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-41730

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 13 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care last met the Royal College of Midwives; whether the organisation raised any concerns about staffing, and, if so, what action has been taken as a result.

Question reference: S6W-41457

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 11 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussion it has had with the UK Government regarding the concentration of gambling advertising in areas of deprivation in Scotland.

The Scottish Government has not had any recent discussions with the UK Government regarding the concentration of gambling advertising in areas of deprivation in Scotland.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) administer advertisement rules which are designed to ensure gambling advertising is responsible, supported by Ofcom for broadcast gambling adverts, and the Gambling Commission for non-broadcast gambling adverts.

The Scottish Government is working closely with the UK Government (and Welsh Government) over the distribution of the Gambling Levy, to ensure there are funds available to develop a comprehensive approach to gambling prevention, early intervention and support in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-41458

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 11 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has given consideration to improving the situation of people who work on zero-hour contracts through enhanced worker benefits, better job stability or a higher minimum wage.

The Scottish Government firmly opposes the inappropriate use of zero-hours contracts and other non-standard types of employment that offer workers minimal job or financial security. We support the overall ambitions of the UK Government’s Employment Rights Bill and welcome changes being brought forward to strengthen workers’ rights, including the measures providing protections for workers on zero hours or low hours contracts. The gains this legislation will make for workers’ rights must be protected, and that is why we continue to advocate for the devolution of employment powers as the best way to protect workers’ rights in Scotland from any future UK Government actions that might remove these protections.

In the absence of devolved employment powers, Fair Work First criteria in procurement and grants, alongside provision of grant funding to the Real Living Wage accreditation scheme, are the tools we use to raise employment standards in Scotland. Since implementing more stringent grant conditionality from July 2023, requiring payment of at least the Real Living Wage and provision of appropriate channels for effective workers voice, between 1 July 2023 and 31 March 2025 it is estimated that over £6 billion in public sector grants was awarded with Fair Work First criteria attached. The number of accredited Living Wage employers is up from 14 in 2014 to over 3,900 in 2025, with at least 72,000 workers in Scotland getting a pay rise resulting from accreditation.

Question reference: S6W-41621

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 31 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 11 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many people aged (a) 65 to 74, (b) 75 to 84, (c) 85 to 94 and (d) over 95 have waited at A&E for 12 hours or more in each month since January 2025.

Question reference: S6F-04434

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 10 November 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 November 2025

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-41453

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 6 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to hold to account corporations that reportedly use specific branding to justify a so-called pink tax, which targets women to pay higher prices for basic goods.

The Scottish Government has no powers to hold corporations to account for the use of specific branding to target women to pay higher prices for basic goods. Consumer protection, including provisions to protect consumers from unfair trading practices, is wholly reserved to the UK Government and regulated by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

However, we believe that this practice is unacceptable and have raised the issue with the CMA.

Question reference: S6W-41080

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 4 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its plans are to increase funding for hospices in line with inflation, in light of reports that hospices in Edinburgh are reducing services due to a lack of funding increases.

Through the 2025-26 Scottish Budget the Scottish Government has provided £5 million for independent hospices. This is to help independent hospices achieve pay parity for staff supporting clinical care with NHS levels for 2025-26.

However, it is important to reflect that it remains the responsibility of Integration Joint Boards (IJBs) to commission palliative care services, including independent hospices, to meet the needs of their local populations. As such, we expect Scottish hospices and IJBs to continue to engage on any matters that may impact on the delivery of local palliative care services.

Scottish Government officials continue to work with the chair of the Scottish Hospice Leadership Group and Hospice UK to take forward work to help provide financial stability to independent hospices. This includes developing a new framework to support discussion between IJBs and independent hospices related to the commissioning of services.

Question reference: S6W-41407

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 20 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 3 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many companies have been excluded from participating in tender processes for public services contracts under public procurement regulations, and for what reasons each of those companies has been excluded.

Public procurement legislation provides that bidders may be excluded from a tender exercise in some circumstances.

Any decision to exclude a bidder must be evidenced-based and proportionate. It must also consider any evidence which the bidder provides of “self-cleansing” measures it has taken, such as co-operation with investigating authorities, payment of compensation, or appropriate organisational and personnel changes intended to prevent further misconduct.

Decisions about whether to exclude a bidder from any given procurement process must be made on a case-by-case basis, and are for the contracting authority carrying out that process.

The Scottish Government does not hold a record of companies which have been excluded.

Question reference: S6W-40929

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 30 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the reported concerns by some social care organisations that a shortage of care home places might lead to an increase in the risk of suicide.

There is no direct evidence of a link between available care home places and suicide rates or risks, though we are seeking to understand the suicide risks for older adults. Suicide Prevention Scotland is undertaking work to build this understanding and the effective interventions to address these risks.

The Scottish Government is committed to developing a sustainable health and social care system that ensures people get the right care, at the right time, in the right place. Although we have overall responsibility for health and social care policy in Scotland, the statutory responsibility for delivering, commissioning, providing appropriate social care capacity and charging for services at a local level lies with local authorities, NHS boards and integrated health and social care partnerships.

This year we have made available over £14 billion to local authorities, a real terms increase of 4.3 per cent, with a record £15 billion for 2025-26 set out in the Scottish Budget, a further real terms increase of 4.7 per cent. But it would be for these local authorities to assess local population needs and where investment needs to be targeted to improve the social care infrastructure within their relevant area.

Suicide prevention is a key priority for the Scottish Government and we published an ambitious 10-year Suicide Prevention Strategy: Creating Hope Together: Scotland’s Suicide Prevention Strategy 2022-2032 Creating Hope Together and Action Plan:creating-hope-together-scotlands-suicide-prevention-action-plan-2022-2025.pdf with COSLA in September 2022. This strategy recognises the complex factors affecting suicide, and our action plan sets out the wide programme of work we are taking forward with partners - across the public, private, third sector and communities - to ensure everyone affected by suicide can access compassionate, appropriate and timely support.

Scottish Government has met the Programme for Government commitment to double suicide prevention annual funding to £2.8m in the current parliamentary term, which is helping us to drive forward our ambitious strategy and action plan.

Question reference: S6W-40936

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 29 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the First Minister's speech on 27January 2025 regarding improving public services and NHS renewal, what impact the introduction of specialist frailty teams is having on (a) A&E waiting times and (b) outcomes for older people; what progress it made toward delivering such teams in every A&E department by the target of summer 2025; what funding and staffing resources were allocated towards this; what steps have been taken to address any recruitment or training challenges faced; what criteria is used to assess whether an A&E department now has a fully functioning team, and how many teams are now in place, compared with summer 2025 target.

The Scottish Government is investing £200 million to reduce waiting times, improve hospital flow, and minimise delayed discharges. This includes £85 million in 2025–26 to support unscheduled care improvements, such as expanding frailty services, Discharge without Delay, and Hospital at Home. Funding has been allocated based on boards’ needs and priorities, including frailty provision and performance.

All NHS boards now have access to frailty services, with tailored models being developed to meet local needs. Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) are providing practical improvement support to local systems to increase capacity and improve front door frailty pathways - an update on progress will be provided in the autumn. While not every board has a dedicated frailty unit in place, work is ongoing to develop or enhance these where appropriate, tailored to local needs and infrastructure.

While current A&E performance is below the levels we all wish to see, we are working closely with boards to manage pressures. These measures are already delivering early results—improving outcomes, reducing delays, and helping shift care from hospital to home.