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-14612

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 03 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 10 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to allow NHS Scotland patients to access their medical records online.

Scottish Government and COSLA will shortly set out a Data Strategy for Health and Social Care, which will articulate the first set of principles and deliverables needed to improve the access and use of data.

One of the core ambitions of the Data Strategy is to: empower the people of Scotland by giving individuals clear and easy access to, and the ability to manage and contribute to, their own health and social care data where it is safe and appropriate to do so. To achieve this, we will confirm data sources and data sets that are safe to be consistently shared. For individuals, data access will be enabled through the implementation of the Digital Front Door.

The Digital Front Door will be an iterative development and there will be a phased approach to implementation. As set out in our Digital Health and Care Delivery Plan . we expect the first version of the Digital Front Door being available for release in autumn/winter 2023 and this will be accompanied by an implementation plan.

Question reference: S6W-14435

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 27 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 10 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to putting in place further discounts for students to access public transport.

The Scottish Government provides the most generous concessionary fare scheme in the UK, investing £300 million annually to provide free bus travel for over 2 million people. Over 2.3 million people, including everyone under 22 and aged 60 and over and eligible disabled people, can benefit from free bus travel.

We introduced free bus travel to everyone under 22 one year ago. In that time almost 45 million journeys have been made through the scheme helping young people and students cut their travel costs and also helping protect our climate. I strongly urge any under 22's, students or not, who have yet to make use of this scheme to do so.

Additionally, the Scottish Government is progressing the Fair Fares Review to ensure a sustainable and integrated approach to public transport fares that supports the long term viability of our public transport system as we recover from the pandemic. The Review is considering both the cost and availability of services and the range of discounts and concessionary schemes which are available on all modes including bus, rail and ferry.

As part of the Fair Fares Review, we have announced a pilot to remove peak-time rail fares on all Scotrail routes for a six month period, during the next financial year, as a way of making rail travel more affordable and attractive to travellers. Further details on both the rail peak-fares pilot and the Fair Fares Review will be announced in due course.

Question reference: S6W-14506

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 27 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 10 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has considered providing support to any other commercial ferry operators as a result of Transport Scotland’s decision to freeze fares for CalMac and Serco NorthLink Ferries.

Question reference: S6W-14529

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 27 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 10 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the environmental impact of the improper disposal of vapes.

Question reference: S6W-14504

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 27 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 10 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether a ministerial direction was issued to Transport Scotland officials to freeze ferry fares for (a) CalMac and (b) Serco NorthLink Ferries.

Question reference: S6W-14493

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 27 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 10 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether any airports will be forced to close as a result of the Public and Commercial Services Union industrial action, on 1 February 2023, and, if so, which ones.

Question reference: S6W-14235

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 10 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure the provision of early intervention and support for young people with speech difficulties, in light of reports that North Ayrshire’s speech and language therapy waiting list is closed due to waiting times exceeding two years.

Question reference: S6W-14492

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 27 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 10 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the potential impact of the Public and Commercial Services Union industrial action, on 1 February 2023, on the work of Highlands and Islands Airports Limited.

Highlands and Islands Airports Limited, as the operator of 11 airports across the Highland and Islands and Dundee, assessed the potential impact of the industrial action by the Public and Commercial Services Union on 1 February 2023 as part of their day to day business continuity planning. They concluded that there would be no impact on their operations and did not anticipate any disruption to passengers.

Question reference: S6W-14522

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 27 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 10 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting NHS Highland to provide 24/7 urgent care at Portree Hospital.

Since publication of the Independent External View of Skye, Lochalsh and South-West Ross Report in May 2018 by Sir Lewis Ritchie. Scottish Government officials have been in regular contact with NHS Highland to assess progress.

Sir Lewis Ritchie has made four review visits to Portree (in 2018, 2019 and twice in 2022). He also made an additional virtual meeting assessment of progress in 2020 during the height of the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Sir Lewis has met (virtually) with a number of clinicians on Skye on two occasions in January 2023. That engagement process continues and Sir Lewis plans to return to Skye, Lochalsh and South-West Ross for further in-person meetings later in 2023.

Question reference: S6W-15047

Asked by: Jim Fairlie, MSP for Perthshire South and Kinross-shire, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 February 2023
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 10 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the future support framework for agriculture in Scotland.

I am pleased to confirm that we have today published a package of announcements to provide information and financial certainty farmers and crofters need to help them prepare for the change necessary to deliver the ambitious aims set out in the Scottish Government’s Vision for Agriculture. Links are available here: