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 3478 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S7W-02223

Asked by: Martyn Day, MSP for Falkirk East and Linlithgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 31 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the additional staffing, training, systems and financial costs that local authority trading standards services will incur in implementing and enforcing the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026, and whether it plans to provide dedicated implementation funding or national guidance to support local authorities in meeting those responsibilities.

The Scottish Government has worked closely with Trading Standards and COSLA during the development of the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026 (2026 Act) and will continue to do so during its implementation.

All Scottish Statutory Instruments resulting from the 2026 Act will be supported by the appropriate impact assessments as part of our usual policy development process.

Local Authorities have responsibility to ensure local budget decisions deliver local and national priorities including enforcement of existing legislation around sales, illicit tobacco and vapes, and the single use vape ban. The 2026-27 Scottish Budget provides a further real-terms increase in the Local Government Settlement, delivering record funding of almost £15.7 billion, including a quarter of a billion pounds of unrestricted General Revenue Grant.

On 30 July 2026, the Scottish Government published statutory guidance for retailers of tobacco, vaping, nicotine or herbal smoking products on creating an age verification policy for their store, found here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/selling-tobacco-products-vaping-products-nicotine-products-cigarette-papers-herbal-smoking-products-age-verification-guidance-age-verification-policies-retailers/ .

On 11 August the UK Government published UK-wide guidance on implementation of the 2026 Act which covers the following topics:

Selling tobacco, herbal smoking and cigarette papers:https://www.gov.uk/guidance/selling-tobacco-herbal-smoking-products-and-cigarette-papers
Selling vaping and nicotine products: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/selling-vaping-and-nicotine-products
Tobacco, vaping and nicotine products: fixed penalty notices: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/tobacco-vaping-and-nicotine-products-fixed-penalty-notices#nations-in-scope
Tobacco and vaping product vending machine ban: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/tobacco-and-vaping-product-vending-machine-ban .

Question reference: S7W-02343

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 07 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 31 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government to provide an update on the roll-out of the digital app MyCare.scot, and whether it will provide a timeline for the development of additional services as part of the app, including the facility for patients to view, book and manage appointments, to order repeat prescriptions, and to access test results.

MyCare.scot was rolled out nationally across Scotland from April 2026 and will continue to develop incrementally through the Scottish Government’s Digital Front Door (DFD) programme. A free downloadable app is also available via both the Apple and Google store. More information regarding the MyCare.scot rollout can be found in the National Rollout Plan (https://www.gov.scot/publications/health-social-care-app-mycare-scot-national-rollout-high-level-summary/pages/4/), published September 2025.

Through established sub-national planning and implementation arrangements, the Digital Front Door programme is prioritising the rollout of digital communications and appointment functionality across all NHS territorial health boards before expansion into wider health and care services. The initial phase due for delivery in 2027/28 is focused on enabling patients to view secondary care appointment information and related communications digitally. This capability will be enhanced incrementally in collaboration with other digital projects, including GP IT reprovisioning and the Digital Prescribing and Dispensing Pathways (DPDP) programme, to enable users to book, manage appointments and order their prescriptions online.

The DPDP programme will replace paper prescriptions with a secure, end-to-end digital prescribing and dispensing system. The roll out of a minimum viable product will commence at the end of 2028 and the current trajectory is for patient-facing benefits via MyCare.scot, including prescription ordering, from 2029.

The programme recognises that providing access to test results through MyCare.scot could deliver significant benefits for patients. However, in some circumstances, direct access to results may be inappropriate and could cause unnecessary anxiety or distress. Any implementation will therefore need to be carefully designed to ensure it is clinically safe and that results are presented with appropriate context, explanation and supporting information. This work is currently being considered and scheduled as part of the wider Digital Front Door and MyCare.scot development plans.

Question reference: S7W-02221

Asked by: Martyn Day, MSP for Falkirk East and Linlithgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 31 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish a consolidated timetable for implementing the devolved provisions of the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026, including the extension of the existing retailer register to nicotine products and herbal smoking products from 29 October 2026, the commencement of the related registration offences from 29 April 2027 and any subsequent regulations relating to the retail display of such products.

The following table sets out the known coming into force dates for relevant provisions in the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026.

Date	Description
Royal Assent (29 April 2026)	Definition of tobacco product is commenced - a product consisting wholly or partly of tobacco and intended to be smoked, sniffed, sucked, chewed or consumed in any other way.
29 October 2026	Age of sale (18+) introduced for nicotine products (non-medicinal) and herbal smoking products. Requirements for age verification policies and requirements for authorisation for sale of these products by persons under 18 also come into force.
29 October 2026	Free distribution and nominal pricing offence comes into force for tobacco products, herbal smoking products, smoking related products, vaping products and nicotine products. It is currently prohibited under section 9 of the Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act 2002 to give away in the course of a business any product or coupon where the purpose or effect is to promote a tobacco product. The new provision (which will be in section 8A of the Tobacco and Primary Medical Services (Scotland) act 2020) replaces this and extends the scope to cover all the relevant products.
29 October 2026	Vending machine prohibition is extended to cover vending machines dispensing herbal smoking products, cigarette papers and nicotine products.
29 October 2026	Secondary legislation has been laid by Scottish Ministers to commence the extension of the Tobacco and Vapes Retailer Register to include nicotine products and herbal smoking products. Retailers can register to sell these products from this date.
1 January 2027	Generational ban on smoking, which means from 1 January 2027 no one born on or after 1 January 2009 can legally be sold tobacco, cigarette papers or herbal smoking products.
29 April 2027	Offences relating to registration in the expanded retailer register come into force. Retailers must register businesses selling nicotine products and herbal smoking products by this date to avoid committing an offence. The requirements already apply to tobacco and vaping product businesses.
1 June 2027	Comprehensive ban on the advertising of tobacco products, vaping products, nicotine products, herbal smoking products and cigarette papers will be brought into force by secondary legislation laid by the UK Government. The intention is that this will come into force across the UK from 1 June 2027.

The four nations Tobacco and Vapes: Packaging, Appearance and Display consultation was launched on 10 July and is open until 2 October. The consultation will be used to support the development of any potential regulations on packaging, appearance and display of relevant products.

Further information on the implementation of the remaining measures contained within the 2026 Act will be shared with Parliament in due course.

Question reference: S7W-02673

Asked by: Maggie Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 August 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 28 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S7W-01961 by Jim Fairlie on 20 August 2026, which did not address the question posed, what consideration it has given to introducing legislation to prohibit the sale, supply and release of sky lanterns and helium balloons, into the atmosphere.

Question reference: S7W-02723

Asked by: Yi-pei Chou Turvey, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 28 August 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 28 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many policy reviews are currently ongoing in each portfolio area and how long each of them has been carried out for.

Question reference: S7W-02617

Asked by: Maggie Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 August 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 28 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what due diligence it carried out, prior to awarding £400,000 to the Scottish Association for Mental Health (SAMH) in June 2026, regarding how the funding would be used and the outcomes that it was expected to deliver.

Question reference: S7W-02740

Asked by: Andrew Baxter, MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 28 August 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 28 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has held with stakeholders, industry representatives and teaching unions regarding the practical implementation of the Schools (Residential Outdoor Education) (Scotland) Act 2026, and what its expected timetable is for delivering the requirements of the Act.

Question reference: S7W-02739

Asked by: Andrew Baxter, MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 28 August 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 28 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made towards implementing the provisions of the Schools (Residential Outdoor Education) (Scotland) Act 2026 and, in light of the statutory deadline of 30 September 2027, when it expects to make the regulations required under section 4(2) of the Act.

Question reference: S7W-02616

Asked by: Maggie Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 August 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 28 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the reported closure of Change Mental Health’s Hearing Voices services across NHS Tayside, what action it is taking to ensure that sufficient support is available for people in Angus, Dundee, and Perth and Kinross who experience auditory, visual, or other sensory disturbances.

Question reference: S7W-02292

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 28 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the £10 million Travel Fund for children and young people with cancer being introduced in England in 2027, and the Welsh Government's announcement that work has begun on an equivalent fund in Wales, whether it will ensure that equivalent support regarding the costs of travelling to treatment is available for children and young people with cancer in Scotland, whether by expanding the eligibility criteria of the Young Patients Family Fund or through a separate scheme.