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-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-02395

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 20 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) MRI scans and (b) CT scans were carried out at weekends in NHS Scotland in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board.

This information is not held. Public Health Scotland (PHS) holds data on MRI and CT activity through aggregated monthly returns submitted directly by NHS Boards. As this data is not collected or held at an individual week or weekend level, PHS is unable to report the number of MRI or CT scans carried out at weekends.

PHS statistics relating to the eight key diagnostic tests are published with data up to 31 March 2026 and can be found using the following link:

https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/nhs-waiting-times-diagnostics/diagnostic-waiting-times-waits-for-key-diagnostic-tests-26-may-2026/.

Question reference: S7W-02168

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 20 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what modelling has been carried out to assess the (a) demand and (b) capacity for hip and knee replacements over the next five yeare.

The Scottish Government has supported and used modelling to inform planning across the wider Trauma and Orthopaedic specialty.

This includes modelling undertaken through the Performance Management and Assessment Tool (PMAT), which considers demand and capacity across the full Trauma & Orthopaedic waiting list to support delivery planning and Scottish Government targets. However, this modelling is not undertaken specifically for hip and knee replacement services.

In addition, work has been undertaken with the University of Strathclyde through the Centre for Sustainable Delivery to model aspects of orthopaedic demand and capacity. This work was conducted at whole-specialty level rather than at the level of individual sub-specialties such as hip and knee replacement surgery.

Separately, the Golden Jubilee National Hospital, which is the largest hip and knee replacement centre in the UK, employs a Clinical Fellow who undertakes modelling relating to arthroplasty demand through the Scottish Arthroplasty Project.

Question reference: S7W-02166

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 17 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its news release of 27 July 2026, Extra Funding to reduce long waits for treatment, how many additional orthopaedic (a) outpatient and (b) inpatient/day case treatments appointments will be delivered as a result of the additional £90 million announced to deal with NHS waiting times, and what the timetable is for the delivery of this.

Question reference: S7W-02165

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 17 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its news release of 27 July 2026, Extra Funding to reduce long waits for treatment, how many additional non-orthopaedic outpatient (a) appointments, (b) procedures and (c) operations will be delivered as a result of the additional £90 million announced to deal with NHS waiting times, and what the timetable is for the delivery of this.

Question reference: S7W-02170

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 17 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government by what date it will publish a roadmap demonstrating how it will achieve its ambition of no one waiting more than 26 weeks for treatment by March 2031.

Question reference: S7W-01923

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 13 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many individuals have been prescribed methadone in each year since 2021.

The estimated number of individuals prescribed methadone nationally in each financial year since 2020/21 is presented in the following table:

Financial Year	Estimated Number of Individuals
2020-21	24,128
2021-22	23,411
2022-23	22,087
2023-24	20,540
2024-25	18,006

These data were previously published on Scotland's Public Health Observatory (ScotPHO) website. Updates to the ScotPHO website are currently paused, and data previously published on ScotPHO will now be incorporated into the annual Opioid Substitution Therapy (OST) Report, which is planned for publication on the Public Health Scotland (PHS) website in October 2026. The forthcoming report will include methadone patient estimates up to and including financial year 2025-26.

Question reference: S7W-01926

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 13 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what safeguards are in place to monitor and prevent any undue influence by the alcohol industry on public health policy relating to alcohol harm.

The Scottish Government’s approach to safeguarding alcohol policy from undue industry influence is set out in its Alcohol Framework published in 2018. The framework states that the Scottish Government will not work with the alcohol industry on health policy development, on health messaging campaigns or on provision of education in schools and beyond the school setting.

Regulated lobbying of members of the Scottish Government as well as MSPs must be recorded on the Scottish Parliament’s lobbying register, and minutes of meetings with Scottish Government Ministers, including by the alcohol industry, are retained as part of the Scottish Government’s corporate record.

Question reference: S7W-01925

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 13 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the first meeting of the group established to consider the Scottish Health Technologies Group's recommendation that lidocaine infusions, lidocaine injections and radiofrequency treatment should continue for suitable chronic pain patients, scheduled for 29 April 2026, was cancelled, and whether it will publish details of the group's leadership, membership and remit.

Question reference: S7W-01924

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 13 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made in implementing the Scottish Health Technologies Group's recommendation of February 2026 that lidocaine infusions, lidocaine injections and radiofrequency treatment should be available for suitable patients with chronic pain.