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-38301

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 16 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that people with palliative care needs, who do not want to die in hospital, are not admitted to hospital unnecessarily.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that everyone who needs it can access high-quality palliative care that is right for their circumstances.

Through our upcoming palliative care strategy, we will promote person-centred future care planning. Future care planning is important for people of all ages living with long-term conditions, disabilities, frailty in older age or rare conditions, as well as people with life shortening conditions. A future care plan summarises what matters to the individual and has key information for staff providing urgent or emergency care about the person, their health and care. Planning ahead can help people manage or avoid crisis situations and improve experiences of urgent or emergency health and social care, as well as avoiding unnecessary hospital admissions.

The strategy will be published alongside a delivery plan, which will set out our approach to ensuring that everyone who needs it can access timely palliative care and care around dying.

Question reference: S6W-38300

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 16 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take if the £5 million being allocated to hospices is not enough for them to match 2025-26 NHS staff pay levels.

The Scottish budget for 2025-26 includes £5 million of investment to support independent hospices to provide pay parity with NHS levels. This figure is based on estimates provided by independent hospices. Officials are working with a variety of colleagues across the health directorates to explore mechanisms for providing this funding to hospices, while respecting existing commissioning arrangements with Integration Joint Boards (IJBs).

We expect the £5m for pay parity to significantly help independent hospices in increasing their pay offer for staff. However, as independent hospices are charitable organisations, they are responsible for setting their own staff terms and conditions, including pay arrangements.

The Scottish Government does not undertake financial planning for local services, which is why commissioning and contractual discussions are carried out at a local, operational, level between independent hospices and IJBs.

Question reference: S6W-38299

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 16 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take to ensure that hospices do not lose staff as a result of the reported delay in allocating the £5 million of funding to hospices.

The Scottish Government has already provided reassurances to independent hospices that the funding will be allocated as soon as practically possible, based on the analysis of financial data provided by the hospices.

However, it is important to reflect that it remains the responsibility of Integration Joint Boards (IJBs) to commission palliative care services, including independent hospices, to meet the needs of their local populations. As such, we expect Scottish hospices and IJBs to continue to engage on any matters that may impact on the delivery of local palliative care services.

Question reference: S6W-38298

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 16 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions have taken place between the finance and workforce sections of its health directorate regarding the allocation of funding to ensure pay parity for hospice staff.

The Scottish budget for 2025-26 includes £5 million of investment to support independent hospices to provide pay parity with NHS levels. Officials are working with a variety of colleagues across the health directorates to explore mechanisms for providing this funding to hospices, while respecting existing commissioning arrangements with Integration Joint Boards (IJBs).

Most recently, policy officials have been working closely with health finance officials to ensure that the relevant governance and approval procedures are correctly followed to ensure this funding can be provided as soon as practically possible. We look forward to engaging further with Scottish hospices as we conclude this work.

Question reference: S6W-38483

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Monday, 09 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 16 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what actions it is taking to increase the number of breeding (a) cattle and (b) sheep.

The Scottish Government does not set targets for the number of breeding cattle or sheep in Scotland. Livestock numbers are primarily driven by market conditions and individual business decisions.

However, we are committed to supporting a resilient and sustainable livestock sector. This includes continued investment in schemes such as the Scottish Suckler Beef Support Scheme, which provides £40 million annually to support beef producers and encourage improvements in herd efficiency, and the Scottish Upland Sheep Support Scheme to provide support to breeding hill flocks.

We also provide broader direct support to sheep and cattle producers through the Basic Payment Scheme and Less Favoured Areas Support Scheme payments – in stark contrast to the UK Government approach.

Through our Vision for Agriculture and ongoing reform programme, we will continue to work with farmers and crofters to ensure future support enables productive, sustainable farming.

We remain concerned that recent UK trade deals, agreed without meaningful consultation with the Scottish Government, risk undermining domestic livestock production by allowing imports produced to lower environmental and welfare standards—potentially increasing global emissions and undercutting Scotland’s high-quality producers.

Question reference: S6W-38523

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 16 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has considered any legislative or policy options to address the reported legal and regulatory challenges posed by "ownerless" contaminated sites like Tarbolton Moss landfill site.

Scottish Government officials continue to consider the issue of ownership at Tarbolton Moss, engaging with partners, including South Ayrshire Council and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA).

There are provisions in the Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulations 2012 and the Landfill (Scotland) Regulations 2003 to require companies to make adequate financial provisions for landfill aftercare, and this requirement will also be included in the Environmental Authorisations (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2025. However, in the case of Tarbolton Moss the company was dissolved without any such funds remaining.

Officials continue to work with SEPA to understand how this occurred to ensure that the risk for similar future scenarios is minimised.

Furthermore, to minimise risk of further site abandonment, we continue to work closely with local authorities and commercial operators to examine challenges faced before the commencement of the ban on landfilling biodegradable municipal waste on 31 December 2025.

Question reference: S6W-38149

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 02 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 16 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to undertake a review of current ovarian cancer surgery provision, and, if not, how it plans to address the reported concerns about access to ovarian cancer surgery without undertaking such a review.

The Scottish Government is not planning to review ovarian cancer surgery provision nationally at this time as we see improvements following positive action taken by regional cancer networks and NHS Boards. The Scottish Government continues to monitor the improvement activities and support progress in improving overall care for patients experiencing ovarian cancer.

According to the most recent published data (October-December 2024), 98.4% of women are receiving their first treatment for ovarian cancer within 31 days of a decision to treat. The maximum wait during this quarter was 43 days, a decrease from 90 days in the same quarter in 2023. This includes a range of treatments, such as surgery.

I will be meeting with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde board members and clinicians in September to seek further clarity in terms of progress they have made. Officials continue to seek regular updates from all the regional cancer networks on the improvement work being undertaken.

Question reference: S6W-38086

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 16 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has undertaken of any impact of NHS pay increases on recruitment and retention in the adult social care sector.

Whilst the Scottish Government is not a social care employer, we are working with key stakeholders, including COSLA, trade unions and provider representatives to introduce sectoral bargaining for commissioned social care services.

The Scottish Government has not undertaken a specific analysis of the impact of the recent NHS pay deal on recruitment and retention in the adult social care sector, however for this financial year we are investing £125 million to enable adult social care workers in the third and private sectors to be paid at least the Real Living Wage rate, which takes the estimated total investment to deliver this policy up to £950 million.

This £12.60 per hour minimum pay rate that came into effect in April 2025 represents an increase of 5%.

Question reference: S6W-38088

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 16 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the degree to which achieving net zero is a moral imperative, in light of reports that doing so will have a disproportionate impact on Scottish industries.

The Scottish Government recognises that achieving net zero is more than a moral imperative: it is an economic necessity and an opportunity to grow our economy. The Green Industrial Strategy sets out actions to achieve growth in priority areas, ensuring Scotland secures the maximum economic benefit from the energy transition, including the enormous opportunities provided by offshore wind and other net zero opportunities. Our Circular Economy Act (2024) can help grow the economy, by opening up new market opportunities, improving productivity and saving money. Both of these approaches are underpinned by our focus on growth in our National Strategy for Economic Transformation.

We are also clear in our support for a just transition for Scotland’s valued and highly skilled oil and gas sector, which recognises the maturity of the North Sea basin and is in line with our climate change commitments and energy security.

We are supporting businesses to transition and grow, including through our £500m 10-year Just Transition Fund and our investment of up to £500m over five years to help anchor the offshore wind supply chain in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-38148

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 02 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 16 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports of some women who experience significant delays to their ovarian cancer treatment seeking private treatment in England, what agreement is in place between NHS boards to help address this.