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: S6O-04622

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the work that it is doing to improve women’s health outcomes.

Question reference: S6W-37041

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the use of artificial intelligence-based tools to address any delays in cancer treatment and diagnosis.

Scottish Government is committed to the trustworthy, ethical and inclusive use of artificial intelligence (AI) in health and social care, where it can help to transform lives, increase healthy life expectancy and reduce health inequalities across Scotland.

There are promising examples of AI being developed to improve the accuracy and speed of diagnosis and in enhancing decision support tools.

The Accelerated National Innovation Adoption (ANIA) pathway is a programme funded by the Chief Scientist Office within Scottish Government. It has been established to provide a national approach to the identification and adoption of research and proven scientific and technological innovations. Governed by the Innovation Design Authority (IDA), it aims to support improved partnership working, system leadership and joint decisions on the progression of AI innovations across any health condition, including cancer.

Question reference: S6W-37042

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider working jointly with the UK Government to develop a UK-wide cancer strategy, in light of reports of calls for such an approach by expert commentators in The Lancet Oncology.

Cancer remains a national priority, within the Scottish Government and across NHS Scotland. That is why we recently published our 10 year Cancer Strategy for Scotland 2023-2033 along with an initial three year Cancer Action Plan for Scotland 2023 – 2026 in June 2023.

The strategic aim and vision is to improve cancer survival and provide excellent, equitably accessible care across Scotland.

Scottish Government continues to positively engage with the UK Government, including on the development of the new UK Government National Cancer Control Plan 2025.

Question reference: S6W-37006

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the additional £2.6 million in funding announced for National Treatment Centre Highland, how many procedures will be allocated to patients from NHS (a) Grampian and (b) Tayside as a result of the anticipated increase in capacity.

Question reference: S6W-37066

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many hectares of new native woodland have been created under the new Forestry Grant Scheme in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-36989

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it will address the environmental pressures reportedly contributing to salmon stock collapse, including pollution, blocked rivers and fish farm-related disease and parasites.

Question reference: S6W-36725

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will ask Historic Environment Scotland to undertake a study to designate important examples of early electricity generation and transmission infrastructure, in light of reports that some utility companies are destroying significant such infrastructure, such as G-route pylons in Renfrewshire and Glasgow Corporation Electricity Department cabinets.

As the lead public body responsible for preserving, maintaining and promoting the historic environment Historic Environment Scotland will consider any application for designation in line with its published policy ‘Designation Policy and Selection Guidance’.

Any individual can apply for a site to be designated and the designation consideration process by Historic Environment Scotland ensures that the historical and cultural significance of each site is fully considered.

Question reference: S6W-36651

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what monitoring it and its enterprise agencies undertake to evaluate whether grants that are awarded are impactful in achieving diversification away from arms manufacturing.

Question reference: S6W-36569

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 04 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Israeli parliament’s reported decision to ban the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) from operating inside Israel coming into effect on 30 January 2025, what plans it has to provide funding for UNRWA in 2025-26.

The Scottish Government provided £750,000 to the UNRWA Flash Appeal for Gaza in November 2023. This funding was used to provide lifesaving food, medical aid and shelter to displaced people across the Gaza strip. Although we do not regularly fund UNRWA and currently have no plans for further contributions in 2025-2026, we remain steadfast in our support for the agency's continued operation.

UNRWA has a direct mandate from the UN to provide humanitarian aid and essential services across Gaza and the West Bank and there currently is no alternative for providing the scale of humanitarian aid which is so desperately required. Even since the Israeli Parliament's ban on UNRWA came into force on January 2025, at immense personal risk, UNRWA staff have continued to provide food and other essential humanitarian supplies to 2 million people in Gaza.

I am deeply concerned by Israel’s decision to ban UNRWA from operating in the occupied Palestinian Territories and urge them to reverse this decision. Israel must abide by its international obligations, end its siege and allow vital humanitarian aid to reach Gaza.

Question reference: S6W-37060

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) reasoning and (b) supporting evidential basis is for its decision to split the Fisheries Management and Conservation Group (FMAC) into separate commercial fishing and Environmental Non-Governmental Organisations, also known as eNGOs, groupings, and what its position is on how this decision impacts the principle of inclusivity in fisheries management, as set out in the Scotland’s Fisheries Management Strategy 2020-2030.

Further to the answer to S6W-36304 on 9 April 2025, the decision to split the Fisheries Management and Conservation (FMAC) Group was taken following a review of the Group that was undertaken last year. The review found that the way the FMAC Group had been operating was hampering effective co-management. The review findings, which were in line with my officials’ observations from recent meetings, provided the evidential basis for the decision. The revised structure will enable co-management and help ensure that our fisheries management continues to be inclusive.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Speciality	Procedure	Allocation
Orthopaedics	Foot and Ankle	70
Orthopaedics	Joints	600
Ophthalmology	Cataract	1753

Speciality	Procedure	Allocation
Orthopaedics	Joints	322
Ophthalmology	Cataract	400

Year	Area of woodland created (native) Hectares
2019-20	4764
2020-21	3991
2021-22	4982
2022-23	3046
2023-24	7978