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-35656

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 27 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a list of the dates on which its ministers visited Skye House between 2017 and 2024, broken down by which ministers attended.

Details of all ministerial visits can be found on the Parliament website, available at the following link - Ministerial engagements, travel and gifts - gov.scot

Scottish Ministers have visited Skye House on several occasions since 2017 as part of routine engagements to meet patients and thank staff for their work.

Maree Todd MSP, Minister for Mental Wellbeing,Social Care and Sport	4 September 2024
Kevin Stewart MSP, Minister for Mental Wellbeing and Social Care	15 March 2023
Clare Haughey MSP, Minister for Mental Health	2 March 2020 20 October 2018
Maureen Watt MSP, Minister for Mental Health	27 March 2018

Question reference: S6W-35655

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 27 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when the joint visits by Healthcare Improvement Scotland and the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland to all adolescent in-patient units and the national child in-patient unit will begin, and how often these joint visits will be carried out.

The Scottish Government has asked Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) and the Mental Welfare Commission (MWC) to undertake joint inspections of all child and adolescent inpatient units in Scotland as a matter of priority.

Neil Gray, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care and myself met with both organisations in March to discuss this. HIS and the MWC are working jointly to establish these inspections. The inspections will start once a robust plan has been agreed, ensuring effective oversight of the quality and safety of these services. We expect that this will become a regular programme of inspections depending on the recommendations made from the initial round.

Question reference: S6W-35645

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 14 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 26 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will introduce 15 hours of funded childcare per week for children aged nine months to three years, similar to that in England, and, if so, what the timescale will be.

High quality, accessible and affordable early learning and school age childcare is critical to keeping children in Scotland out of poverty. That is why we continue prioritise investment of around £1 billion per year in delivering funded ELC to all eligible children, despite the significant financial challenges facing the Scottish Government as a result of budget choices made at Westminster.

As a result, families across Scotland have been benefitting from the provision of 1140 hours of high quality ELC since 2021. We also committed in the 2024 Programme for Government to work with local authorities to maximise the uptake of funded early learning and childcare for eligible two-year-olds.

It is important to recognise that the UK Government’s offer is not an expansion of universal ELC for children under three, as it is only available to working families in England. 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 Scottish Government is committed to taking the time needed to deliver a childcare expansion that is both fair and affordable, giving children the best possible start in life and supporting parents and carers to work, train and take up education opportunities. Our approach is backed by international evidence which shows that high quality ELC is critical to giving children the best start in life, especially those experiencing poverty.

In this Parliament we are working with six councils on childcare early adopter communities (EAC), backed by £16 million over 2024-25 and 2025-26. The EACs are supporting the development of affordable childcare for low-income families with children from the early years through to the end of primary school, and evaluating the difference this can make.

The engagement and targeted delivery that takes place for younger children in the EACs this year will be a key element in developing our evidence base to inform a future expansion. We will also be drawing on research to understand what different approaches to early learning and childcare are best for younger children and piloting new approaches via projects funded by the Whole Family Wellbeing Fund.

Question reference: S6W-35627

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 25 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken since the publication of its paper, Licensing of activities involving animals: consultation response analysis, on 16 February 2024.

Since the publication of the consultation analysis, the Scottish Government has announced its intention to regulate canine fertility businesses, with the work to draft the required legislation underway. We continue to explore with the local authorities the feasibility of introducing licensing schemes for dog groomers, commercial dog walkers and livery providers. We will be commencing work to revoke existing animal boarding and riding establishments legislation at the earliest opportunity, with a view to regulating instead under the animal licensing framework introduced in September 2021.

Question reference: S6W-35704

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 14 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 21 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has any plans to reform the process for exhumation applications for ashes, in light of reports that the new system has moved away from independent crematory management, which was inexpensive, and now requires families to go through solicitors, which can reportedly cost more that £5,000.

The current procedure for applications for exhumation has been in place for many years. It involves the engagement of a solicitor who will apply to the sheriff court for a warrant to disinter. The process can be lengthy, complex and incur significant cost.

The Scottish Government is developing regulations on exhumation which will remove applications from the sheriff court, making the process more straightforward and less expensive for applicants.

Question reference: S6W-35626

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 19 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to regulate canine fertility clinics.

Question reference: S6W-35643

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 14 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 19 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to address any pressures on GP surgeries caused by the reported (a) decline in the number of fully qualified GPs, (b) rising patient demand, (c) challenges with practice infrastructure and (d) financial pressures faced by GP partners, and what plans are in place to ensure a sustainable, well-funded and adequately staffed GP workforce.

In November last year we published a plan setting out a suite of 20 actions being taken to improve GP recruitment and retention.

We have also reactivated the GP Sustainability loans scheme for GP premises and invested an additional £73.2 million in General Practice this financial year to provide a pay uplift for GPs and to support GP practices to retain and recruit key staff. The uplift includes £7.6 million to cover population growth.

Question reference: S6F-03919

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 17 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 March 2025

To ask the First Minister when the Cabinet will next meet.

Question reference: S6W-35350

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 12 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to S6W-34287 by Neil Gray on 27 January 2025, on what date it will publish data showing whether the targets were met by March 2026 for (a) 95% of radiology referrals to be seen within six weeks, (b) no one waiting longer than a year for treatment and (c) the delivery of over 150,000 extra appointments and procedures, and whether the final outcome of these targets will be announced before 7 May 2026.

Question reference: S6W-35332

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 11 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider awarding financial compensation to any staff covered by the Agenda for Change who have been affected by the reported delay to the implementation of the reduced 36-hour working week.

As set out in the answer to question S6W-35253 on 11 March 2025, to confirm, there is no delay in the implementation of the reduction of the working week to 36 hours for Agenda for Change staff. It was always the intention to use the initial 30 minute reduction in April 2024 as an opportunity to learn and assess how best to move forward with any further reduction in the working week.

The Scottish Government is therefore committed to fully implementing the remaining 60 minute reduction in the working week for all Agenda for Change staff on 1 April 2026. This will facilitate patient and staff safety, support the continued recovery of services and avoid any extra burden for our workforce.

As there is no delay in the implementation of the final hour reduction of the working week for Agenda for Change staff, there is no requirement for any financial compensation.

This implementation date of 1 April 2026 remains fully in line with the commitment made as part of the 2023-24 Agenda for Change pay settlement and the Scottish Government’s Programme for Government.

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