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-37737

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 30 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what any shortfall in the social care workforce has been, in terms of hours of unmet care, since 2018, broken down by NHS board.

While the Scottish Government has overall responsibility for health and social care support policy in Scotland, it is for local Integration Joint Boards (IJBs) to ensure that social care support services are in place to provide their population with the appropriate support in the right place and at the right time.

The Scottish Government does not hold information centrally in relation HSCP’s workforce numbers and in turn could not comment on how this impacts unmet need. This information would need to be provided by local areas themselves.

We understand the pressures being faced and addressing long waiting times for social care support is one of the reasons that the 2025-26 Budget prioritised both the Local Government Settlement and the Health & Social Care portfolio with both receiving record funding allocations.

This includes almost £2.2bn for social care and integration – increasing investment by £1.2bn since 2021-22. On top of that, our Budget makes a record £15 billion available for councils for 2025-26.

Question reference: S6W-37797

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 30 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the £100 million of funding allocated to tackle waiting times by (a) NHS board and (b) specialty.

The funding committed to date in respect of the circa £100 million extra investment to address long waits is shown in Table 1 broken down by health board and in Table 2 broken down by specialty; this is over and above other funding to improve waiting times.

Table 1.

Health Board	Total Cost 25-26
NHS Ayrshire & Arran	5,708,768
NHS Borders	2,550,705
NHS Dumfries & Galloway	772,963
NHS Fife	9,938,616
NHS Forth Valley	3,656,435
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde	24,515,664
NHS Golden Jubilee	2,183,118
NHS Grampian	6,987,204
NHS Highland	10,288,772
NHS Lanarkshire	6,606,479
NHS Lothian	22,379,275
NHS Orkney	165,664
NHS Shetland	422,127
NHS Tayside	9,921,322
NHS Western Isles	71,000
Grand Total	106,168,112

Table 2.

Speciality	Total Cost 25-26
Cancer	14,247,846
ENT	9,461,666
General Surgery	5,059,208
Gynaecology	8,879,121
Imaging	21,657,167
Imaging Reports	122,030
Ophthalmology	12,141,912
Trauma & Orthopaedics	25,252,177
Peri-Operative Management (Various Specialities)	60,000
Plastics	3,246,147
Urology	6,040,838
Totals	106,168,112

Question reference: S6W-37704

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 16 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 30 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-31971 by Gillian Martin on 12 December 2024, and the publication of its Programme for Government 2025-26, for what reason it no longer plans to introduce new primary legislation on drinking water and wastewater in the current parliamentary session.

Question reference: S6W-37514

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 16 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 30 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government which commissions funded by it have been assigned to the social research agency, The Lines Between, in (a) 2024-25 and (b) 2025-26.

(a) The following 14 contracts were awarded to ‘The Lines Between’ by the Scottish Government in Fiscal Year 2024-25:

Research on Fishers Behaviour towards Compliance & Enforcement.
Adult Disability Payment Review.
Options Study for Developing a Mental Health Patient Experience Survey for Scotland.
Consultation Analysis: UEFA Euro 2028 – Commercial Rights Protection.
Analysis of Responses to Crofting Consultation 2024.
Analysis for Annual Procurement Reports.
Analysis of responses to a consultation on proposed changes to energy and environmental standards of the Scottish Building Regulations.
'Moving On' Consultation Analysis Evaluation.
Single-use cups charge consultation analysis.
Review of Charity Regulation – Consultation Analysis.
Universal Definition of 'Care Experience' Consultation Evaluation Analysis.
Analysis of Consultation Responses to the Scottish Government Equality and Human Rights Mainstreaming Strategy.
Future of Foster Care Consultation Analysis.
Carer Benefits Evaluation: Case Transfer and Carer Support Payment.

Further information on the contracts can be found on Public Contracts Scotland https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/

(b) 'The Lines Between' have not yet received any funded commissions for FY 2025-26. However, they were successful in bidding for the Social Research and Analysis Framework contract and were added on 1 May 2025.

Question reference: S6W-37516

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 16 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 30 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Goldman Sachs report, Carbonimics: Tariffs, deglobalization and the cost of decarbonization, which reportedly estimates that the cost of certain decarbonisation measures could rise as a result of global trade tariffs, and whether it will assess any potential impact on Scotland.

The Scottish Government recognises the investment and funding challenges associated with the transition to a net zero and climate adapted economy. Meeting the costs will require close working between the public and private sectors domestically, as well as with our trading partners. Delivering our climate and economic growth ambitions will provide opportunities that support jobs, trade, investment, and growth.

The Carbonomics report notes that promoting local manufacturing (deglobalisation and protectionism) can increase costs for certain clean technologies, thus slowing the overall rate of global decarbonisation. There is therefore a trade-off between fostering domestic industries and ensuring affordable clean energy solutions from abroad.

Global challenges require global solutions; it is through cooperation, not isolation, that the world will tackle the climate crisis. Scotland is committed to a rules-based trade agenda and supports open, fair, and transparent trade. Trade should also be a lever to increase progress towards a green economy, including through increasing trade in environmental goods and services.

Question reference: S6W-36982

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 16 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 30 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how the decision was reached to disband its constitutional futures division.

The Constitutional Futures Division (CFD) was established to take forward the government’s commitment to providing the people of Scotland with information about independence through the development of the Building a New Scotland (BANS) series of papers. Within the Scottish Government a division is part of a directorate, and CFD was part of the Constitution Directorate. Following the successful delivery of a suite of papers in the BANS series, and with the series due to conclude with the publication of a final overview paper, CFD ceased to be a standalone division in January 2025 and its ongoing work was merged into that of the wider Constitution Directorate.

Question reference: S6W-37699

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 16 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the potential impact of utilising home dialysis for patients with chronic kidney disease on (a) alleviating pressure on the NHS, (b) improving economic productivity and (c) delivering better patient outcomes.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all people living in Scotland with long term conditions including Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) are able to access the best possible care and support, and benefit from healthcare services that are safe, effective and put people at the centre of their care.

The Cabinet Secretary set out in the NHS Scotland operational improvement plan published on 31 March of this year that we will work to ensure people receive the right care in the right place. There are many benefits that home dialysis can offer to both NHS Boards and patients as to whether home dialysis is appropriate for the patient. However it is a matter for NHS Boards to determine the situations when home dialysis is the best option.

Question reference: S6W-37703

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 16 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 30 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide the most recent data on how many (a) full-time equivalent, (b) part-time, (c) casual and (d) other employees it has in each local authority area.

The Scottish government publish official workforce statistics on a quarterly basis. The latest available data, is for December 2024 Scottish Government workforce information - gov.scot.

The following table provides details of the working location of directly employed Scottish Government staff, split by Local authority, Full time/Part time working pattern and Permanent/Temporary status.

Scottish Government - Directly employed workforce headcount, December 2024
	Permanent - Full time	Permanent - Part time	Temporary - Full Time	Temporary - Part Time	Total
Aberdeen City	199	47	1	0	247
Aberdeenshire	62	17	1	0	80
Angus	3	1	0	0	4
Argyll and Bute	32	9	0	0	41
Clackmannanshire	0	0	0	0	0
Dumfries and Galloway	25	5	0	0	30
Dundee City	42	6	0	0	48
East Ayrshire	0	0	0	0	0
East Dunbartonshire	0	0	0	0	0
East Lothian	0	0	0	0	0
East Renfrewshire	0	0	0	0	0
City of Edinburgh	5169	1029	28	3	6229
Falkirk	35	22	0	0	57
Fife	3	1	0	0	4
Glasgow City	1800	272	8	2	2082
Highland	124	36	0	0	160
Inverclyde	0	0	0	0	0
Midlothian	0	0	0	0	0
Moray	11	0	0	0	11
Na h-Eileanan Siar	23	8	0	0	31
North Ayrshire	0	0	0	0	0
North Lanarkshire	0	0	0	0	0
Orkney Islands	15	2	0	0	17
Perth and Kinross	79	29	0	0	108
Renfrewshire	0	0	0	0	0
Scottish Borders	33	12	0	0	45
Shetland Islands	12	3	0	0	15
South Ayrshire	39	9	0	0	48
South Lanarkshire	23	7	0	0	30
Stirling	0	0	0	0	0
West Dunbartonshire	0	0	0	0	0
West Lothian	26	4	0	0	30
Outwith Scotland	29	1	2	0	32
	7784	1520	40	5	9349

Question reference: S6W-37511

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 16 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 30 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many High Speed Trains are operating on the ScotRail network.

Question reference: S6W-37679

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 16 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 30 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what funding it has provided (a) directly and (b) indirectly to Refugee Festival Scotland in each of the last five years.

Refugee Festival Scotland is coordinated by Scottish Refugee Council. The Festival did not run in 2020 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Direct Funding

The Scottish Government did not provide any direct funding for Refugee Festival Scotland between 2020-2025.

Indirect Funding

In August 2020, the New Scots partnership secured funding from the EU Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) for the New Scots Refugee Integration Delivery Project (NSRIDP) to enhance the delivery of the New Scots refugee integration strategy. The project was led by the Scottish Government in partnership with COSLA, Scottish Refugee Council and the UNESCO Chair in Refugee Integration through Languages and the Arts at the University of Glasgow.

A total of £6 million of EU funding was secured, for a £6.6 million project running between October 2020 and December 2023, with the Scottish Government required to provide 10% match funding for the project. The project ended following the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.

During the project lifespan, the following funding was included for Scottish Refugee Council to deliver Refugee Festival Scotland:

2020-21: £5,207.80
2021-22: £65,085.80
2022-23: £63,035.46
2023-24: £114,866.51