary organisations' operations.

Disclosure Scotland’s fees are set by secondary legislation and do not provide for offering an expedited service at additional cost. This ensures that all customers receive the same level of service.

Disclosure Scotland’s Service Level Agreement (SLA) is to process 90% of applications within 14 days. For week commencing 6 October, the average processing time for all applications was 7.4 days with 97.46% of applications completed within 14 days.

Disclosure Scotland has historically exceeded its SLA of 90% of applications processed within 14 days. In 2023-2024, 95.3% of applications were completed within 14 days and in 2024-2025, 97.7% within 14 days.

A paid expedited service would not improve response times where applications are delayed due to further information being required from third parties.

Question reference: S6W-41056

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 31 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what support is available for businesses and voluntary organisations impacted by the reported Protecting Vulnerable Groups scheme processing delays.

I have asked Gerard Hart, Chief Executive of Disclosure Scotland to respond. His response is as follows:

Disclosure Scotland is currently performing back within its service level agreement to process 90% of applications within 14 days.

Improvements have been made to the employer dashboard so that accredited bodies can check the processing status of an application without the need to contact Disclosure Scotland directly.

Disclosure Scotland regularly engages with customers to support them in understanding their rights and responsibilities in relation to disclosure and the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme. To stay up to date on changes at Disclosure Scotland, we encourage customers to sign up to our quarterly newsletter or read it on our website. We also provide workshops to assist organisations in understanding regulated roles, their duty to refer and the practical and legal processes involved in countersigning disclosure applications. Our dedicated Customer Engagement team is also available to provide one to one advice and support to organisations who need it.

In response to user feedback, Disclosure Scotland has improved its regulated roles guidance and developed specific guidance for parent-run groups, sports organisations and health services.

Volunteer Scotland Disclosure Services (VSDS) are funded by the Scottish Government to help voluntary sector organisations process applications and provide advice, guidance and training.

Question reference: S6W-41046

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 29 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when it anticipates that it will publish its health and social care winter preparedness plan for 2025-26.

Question reference: S6W-41070

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 28 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to encourage the uptake of flu vaccines by frontline health workers, in light of reports from Public Health Scotland that vaccination rates among these workers have fallen to 35%.

Improving uptake in this group is a key focus for Ministers and for the Scottish Vaccination & Immunisation Programme (SVIP). By improving vaccination in this group, staff are protected, onward transmission to colleagues and patients is reduced, all of which contributes to the resilience of Scotland’s health care services.

A range of steps are being taken this winter to encourage Health and Social Care staff to take up the offer of the flu vaccine. Public Health Scotland’s campaign “For some, flu hits harder” is being highly targeted at lower uptake groups including health and social care workers. Health Boards are running specific staff engagement sessions and actively promoting vaccination eligibility and information on how to receive the vaccine via staff intranet sites and social media channels. Boards are also championing vaccination uptake through senior leadership forums and staff briefings across the health care sector. Most Boards are also using dedicated flu champions to promote vaccination locally and case study videos, using health care workers, are in development, aimed at sharing their personal and/or professional experience on the importance of the flu vaccination programme. Digital prompts have been sent to health and social care workers via SMS and email to encourage them to book appointments, and most Health Boards plan to hold drop-in clinics for health and social care workers at convenient, flexible and easy to access locations. An expansion of peer-to-peer vaccination programmes is taking place across different health and social care sites within Health Boards.

Question reference: S6W-41067

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 28 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has carried out regarding whether, at its commencement, its COVID-19 and flu vaccination programme for winter 2025-26 was fully resourced with regard to staffing and vaccine availability.

Territorial Health Boards are responsible for assessing and planning for the workforce required to deliver their programme locally. Scotland’s winter vaccination programme for Covid-19 and flu is delivered as part of the Scottish Vaccination and Immunisation Programme (SVIP), which is a partnership between Scottish Government, Public Health Scotland and Health Boards. This supports appropriate workforce planning for operational delivery.

NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) Procurement is responsible for the management and logistics in relation to the Scotland’s vaccine stocks. COVID-19 and childhood flu LAIV vaccine supplies are procured on a 4 nations basis by UKHSA on our behalf, and adult flu vaccine supplies are procured on a Scotland-only basis by NSS. An SVIP Expert Advisory Group is convened, as necessary, to consider stock amounts required each year to meet need and uptake level.

There are sufficient vaccine supplies for the flu and COVID programme this winter and all supplies were made available prior to programme launch.