Chamber and committees

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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: S7W-01693

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 3 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many missed outpatient appointments there have been in each year since 2021, broken down by NHS board.

The following tables present the latest available statistics on the total number of patient non-attendances at a new outpatient appointment for reasons ‘did not attend (DNA)’ (Table 1), ‘could not attend (CNA)’ (Table 2) and ‘cancellation by service’ (Table 3). The data are presented by health board of treatment for all specialties and broken down by calendar year. Please note that calendar year 2026 only includes data up to 30 June 2026 and figures are therefore not reflective of a complete calendar year.

Table 1 – Total number of non-attendances at a new outpatient appointment for reason ‘did not attend (DNA)’ for all specialties, split by health board of treatment, by calendar year from 2021 to present.

NHS board	Calendar Year
NHS board	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025	20261
NHS Scotland	97,434	103,271	94,106	90,489	89,814	45,971
NHS Ayrshire & Arran	8,319	9,418	7,963	7,028	8,155	4,209
NHS Borders	1,401	1,806	982	1,136	1,145	568
NHS Dumfries & Galloway	2,207	1,935	1,749	1,588	1,678	778
NHS Fife	6,064	6,629	6,087	6,675	6,794	3,260
NHS Forth Valley	3,715	4,795	4,582	3,969	3,700	1,600
NHS Golden Jubilee	173	161	166	889	829	510
NHS Grampian	5,459	6,585	6,303	6,491	6,436	3,480
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde	30,084	28,266	27,674	25,878	25,351	12,478
NHS Highland	1,136	1,450	1,472	1,493	1,587	1,448
NHS Lanarkshire	10,408	10,572	9,396	10,130	10,829	5,460
NHS Lothian	19,506	20,997	18,695	16,089	14,955	7,964
NHS Orkney	137	239	256	275	335	146
NHS Shetland	218	285	282	286	271	169
NHS Tayside	8,074	9,541	7,944	8,025	7,289	3,631
NHS Western Isles	345	579	501	504	436	243
Non-NHS Provider	14	12	51	32	9	8
Not known	174	1	3	1	15	19
Outside Scotland	0	0	0	0	0	0

1Calendar year 2026 only includes data up to 30 June 2026.

Table 2 – Total number of non-attendances at a new outpatient appointment for reason ‘could not attend (CNA)’ for all specialties, split by health board of treatment, by calendar year from 2021 to present.

NHS board	Calendar Year
NHS board	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025	20261
NHS Scotland	95,021	130,644	130,796	130,844	137,441	65,592
NHS Ayrshire & Arran	7,106	9,227	8,335	9,067	10,642	4,870
NHS Borders	1,274	1,795	1,703	2,204	2,282	1,211
NHS Dumfries & Galloway	2,631	3,250	2,708	2,581	2,909	1,357
NHS Fife	5,868	7,400	7,045	7,236	8,431	3,601
NHS Forth Valley	4,363	6,683	8,735	7,300	7,104	2,536
NHS Golden Jubilee	279	623	562	1,719	2,052	1,064
NHS Grampian	7,612	11,158	10,695	11,789	12,591	7,555
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde	26,233	38,452	41,001	39,120	40,543	18,203
NHS Highland	3,644	5,254	5,050	5,770	6,403	3,383
NHS Lanarkshire	7,938	10,286	10,005	10,911	12,558	5,436
NHS Lothian	20,472	26,703	25,020	23,248	22,090	11,374
NHS Orkney	233	337	355	348	439	174
NHS Shetland	278	448	441	404	356	164
NHS Tayside	6,353	8,117	8,153	8,395	8,371	4,250
NHS Western Isles	613	837	845	684	644	399
Non-NHS Provider	40	73	139	66	11	2
Not known	83	1	4	2	15	13
Outside Scotland	1	0	0	0	0	0

1Calendar year 2026 only includes data up to 30 June 2026.

Table 3 – Total number of non-attendances at a new outpatient appointment for reason ‘cancellation by service’ for all specialties, split by health board of treatment, by calendar year from 2021 to present.

NHS board	Calendar Year
NHS board	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025	20261
NHS Scotland	102,357	120,087	112,240	100,752	99,715	50,984
NHS Ayrshire & Arran	6,085	9,478	6,819	6,827	6,662	4,058
NHS Borders	1,271	1,727	1,502	1,636	1,645	911
NHS Dumfries & Galloway	4,423	4,354	4,032	3,613	4,375	2,704
NHS Fife	6,066	5,944	6,301	4,748	5,593	2,196
NHS Forth Valley	4,132	6,164	6,732	7,152	6,396	2,753
NHS Golden Jubilee	394	680	1,154	1,892	1,592	707
NHS Grampian	10,581	11,637	10,985	10,728	10,648	6,038
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde	28,421	34,074	33,594	28,058	27,369	12,280
NHS Highland	4,135	4,342	3,638	4,019	4,266	2,191
NHS Lanarkshire	8,420	10,957	9,613	8,883	9,349	4,370
NHS Lothian	19,049	19,934	17,434	13,886	12,489	7,523
NHS Orkney	399	345	411	384	297	201
NHS Shetland	351	509	606	524	603	216
NHS Tayside	8,029	8,945	8,488	7,857	7,864	4,429
NHS Western Isles	525	921	892	501	506	329
Non-NHS Provider	13	67	37	39	25	10
Not known	63	9	2	5	36	68
Outside Scotland	0	0	0	0	0	0

1Calendar year 2026 only includes data up to 30 June 2026.

Please note that a patient who does not attend an accepted appointment and gives the hospital no prior notice is recorded as a ‘Did Not Attend (DNA)’, while a patient who cancels an appointment in advance is recorded as a ‘Could Not Attend (CNA)’. An appointment cancelled by the hospital is recorded as a 'Cancellation by service'. The number of non-attendances reported are sourced from the detail included in the patient records NHS boards submit to the national waiting times data mart.

For historic trends covering a longer period, the data files included in the Stage of Treatment (SoT) publication include the number of accepted appointments at each quarter-end with non-attendance rates by DNA, CNA, and cancellation by service. The data is presented by NHS board and can be filtered for a particular specialty using the drop-down list at the top of the sheet. The latest data file contains figures up to the quarter ending 30 June 2026. The direct link to this file is included below.

1.New outpatient appointments (‘1.5 Table’):

https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/39304/newop_jul26-data-file-up-to-30-june-2026.xlsx

As outlined by PHS, non-attendance rates are updated following the concluding month of each quarter – i.e. data up to the end of June are published at the end of July. Due to this, calendar year 2026 in the above tables includes data between 1 January and 30 June 2026, as this is the latest available data.

Please note that individual patients are counted more than once if they are waiting to attend more than one appointment, for example, in different specialties, so the official statistics shown here do not reflect the actual number of individuals involved.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) releases statistics covering waits for new outpatient appointments under the 12-week standard, and inpatient and day case admissions covered by the 12-week Treatment Time Guarantee (TTG). The latest statistics are published up to 30th June 2026 and can be found using the following link :

https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/stage-of-treatment-waiting-times/

Question reference: S7W-02164

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 July 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 28 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what recent review it has carried out into the provision of sexual health clinics in rural areas.

Question reference: S7W-02185

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for Fife North East, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 31 July 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 28 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the availability of fractional exhaled nitric oxide testing for asthma in primary care settings, including the proportion of primary care settings that offer such testing.

Question reference: S7W-02169

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 July 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 28 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce demand for hip and knee replacements over the next five years through preventative approaches, including what additional and targeted investment is being made in musculoskeletal services, such as physiotherapy, and how it will assess the effectiveness of this.

Question reference: S7W-02184

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for Fife North East, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 31 July 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 28 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with NHS Scotland and NHS boards regarding increasing the availability of fractional exhaled nitric oxide testing for asthma in primary and secondary care settings, and whether additional funding would be required to enable such an increase.

Question reference: S7W-01636

Asked by: Sanne Dijkstra-Downie, MSP for Edinburgh Northern, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 10 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Stephen Gethins on 31 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether the forthcoming Buildings (Heating and Energy Performance) and Heat Networks (Scotland) Bill will include a requirement for public buildings to connect to heat networks where these are available, and what assessment it has made of the potential impact of such a requirement.

Question reference: S7W-01528

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Hannah Mary Goodlad on 31 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether environmental impact assessments are required for large-scale data centre developments proposals to assess heat island effects on the surrounding environment, including on agricultural land and local ecosystems.

Where planning applications come forward, planning authorities have a responsibility to consider the environmental implications of all proposals on their individual merits.

In cases where a proposal is likely to have a significant environmental effect, these powers are further supplemented by the procedures set out in the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations 2017.

Question reference: S7W-01635

Asked by: Sanne Dijkstra-Downie, MSP for Edinburgh Northern, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 10 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Stephen Gethins on 31 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to introduce the revised Buildings (Heating and Energy Performance) and Heat Networks (Scotland) Bill, and what its key provisions will be compared to the version of the Bill that was previously considered.

We will take forward our Heat in Buildings Bill in this Parliamentary session to support homeowners, landlords and tenants to transition to clean heating in a fair and affordable way.

The Scottish Government's legislative programme, including the timing and detail of this Bill, will be agreed by Ministers and announced to Parliament in due course, and in the usual way. When the Bill is introduced, Impact Assessments for the Bill’s provisions will be published.

Question reference: S7W-01641

Asked by: Sanne Dijkstra-Downie, MSP for Edinburgh Northern, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 10 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Stephen Gethins on 31 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made towards the introduction of utilities-based statutory undertaker rights for heat network developers, and when it plans to bring forward the necessary legislation.

Our consultation on proposals for a new installation and maintenance licence to grant heat network organisations statutory rights and powers ran from 13 March to 5 June 2026. We are now analysing responses, and a full report will be published in due course. The consultation paper sets out our intention to include the necessary provisions in the Heat in Buildings Bill later this parliamentary session. The consultation paper can be found at:https://www.gov.scot/publications/installation-maintenance-licence-heat-networks/

Question reference: S7W-01526

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Hannah Mary Goodlad on 31 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers that National Planning Framework 4 provides sufficient guidance to local authorities on the siting of large-scale data centres, including whether applicants are required to justify use of prime agricultural land, green belt land or wetland sites in their proposed developments.