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 727 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6O-05183

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 November 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support the growth of the domestic supply chain for energy infrastructure.

Question reference: S6W-41441

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 11 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-40975 by Jenni Minto on 21 October 2025, whether it has completed a risk assessment and evaluated any liabilities of independent prescriber pharmacists not having read/write access to patient records in 2026.

The Scottish Government has not undertaken a risk assessment or evaluation of the liabilities of pharmacist independent prescribers who do not have read/write access to patient records. However, other organisations make clear the clinical and professional expectations required to support all prescribers, including pharmacist independent prescribers, to work safely and effectively.

All qualified pharmacist independent prescribers must adhere to robust policies, competency frameworks and requirements, as set out by Health Boards, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), the pharmacy regulator, and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS), the professional leadership body. For every prescribing consultation, pharmacist independent prescribers must use their professional judgement and take into account the person’s best interests to decide whether they have the information they need to prescribe safely.

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-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-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-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-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-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.