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: S7W-01424

Asked by: Kristopher Leask, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 June 2026
Current Status: Answered by Stephen Gethins on 20 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with the UK Government and the National Energy System Operator to ensure that Scotland's onshore wind potential, including the role of future repowering and site extension capacity, is appropriately reflected in the Strategic Spatial Energy Plan.

Question reference: S7W-01677

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 13 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 20 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the funding of private specialist assessment or treatment in circumstances where an NHS board is unable to provide the required service and is unable to secure an onward NHS referral within a clinically appropriate timescale.

Service delivery and patient care are the responsibility of NHS Boards and healthcare professionals locally. Clinical decisions on the care and treatment of individual patients are always matters of professional judgement for the responsible practitioner.

In certain circumstances, NHS Boards may make limited use of alternative providers, including independent sector providers, in response to capacity constraints and to improve access to patient care.

Question reference: S7W-01433

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 June 2026
Current Status: Answered by Stephen Gethins on 20 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with the UK Government and the National Energy System Operator to ensure that Scotland's offshore wind potential, including the ScotWind and Innovation and Targeted Oil & Gas (INTOG) leasing rounds, is fully reflected in the Strategic Spatial Energy Plan.

Question reference: S7W-01551

Asked by: Emma Roddick, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Stephen Gethins on 20 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how the spatial implications of its objective to deploy 20GW of onshore wind by 2030 were assessed, and what the environmental, social, and financial impacts on people, habitats, wildlife and infrastructure are.

The 20GW ambition was set out in the Onshore Wind Policy Statement in 2022. The Policy Statement was informed through extensive consultation with interested parties. The 20GW ambition is intended as a statement of Scotland’s potential rather than an allocation or mapping of specific sites.

All development proposals are individually assessed against our Fourth National Planning Framework which ensures that the impacts of proposals, including on communities and the natural environment are important considerations in the decision making process. All applications are subject to site specific assessments.

Question reference: S7W-01466

Asked by: Helen McDade, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Reform UK
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 20 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of newly qualified nurses being unable to secure a post on future nursing recruitment, in light of the rate of acceptances to undergraduate nursing courses in Scotland decreasing by 5.4% in 2025, from 3,530 to 3,340, which is the lowest level in seven years.

We want to help more people who are educated and trained in Scotland to work in NHS Scotland upon graduation. To do this, we have committed to an NHS Job Guarantee to all graduates for medicine, dentistry, nursing, and other NHS professions in Scotland with a guaranteed position for a minimum 3-year contract, to enable them to put their training into practice. The Scottish Government will set out further detail on the proposed job guarantee in due course.

Question reference: S7W-01467

Asked by: Helen McDade, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Reform UK
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 20 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many students who started pre-registration nursing programmes did not complete them in each of the last three years, and what assessment it has made of the role of financial hardship and placement experience in non-completion.

The Scottish Government does not hold information relating to students who have not completed pre-registration nursing programmes in each of the last three years. This data may be available via individual institutions. Students do not complete courses for a variety of reasons. However, the Scottish Government recognises the financial challenges faced by all students, including nursing and midwifery students, and understands that this has been exacerbated by the cost of living crisis. This is why we have committed to uprating the student nursing and midwifery bursary.

Question reference: S7W-01422

Asked by: Kristopher Leask, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 June 2026
Current Status: Answered by Stephen Gethins on 20 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what role it anticipates the repowering and extension of existing onshore wind sites will play in meeting its target of 20GW of operational onshore wind by 2030, and whether it plans to bring forward enhanced policy support for repowering.

The Scottish Government recognises the important role that repowering will play in delivering on our onshore wind ambitions.

Scotland’s long-standing support for onshore wind, sustained even when deployment elsewhere in Great Britain stalled, means that most initial repowering opportunities will be in Scotland.

We will continue to consider what additional measures might further support onshore wind deployment in Scotland, including repowering, as we work with industry to deliver our shared ambitions.

Question reference: S7W-01600

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh North Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 20 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) Cross Sector Working Group has not met since November 2024.

The Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) Cross Sector Working Group was established on a limited term basis to support the co-ordination of data collection and information sharing about RAAC across the public sector estate in Scotland. The aims and objectives of the Working Group are now met by the Cross Sector Building Safety Forum which, with a broader remit, meets to discuss a range of building safety issues with representation from across key sectors. Information about the Forum is published here: Building safety: cross sector forum - gov.scot.

Question reference: S7W-01458

Asked by: Helen McDade, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Reform UK
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 20 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that newly qualified children's and young people's nurses, as a small and specialist workforce, are offered posts commensurate with the level of public investment made in their training.

The Scottish Government values the contribution of the NHS Scotland workforce and is committed to supporting those who choose to pursue a career in nursing. We want to help more people who are trained in Scotland to work in NHS Scotland upon graduation. To do this, we have committed to an NHS Job Guarantee for all graduates for medicine, dentistry, nursing, and other NHS professions in Scotland with a guaranteed position for a minimum 3-year contract, so they can put their training into practice.

Further detail on the proposed job guarantee will be set out in further detail in due course.

Question reference: S7W-01463

Asked by: Helen McDade, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Reform UK
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 20 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what its estimate is of (a) the total public investment per nursing student, including bursary, tuition and placement costs, and (b) the aggregate cost of training nursing graduates who have not subsequently been employed within NHS Scotland, in each of the last three years.

The average cost to train a nursing student in Scotland is approximately £60k over the typical three year course. This includes bursary, tuition fees and teaching grant. Placement costs vary per student and are not included. The Scottish Government has committed to uprating the bursary available for nursing and midwifery students.

Operational matters such as staffing and recruitment, including the recruitment of graduates, are the responsibility of the individual health and social care employers.