- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 18 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many tonnes of waste it has directly generated in each of the last five financial years; how many tonnes of this waste were sent to landfill; how many tonnes it estimates it will generate in 2026, and how many tonnes of this waste it estimates will be sent to England from January 2026.
Answer
The Core Scottish Government reports the following figures for waste generated by its operations across premises over the past five financial years:
- 2019-2020: 1,497 tonnes total waste , includes 92.76 tonnes of landfilled waste
- 2020-2021: 867 tonnes total waste, includes 128.94 tonnes of landfilled waste
- 2021-2022: 1,648 tonnes total waste, includes 136.72. tonnes of landfilled waste
- 2022-2023: 1,760 tonnes total waste, includes 69.28 tonnes of landfilled waste
- 2023-2024: 1,127 tonnes total waste , includes 58.61 tonnes of landfilled waste
No landfilled waste was sent to England during this period.
The Core Scottish Government does not forecast future waste generation. Waste data is reported retrospectively after the end of each financial year.
The Core Scottish Government remains committed to reducing all forms of waste across its operations and continues to implement measures to improve sustainability and resource efficiency.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 July 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 18 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to reform Social Security Scotland in order to deliver better value for money.
Answer
Social Security Scotland is successfully delivering 16 benefits - seven of them only available in Scotland. Since it was established in 2018 it has provided essential support to help more than one million people heat their homes, feed their families and meet the additional costs of disability.
The importance of value for money is clearly stated in the unanimously agreed Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 and was reiterated by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance in her Medium Term Financial Strategy statement on 25 June where she set out Social Security Scotland’s “focus on how to process and deliver benefits with dignity, fairness and respect, while driving important efficiency savings and ensuring that people access the support they are entitled to.”
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 30 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 18 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether molecular testing for (a) PIK3CA, (b) AKT1 and (c) PTEN gene alterations in breast cancer is (i) on the Scottish Strategic Network for Genomic Medicine horizon scanner and (ii) currently being considered for inclusion in the Scottish Genomic Test Directory.
Answer
PIK3CA, AKT1 And PTEN gene alterations for breast cancer are listed on the Scottish Strategic Network for Genomic Medicine’s horizon scanning tracker.
We are keenly aware of the importance of accessing genomic testing in a timely manner for patient care and treatment, and we are working to expand our genomic medicine provision in Scotland, in line with our strategy and resources.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 30 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 18 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on progress regarding the commitment in its strategy, Genomics in Scotland: Building our Future, which was published in April 2024, to develop a sustainable funding model to allow new tests approved through the SG-TAG process to be funded and implemented as quickly as possible following an SMC approval of a medicine with associated genomic testing to help ensure that patients have access to potentially lifesaving targeted cancer medicines.
Answer
We recognise the critical importance of ensuring that patients can access targeted cancer medicines promptly when associated genomic tests are required.
The development of a sustainable and more reactive funding model for genomic testing is a core commitment within the Genomics in Scotland strategy. Work to develop new funding mechanisms continues to progress, however, this process takes time and significant negotiation across Scottish Government and the entirety of the NHS in Scotland.
The Scottish Government remains committed to delivering equitable access to genomic tests associated with Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) approved medicines without unnecessary delay.
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 27 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 18 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how much funding was awarded to projects from the Transforming Cancer Care programme in each year since it was launched, also broken down by local authority area.
Answer
Scottish Government does not hold the information requested.
Day-to-day management, including that of specific funding, of the Transforming Cancer Care Programme is managed by Macmillan Cancer Support. Scottish Government allocates overall funds to Macmillan Cancer Support to distribute according to locally agreed processes.
During the period 2019-2023, Scottish Government and Macmillan awarded £18 million to the programme. An additional £9 million investment was agreed in 2023 to support the programme until 2032. Funds are to be allocated over that period as per Macmillan and the corresponding local authority/partnership agreement.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 10 July 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 18 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether Scottish Forestry and Forestry and Land Scotland have published plans to mitigate any impacts of the larch removal policy to control phytophthora ramorum to ensure important breeding raptor and red squirrel populations are adequately protected, and that woodlands or suitable structure, extent and tree species composition remain in situ once diseased larch is removed.
Answer
Scottish Forestry (SF) have published “Advice on replanting sites affected by “Phytopthora ramorum”. This includes guidance on the range of different species that the owner can match to their site conditions and constraints. This gives individual owners options to help match the objectives and requirements of a site to suitable tree species.
Any felling should adhere to the requirements of the United Kingdom Forestry Standard (UKFS) and existing environmental regulation. Legislation relating to plant health matters does not override other legislative requirements – and vice versa. The Phytopthora ramorum on larch action plan also emphasises that exemptions to SPHN deadlines may be required where there are conflicts between legislation or other key principles of sustainable forest management (SFM) for example breeding seasons. Decisions on these will be taken on a case by case basis and are at the discretion of SF Conservancies.
Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) have not published specific plans to mitigate any impacts of the larch removal policy on Scotland’s National Forests and Land. FLS do consider the implications of impacts when deciding when and how to replant sites to meet objectives and requirements, and these are published in the separate Land Management Plans and associated documents submitted to SF. Land Management Plans are produced collaboratively by local planning and environment teams and balance multiple objectives. Plans consider raptor and red squirrel populations where present, and where larch removal is a major objective, generally aim to retain as much other mature conifer as reasonably practicable, considering all plan objectives in the round.
- Asked by: Paul McLennan, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 18 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will outline its plans for ensuring that island biosecurity, which is a commitment under the National Islands Plan and Goal 6 of the Convention on Biological Diversity, continues to be addressed throughout the island network when the current Biosecurity for Scotland project draws to a close in March 2026.
Answer
The Biosecurity for Scotland project is currently leading a series of co-design workshops to develop a plan for a long-term biosecurity programme and discussions are taking place around securing funding for this work beyond March 2026. The project has received over £350,000 from the Scottish Government’s Nature Restoration Fund.
In addition, work is underway on developing a Scottish Plan for Invasive Non-native Species Prevention, Surveillance and Control which we aim to publish later this year. In developing our plan we will be considering what measures we need to put in place to ensure the continued biosecurity of Scotland’s islands. In particular we recognise that it is vital that Scotland’s globally important seabird populations are protected from invasive mammalian predators such as rats and mice. Discussions are underway with NatureScot and stakeholders to ensure the new National Islands Plan features tangible actions in support of our islands’ biosecurity, including in relation to invasive non-native species.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 18 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-38278 by Neil Gray on 10 June 2025, and in light of reported data from Public Health Scotland showing that over 50% of patients were waiting over six weeks for a colonoscopy as of March 2025, what specific provisions are included within the Endoscopy and Urology Diagnostic Recovery and Renewal Plan to enable the six-week target waiting times standard for key diagnostic tests and procedures to be met for people being investigated for inflammatory bowel disease.
Answer
As part of the Endoscopy and Urology Diagnostic Recovery and Renewal Plan, the Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) has published a number of clinical pathways and guidance, co-designed with clinicians, to manage patients referred routinely for colonoscopy. This includes the recently published qFIT clinical consensus document and national guidance for specifically managing IBD symptoms. Health Boards will implement these pathways to meet the six week standard. The pathways are published on Health Board websites, and it is expected all boards should be implementing these locally.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 04 July 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 18 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what it (a) can do and (b) is doing to support the Type 26 and Type 31 frigate orders being delivered at the Clyde shipyards.
Answer
The shipbuilding sector plays a vital role in supporting jobs and driving economic growth across Scotland. We are committed to promoting manufacturing and innovation, and Ministers continue to engage with businesses in the sector as part of that commitment.
We are investing up to £2 million to develop engineering skills in the Glasgow City Region. This initiative has been designed by the Clyde Maritime Cluster in partnership with Skills Development Scotland.
In addition, Scottish Enterprise has recently provided a £7.4 million Research and Development grant and a £1.8 million Training Aid grant to BAE Systems to help them maximise skills development and support the establishment of a collegiate training facility which will provide access to the broader industry through the Applied Shipbuilding Academy, which is overseen by BAE Systems as custodians of the Glasgow shipyards.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 04 July 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 18 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what the projected cost overrun is for the five new national treatment centres.
Answer
The development of the National Treatment Centre programme is currently paused, therefore there are no revised costs for the five projects. As part of our Scottish Spending Review, the Scottish Government are undertaking a full review of our capital spending to prioritise the available funding towards projects that drive progress against our priorities.
We will provide clarity over which projects and programmes will receive funding in the medium term when we publish our new Infrastructure Pipeline, alongside the 2026-27 Budget and Scottish Spending Review.