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-36445

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 22 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the reported shift towards e-consultations and telephone triage in healthcare has adversely impacted patient outcomes, and whether it will review this policy.

Question reference: S6W-36525

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 22 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what recent data it has on what proportion of people who register with an employment agency, on average, are in sustained employment six months after a placement.

The Scottish Government does not collect or hold statistics specifically on sustained employment for people who register with an employment agency.

The Scottish Government collects and publishes statistics related to Scottish Government funded employability support, No One Left Behind and Fair Start Scotland, including data on sustained employment by participants.

The most recent statistics for Scottish Government funded employability support are available at: Scotland's Devolved Employment Services statistics - gov.scot.

Question reference: S6W-36484

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 22 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government which local authorities have requested funding for teacher self-defence training in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-36452

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 22 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any impact of the current interaction between the Scottish Child Payment and Universal Credit on work incentives for low-income families.

The Scottish Government published analysis of the impact of the Scottish Child Payment (SCP) on Scotland’s labour market in July 2024; Scottish Child Payment and the labour market - gov.scot and concluded it had not negatively affected labour market outcomes at scale in Scotland’s economy, while supporting the families of nearly 330,000 children.

The analysis also showed that the employment likelihood of Universal Credit (UC) clients in the planning for work regime – the majority of whom should be receiving SCP – was consistently higher in Scotland than in England, suggesting that interactions between UC and SCP are not materially impacting work incentives.

The Scottish Government continues to assess how SCP is interacting with the labour market. A further evaluation of SCP is due to be published this summer and will include a survey of recipients including questions about how and why SCP has affected their labour market activity.

Question reference: S6W-36524

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 22 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the Scottish Fiscal Commission’s reported assessment that benefits spending is being driven by increased eligibility rather than population need.

We welcome the Scottish Fiscal Commission’s report which provides an independent assessment of how much the Scottish Government’s policies are likely to raise and cost. The Scottish Fiscal Commission’s forecasts are used to set the Scottish Budget, and Scottish Government officials work closely with the Scottish Fiscal Commission to provide the data necessary to inform its forecasts.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission consider a wide range of factors and assumptions to produce their published forecasts and review these in light of the latest evidence. As the Scottish Fiscal Commission have noted, in part the forecast increase to the end of the decade is being driven by factors common across the UK such as the increasing demand for disability payments, increased cost of living, and rises in payment rates due to inflation and uprating, and the conscious policy choices that we have made in Scotland to mitigate the decisions made by the UK Government.

Question reference: S6W-36542

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 22 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many patients it estimates have waited over a year for outpatient treatment or surgery in each of the last five years.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) publishes statistics on the length of time patients wait to be seen as a new outpatient or admitted for treatment as an inpatient or day case in the Stage of Treatment (SoT) publication. The latest publication release contains data up to quarter ending 31 December 2024.

Table 1 presents the latest available statistics on the total number of attendances and admissions for patients who had waited over a year (52 weeks) as a new outpatient or an inpatient or day case. The following data are presented at NHS Scotland level for all specialties, broken down by calendar year and split by new outpatient and inpatient or day case.

Table 1 – Total number of attendances as a new outpatient and admissions as an inpatient or day case for patients who had waited over a year (52 weeks), NHS Scotland, all specialty level, by calendar year from 2020 to present.

Calendar Year	Waited over a year (52 weeks)
Calendar Year	New outpatient	Inpatient or day case
2020	9,903	4,164
2021	58,218	15,889
2022	62,969	23,257
2023	83,483	32,485
2024	96,037	35,291

Longer trend information for both new outpatient attendances and inpatient or day case admissions can be found in the following tables:

1.New outpatient appointments (‘1.6 Table’): https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/31761/newop_mar25.xlsx

2.Inpatient or day case admission (‘2.6 Table’): https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/31760/ipdc_mar25.xlsx

It should be noted that individual patients may be counted more than once if they waited for multiple appointments or treatments across different specialties. As a result, the statistics in Table 1 above reflect the number of completed waits rather than the number of unique individuals that had waited.

The above figures are based on completed waits where a patient had attended an appointment or been admitted to hospital. Trend information of the wait experienced by patients whilst still on the waiting list (ongoing waits) can be found in the ‘Waits over 52 weeks’ data table in sheets ‘Table 3.1.1’ for new outpatient appointments, and ‘Table 3.2.1’ for inpatient or day case admissions. The data are from 31 December 2019 onwards and can be filtered by health board and specialty:

https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/31763/waits_over_52_weeks_mar25.xlsx

Question reference: S6W-36485

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 22 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the reported demand from teachers for self-defence training in response to pupil violence.

In line with our commitment to creating safe and nurturing school environments, the Scottish Government prioritises approaches that address behaviour through understanding and positive intervention.

Our approach to relationships and behaviour in schools is focussed on prevention and de-escalation of concerns. School staff should be supported through clear understanding of their establishment’s relationships and behaviour policy, arrangements for de-escalation and support that can be provided to them where situations do escalate.

The Scottish Government has not received any requests from local authorities for funding for teacher self-defence training in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-36471

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 22 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the potential impact of the projected funding gap of £457 million for Integration Joint Boards on its goal of preventative healthcare.

The 2025-26 Budget balances the requirement to address immediate pressures and recovery of the system whilst driving forward our long-term reform and prevention agendas, providing increased investment for NHS Boards, alongside continued focus to improve population health and outcomes through investment in quality community services, vaccination and screening.?

We continue to support delivery of priorities relating to prevention and early intervention by investing almost £2.2 billion for social care and integration, an additional £1.2 billion compared to 2021-22 spend.

The 2025-26 budget also includes over £2.2 billion for primary care to improve preventative care in the community, supporting the development of multidisciplinary teams in general practice, sustaining NHS dental care through enhanced fees and continuing free eye examinations.

Question reference: S6W-36537

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 22 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what enforcement measures are in place to address any breaches of muirburn regulations, and whether it will review the existing guidance in order to improve the protection of public health.

The current Muirburn Code: https://www.nature.scot/doc/guidance-muirburn-code is a non-statutory Code which sets out both the law and good practice relating to muirburn and applies to all moorland managers and includes farmers, crofters, shepherds and gamekeepers.

A new licensing scheme for muirburn, as introduced by the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024 is expected to come in to effect later this year. NatureScot are currently consulting on a new statutory Muirburn Code that will accompany the licensing scheme. It will set out where and when muirburn can be carried out, the required notifications before setting muirburn and necessary safety measures.

As with all laws, enforcement is a matter for Police Scotland. NatureScot will also have statutory powers to modify, suspend or revoke a licence for non-compliance of the Act.

Question reference: S6W-36531

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 22 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of the potential fiscal impact on Scotland’s economy of exploration and drilling in the North Sea being curtailed prematurely.

Offshore oil and gas licensing, consenting and the associated fiscal regime are all matters that are currently reserved to the UK Government. As such, estimates of future production from North Sea oil and gas fields are a matter for the relevant UK regulator – the North Sea Transition Authority.

The Scottish Government has consistently called on the UK Government to approach decisions for North Sea oil and gas projects on an evidence-led, case by case, basis – with climate compatibility and energy security key considerations.