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-40059

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 8 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what immediate steps it is taking to ensure that women attending protests or public events, including any outside the Scottish Parliament by extremist groups or any where tensions may rise, are protected from harassment, intimidation and abuse.

The right to demonstrate and protest are fundamental human rights which the Scottish Government is committed to upholding. Those simply going about their business should be able to do so without the fear of any form of abusive behaviour. Where such behaviour occurs it should be reported to the police to allow them to take action.

The Scottish Government fully supports Police Scotland to take appropriate and proportionate action to safeguard public safety including at protests. Police Scotland has powers to tackle any behaviour which is antisocial or criminal, as well as public order powers to impose directions or conditions on, or disperse, public assemblies where this is deemed necessary.

Question reference: S6W-40060

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 8 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what current work it is undertaking to address the reported rise in misogyny across Scotland, as highlighted in motion S6M-18495 and recent incidents where survivors of sexual violence have reportedly been targeted, and what its justification is for deciding to no longer proceed with its commitment to a standalone Misogyny Bill, in light of the recommendations from the Misogyny and Criminal Justice in Scotland Working Group and reported evidence of harm.

Given the short amount of time left in this Parliamentary session, there is insufficient time for a Misogyny Bill to be finalised and introduced. This is a complex area of policy and law, and it would be necessary that any Bill which brought misogyny into criminal law contained clear and unambiguous provisions in regard to the circumstances in which they apply. This would include the policy implications of the recent Supreme Court judgment.

We want new legal protections for women and girls to be in place, and the hate crime model presents an opportunity to do so. On Thursday, 28 August 2025, we laid in draft an SSI to add the characteristic of sex to the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021. If passed, it will make it an offence for a person to stir up hatred against women and girls, and where an offender is motivated by, or demonstrates, malice and ill-will towards women and girls in committing a criminal offence, that offence will be aggravated by prejudice relating to the characteristic of sex.

Further, we continue to take forward a range of actions in schools to address gender based violence and sexual harassment. Our Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) Scotland Programme is working to tackle gender stereotyping and attitudes that condone violence against women and girls, and addresses a range of behaviours including name-calling, sexting, controlling behaviour and harassment. We have also published a national framework for schools to help tackle sexual harassment and gender-based violence. Rape Crisis Scotland also provide a national sexual violence prevention programme to local authority secondary schools across Scotland. The programme aims to provide consistency in approaches to the prevention of sexual violence and contributes to Equally Safe (our strategy to prevent and eradicate violence against women and girls). Since the programme started in 2016, it has reached over 48,000 pupils.

Question reference: S6W-40018

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 8 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to reduce adult diagnostic waiting times for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) across Scotland.

The Scottish Government funds the National Autism Implementation Team (NAIT), which is currently supporting NHS Boards to develop, enhance and redesign existing local adult neurodevelopmental services. We continue scope the work required to improve Adult Neurodevelopmental Pathways nationally, understanding that a stepped care model is needed to reduce waiting times for adult neurodevelopmental assessments and ensure a consistent approach to them across Scotland.

We continue to fund NHS Education for Scotland and NAIT to deliver professional learning on neurodevelopmental conditions. Training is offered at informed, enhanced, specialist, and expert levels, with strong uptake across all tiers.

Question reference: S6W-40015

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 8 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to (a) expand non-pharmacological interventions alongside medication and (b) support transitions from child and adolescent to adult services for patients with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

The Scottish Government is providing further funding of £500,000 this year to improve neurodevelopmental assessment and support for children and young people, and their families.

Further, our Autistic Adult Support Fund provides £1 million of funding per year to organisations that support autistic adults both pre- and post-diagnosis. As autism and ADHD often co-occur, adults with ADHD have benefitted and will continue to benefit from this support. A recent independent evaluation of the Fund showed that 72% of individuals and 71% of families supported via the Fund reported improved wellbeing as a result.

The Scottish Government published the Transition Care Plan (TCP) Guidance in 2018, describing the standards required in the planning of good transitions for children and young people moving to adult services. This guidance is underpinned by a rights based approach and ensures the young person is involved in discussions about their care.

The National Neurodevelopmental Specification notes that the guidance should be used to ensure that transitions between children and young people’s services and other services are robust and that, wherever possible, services work together with the young person and families/carers to plan in advance for transition.

Question reference: S6W-40014

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 8 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to improve coordination between private and NHS services for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnosis and care, and whether it will consider establishing a national framework for shared care to help reduce waiting times and ease pressure on NHS resources.

The Scottish Government does not currently have plans to establish a national framework for shared care. However, we are engaging with the Royal College of GPs (Scotland) to understand the current issues around shared care agreements for patients with ADHD.

Officials have also written to all health boards seeking clarification on what neurodevelopmental assessment and support they currently have in place for adults, this included a question on local protocol for patients with a private diagnosis. We are currently collating and considering this information.

Question reference: S6W-40020

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 8 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will introduce mandatory national data collection and reporting on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) referrals, waits, assessments, outcomes and demographics.

The Scottish Government acknowledges that work is needed to improve the quality of data on neurodevelopmental support and services, including a better understanding of current levels of need and the level of support people currently receive.

We are working with Health Boards and local authorities to improve our understanding of available data, and how this could be used to support improvements for adults, children and families.

Question reference: S6W-40017

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 8 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to reduce diagnostic waiting times for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in NHS Lanarkshire.

I refer the Member to the answer to question S6W-40018 on 8 September 2025, which outlines work that the Scottish Government is doing with all Health Boards, including NHS Lanarkshire. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Question reference: S6W-40016

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 8 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what measures are in place to ensure that patients with a private attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnosis can access any medication that they need through NHS services.

Some NHS Boards may have shared care policies, but it remains at the clinical discretion of each individual GP to decide the best course of action for their patients. A recommendation from a private specialist for a particular medicine does not entitle the patient to NHS prescriptions for that medicine.

The National Autism Implementation Team (NAIT) published guidance on Prescribing ADHD medication to adults following private sector diagnosis in Scotland in April 2022. This guidance is available to practitioners and patients.

Question reference: S6W-40339

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 September 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 19 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to prevent older people from becoming victims of phishing scams, including in relation to social security payments.

Question reference: S6W-39969

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 4 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what measures are being put in place to ensure there is external audit and peer review of audiology services, as recommended in the Independent Review of Audiology Services in Scotland report.

Scottish Audiology Heads of Service have recently initiated an in house peer review process and are continuing to see positive results from this. As part of Improving Quality in Physiological Services (IQIPS) benchmarking, a mapping exercise is currently underway which includes the consideration of national peer review for audiology services.

An executive lead group for audiology has been reestablished, with representation from each NHS Territorial Health Board to consider the outputs and next steps of this work, which will conclude within the current financial year.