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-37645

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the announcement within the Programme for Government 2025-26 of £4.5 million for new specialist support for long COVID, myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), chronic fatigue and other similar conditions, what it identifies as "similar conditions".

Long COVID and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME)/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) are examples of post-acute infection syndromes. Work is ongoing to determine how the additional £4.5 million announced in the 2025-26 budget to deliver new specialist support will be allocated to NHS boards. It is expected that NHS boards will develop support based on their understanding of local population need and synergies with existing local service provision.

Question reference: S6W-37566

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 27 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to the second supplementary to question S6O-04619 by Neil Gray on 7 May 2025, whether it will provide an update on the delivery of an electronic, single shared patient record system.

The provision of patient record systems remains the operational responsibility of Health Boards, but at a national level I can confirm it is our intention to launch the first version of a personalised digital health and social care service from December 2025. This was set out in the answer to question S6W-30875 on 11 November 2024.

The Scottish Government emphasises that this provides citizens with access to their own health and care data and accordingly will address the desire across Scotland for individuals to have access to a single shared patient record.

It is important to recognise that implementation of the service for our workforce, will build on our current Clinical Portal system, which currently enables many Health Boards across Scotland to have access to health information as part of the integrated record. This commitment is also set out in our recently published Programme for Government 2025-26 -https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/advice-and-guidance/2025/05/programme-government-2025-26/documents/programme-government-2025-26/programme-government-2025-26/govscot%3Adocument/programme-government-2025-26.pdf.

We highly recognise the importance of ensuring staff have access to the correct patient information where required, and we continue to improve this through development of our National Digital Platform, which enables the storage and integration of data for digital services that are public facing. We have also applied our learning collated from the use of the Clinical Portals, and we will continue to collate and apply intelligence gathered to our ongoing development of Integrated Records.

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-37563

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 22 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to improve data collection and reporting on cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training in schools, in collaboration with local authorities.

Question reference: S6W-37564

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 22 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what support it offers to local authorities and schools to help ensure that all pupils receive cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training during their time in education.

The Scottish Government is a key partner in the Save a Life for Scotland Partnership, which is working to ensure that all school aged children in Scotland will be given the opportunity to be equipped with CPR skills.

This has included delivery of Restart a Heart Day Live last year. This was a live stream CPR training event targeted at school-age children. The Scottish Government has committed to working with Save a Life for Scotland to deliver Restart a Heart Day Live again in 2025.

The Save a Life for Scotland partnership have a range of resources available on their website for both adults and children to safely learn how to perform CPR.

Question reference: S6F-04062

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 May 2025

To ask the First Minister, in light of the publication of the Programme for Government, what action the Scottish Government is taking to ensure that prevention is more strongly integrated into the health system.

Question reference: S6W-36239

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on when it plans to publish the independent analysis report of its consultation on restricting promotions of food and drink that is high in fat, salt and/or sugar, and what the next steps will be.

Question reference: S6W-36243

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 29 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with industry and business stakeholders to understand and address reported concerns regarding cross-border online alcohol sales, including how these might impact on its policy on minimum unit pricing.

The Scottish Government, through the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005, provides the overarching legal framework within which alcohol can be sold and supplied in Scotland. The 2005 Act makes provision for the licensing of premises in Scotland where alcohol is sold online and despatched from Scottish premises. Minimum unit pricing does not apply to alcohol sales which are despatched from outside Scotland directly to a buyer within Scotland.

The Scottish Government is aware of concerns raised about cross-border online alcohol sales in Scotland.

Officials have engaged with industry and business stakeholders, including the Scottish Grocers Federation and alcohol licensing stakeholders, on these matters to better understand these concerns. Additionally, through Scottish Enterprise, my officials have sought direct engagement with online retailers.

We will continue to engage with all relevant stakeholders to keep the potential impact of this developing market under review and to better understand the interaction between devolved and reserved matters in this area.

Question reference: S6W-36242

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 29 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of (a) the level of such sales and (b) their potential impact on (i) public health and (ii) its policy on minimum unit pricing, what its position is on whether the current data collected regarding cross-border online alcohol sales is sufficient, and what consideration it has given to the collection of more detailed data.

The Public Health Scotland evaluation of MUP found some evidence of cross-border purchasing, but its extent was observed to be minimal. The evaluation also found online sales to be relatively minor at a population level.

Public Health Scotland holds alcohol retail sales data for both the on-trade and off-trade, which includes all electronic point of sale data for the main supermarkets and a representative sample of smaller retailers and independent stores. Detailed information on cross-border online alcohol sales is not available and such information is likely to be commercially confidential and would require businesses to supply this on a voluntary basis.

The Scottish Government has no current plans to make any changes to the collection of online alcohol sales data.

Question reference: S6W-36240

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 29 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by Public Health Scotland, which was published on 6 June 2023 and excluded neurodevelopmental conditions from child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) waiting lists “if they do not meet the CAMHS service specification standards”, how it will determine and track the demand for neurodevelopmental services for children and young people.

Question reference: S6O-04579

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the delivery of the Ayrshire Growth Deal.