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-39665

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 28 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it will address the reported issue of police pensions whose deadlines have been breached four times in respect of their remedial service statement (RSS).

Question reference: S6W-39672

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 28 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what measures are being taken to ensure the accessibility of train services for individuals with mobility issues, specifically later evening and night time services.

Question reference: S6W-39670

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 28 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to adopt the 2022 European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) Guideline regarding the diagnosis of endometriosis in adolescents.

Question reference: S6W-39671

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 28 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action is being taken to ensure that young women and girls in secondary school are being educated regarding menstrual disorders, such as endometriosis, and are made aware of ways that they can access help.

Question reference: S6W-39214

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 07 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 31 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what plans it has to increase funding for early years childcare provision to increase the number of childcare hours for those under the age of three, in light of the UK Government's plans to increase provision in England.

Supporting families through access to high quality, affordable and accessible childcare is critical to the First Minister’s mission of eradicating child poverty. That is why, since 2021, the Scottish Government has prioritised investment of £1 billion per year in funded Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) for all 3- and 4-year-olds, 5-year-olds whose entry to primary school has been deferred, and those 2-year-olds who need it most.

Scotland is the only part of the UK to already offer 1,140 hours a year of funded ELC to all 3 and 4-year-olds and eligible 2-year-olds regardless of their parents’ working status – putting children first. If families paid for this offer themselves, it would cost them more than £6,000 per eligible child per year.

Scotland continues to face one of the most difficult public spending environments since devolution. Despite this the Scottish Government remains committed to reaching more younger children with funded ELC that need it most, and the Programme for Government, published on 6 May 2025, set out that this year we will work with local authorities to maximise uptake of our existing offer for eligible 2-year-olds to ensure that as many children as possible benefit from the current offer.

In terms of planning for a future potential expansion, we are investing up to £16 million over 2 years within 23 Early Adopter Communities (EACs), across 6 local authority areas. The EACs are helping the Scottish Government and our local partners to understand what it takes to deliver childcare systems that support families with children from the early years to the end of primary school. This work is expanding access to affordable childcare for low-income families with children and evaluating the difference this can make.

It is important to recognise that the UK Government’s offer is not an expansion of universal childcare for all children under three. The new entitlement is only available to working families in England - those where parents earn at least the National Minimum Wage or Living Wage and work for 16 hours a week on average. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has made clear that, despite billions of investment by the UK Government, “the poorest one third of families will see almost no direct benefit from the new entitlements”. The difference in entitlements between the UK Government and Scottish Government reflects the Scottish Government’s policy intention that access to more hours of funded ELC is an investment in all children’s later outcomes - underpinned by national and international evidence.

Question reference: S6W-39649

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 27 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to review the efficacy of NHS Scotland's 111 telephone service.

Question reference: S6W-39650

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 27 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has received reports of extended delays on NHS Scotland's 111 telephone service.

Question reference: S6W-39613

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 26 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to incorporate awareness of chronic illnesses in the school curriculum.

Question reference: S6W-39476

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 18 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 29 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to introduce an NHS mobile app, similar to the NHS England app, to allow patients to, for example, arrange appointments and repeat prescriptions.

I can confirm that the initial release of an online app for Health and Social Care will be in December 2025. This is set out in our Operational Improvement Plan, as well as in the answer to question S6W-38145 on 11 June 2025.

Secure login using a unique ID through Scot Account

Receive digital letters from the dermatology team
View dermatology appointments
Access personal health information, including demographics, medications and allergies
Use a national service finder to locate health and care services

The online app will be expanded over the next five years with further capabilities as a key component of health and social care access to services.

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-39443

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 29 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many staff it has qualified to deliver cataract surgery in 2025, and how this compares with 2015.