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-02631

Asked by: Andrew Baxter, MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 21 August 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 21 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has issued any guidance to NHS boards on the inclusion of service undertaken through NHS staff banks when calculating eligibility for long-service recognition schemes, such as NHS Highland's Valuing Service Award.

Question reference: S7W-02627

Asked by: Andrew Baxter, MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 21 August 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 21 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact on public safety of the increasing use of community-based treatment arrangements for restricted patients discharged from secure psychiatric facilities.

Question reference: S7W-02625

Asked by: Andrew Baxter, MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 21 August 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 21 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the adequacy of the current statutory gateways to independent advocacy for children and young people, given that access is limited to those who are care experienced, subject to a live Children's Hearing, or covered by the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003, and that it does not extend to children receiving support from social work services who fall outside those categories.

Question reference: S7W-02624

Asked by: Andrew Baxter, MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 21 August 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 21 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will review the statutory gateways to independent advocacy for children and young people, to consider whether children with social work involvement who do not meet the current eligibility criteria, including care experience, involvement in a live Children's Hearing, or eligibility under the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003, should be brought within its scope.

Question reference: S7W-02621

Asked by: Andrew Baxter, MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 21 August 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 21 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how Social Security Scotland supports claimants who may experience financial hardship as a result of delays in information being provided to the Department for Work and Pensions following an award of a Scottish social security benefit, including where such delays result in the loss of Pension Credit and any associated Housing Benefit or Council Tax Reduction.

Question reference: S7W-02622

Asked by: Andrew Baxter, MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 21 August 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 21 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what procedures are in place to ensure that Social Security Scotland accurately notifies the Department for Work and Pensions of awards of Pension Age Disability Payment and Carer Support Payment where such information may affect a claimant’s entitlement to Pension Credit.

Question reference: S7W-02633

Asked by: Andrew Baxter, MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 21 August 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 21 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what monitoring it undertakes of NHS boards’ progress in delivering specialist support services for long COVID, myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and other similar conditions, funded through its annual specialist support services allocation.

Question reference: S7W-02632

Asked by: Andrew Baxter, MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 21 August 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 21 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will raise with NHS Highland the exclusion of bank service from eligibility for its Valuing Service Award.

Question reference: S7W-02390

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 10 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 21 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has any plans to establish a national NHS Scotland staff bank.

The Scottish Government has been working with NHS Boards to improve the consistency and effectiveness of staff banks across Scotland. This is supported through regular engagement with those tasked with management of staff banks within Boards. Guidance has been developed to support organisations in adopting a consistent approach to the recruitment of bank staff whilst steps have also been taken to standardise the statutory and mandatory training which staff are expected to undertake.

Whilst there are currently no plans to implement a national staff bank, we welcome the steps taken by Boards such as NHS Lothian and NHS Borders who work together on bank staff deployment. Moving forward, we will continue to consider how we can deliver services on an increasingly Once for Scotland basis in line with the Health and Social Care Service Renewal Framework.

Question reference: S7W-02448

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 21 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government for its response to Environmental Standards Scotland's Improvement Report on its investigation into the effectiveness and enforcement of engine idling laws in Scotland, published in June 2026, which found that the current £20 fixed penalty notice for engine idling risks no longer functioning as an effective deterrent, and whether it will increase the level of the fixed penalty notice for engine idling to a level commensurate with other equivalent driving offences.