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-39298

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 13 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many court cases there currently are in any backlogs, and how many are solemn cases to be heard before a (a) high and (b) sheriff court.

Question reference: S6W-38741

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 4 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it has reportedly delayed commencement of section 1(4) and section 30(2) of the Children (Scotland) Act 2020.

The Scottish Government outlined our approach to commencing section 1(4) and section 30(2) of the Children (Scotland) Act 2020 in my letter of 11 March 2025 to the Convener of the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee. This letter can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/-/media/files/committees/equalities-human-rights-and-civil-justice-committee/correspondence/2025/non-implementation-of-acts-of-the-scottish-parliament-11-march-2025.pdf. As I outlined, the Scottish Government intends to lay commencement regulations later this year which will include section 1(4) and section 30(2). There will be a lead-in period of around 12 months before these provisions come into force to take account of operational implications for the courts and any need to put court rules in place.

Question reference: S6W-39039

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 June 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 24 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.

Question reference: S6O-04851

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 June 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to review planning laws regarding the provision of private purpose-built student accommodation, in light of reported concerns over the concentration of student accommodation in certain localities and objections from local residents.

Question reference: S6W-38477

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 06 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 18 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the accuracy of figures published by the Royal College of Radiologists showing that there is a shortage of radiologists, and what assessment it has made of the level of any shortage in relation to demand.

As set out in answer S6W-38475 on 17 June 2025, over the last ten years the Consultant Radiologist workforce has increased by 27.7% (from 304.5 WTE as at March 2015 to 388.9 WTE as at March 2025). Consultant Radiologist vacancies have decreased by 3.4% over the last year to 22.4 WTE as at March 2025, which is a vacancy rate of 5.5%.

The Scottish Government continues to invest heavily in radiology training. We are currently funding around 190 specialty training places in clinical radiology, including 78 extra places which have been added since 2014, based on modelling and future workforce need. This enable doctors to train and enter the workforce following completion of training - which takes a minimum of 5 years. Clinical radiology specialty training programmes have been filled at 100% in Scotland from 2014 to 2024, with 230 resident doctors successfully completing the training in this period.

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-38167

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many summary cases there currently are in any court backlogs.

The backlogs generated by the pandemic have been largely addressed and we have now returned to a position where the number of scheduled trials across all criminal business types is below 20,000. This is considered a manageable level of workload by Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service for the justice system.

The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service publish monthly criminal case data.

As at the end of April 2025 the number of Sheriff Summary trials scheduled is 15,472.

Annual figures show a 53% reduction in scheduled Sheriff Summary trials since the peak in 2021-22 when it was 33,598.

Question reference: S6W-38475

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 06 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that there is a shortage of radiologists of around 25%, and what the reasons are for this being the case.

Over the last ten years the Consultant Radiologist workforce has increased by 27.7% (from 304.5 WTE as at March 2015 to 388.9 WTE as at March 2025). Consultant Radiologist vacancies have decreased by 3.4% over the last year to 22.4 WTE as at March 2025, which is a vacancy rate of 5.5%.

The Scottish Government continues to invest heavily in radiology training. We are currently funding around 190 specialty training places in clinical radiology, including 78 extra places which have been added since 2014, based on modelling and future workforce need. This enables doctors to train and enter the workforce following completion of training - which takes a minimum of 5 years. Clinical radiology specialty training programmes have been filled at 100% in Scotland from 2014 to 2024, with 230 resident doctors successfully completing this training in this period.

Question reference: S6W-38476

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 06 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 13 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason there is a reported shortage in the number of consultants in the NHS to meet demands.

The number of consultants employed by NHS Scotland has increased by 71% since September 2006 and now stands at 6,217.5 whole time equivalents (31 March 2025).

Despite this increase, NHS Scotland’s medical workforce remains under pressure due to steady, long-term increases in demand. This increase in demand is strongly linked to Scotland’s aging population profile and increasing epidemiological rates for some health care conditions.

Question reference: S6W-38278

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 10 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether any incentives exist in secondary care for urgent access to colonoscopy for patients with suspected inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) who have not been referred on the cancer pathway, and what assessment it has made of introducing non-cancer specific local delivery plan (LDP) standards and incentives to improve access to colonoscopies for people with benign bowel conditions such as Crohn’s and colitis.

Patients continue to be seen based on their clinical urgency, and those referred with an urgent suspicion of cancer continue to be prioritised for scope-based diagnostic tests. The decision to appropriately prioritise patients based on their urgency is best placed with the clinicians responsible for their care.

Health boards across NHS Scotland have local strategies in place to ensure patients with a clinical urgency, as well as those that have waited the longest, are investigated within an appropriate time by the most appropriate person. Referrals are clinically triaged at local board level and directed to the most appropriate waiting list.

The Scottish Government expects Health Boards to ensure an investigation is undertaken, and the verified report is received by or made available to the requester, within a 6-week waiting times standard for key diagnostic tests and procedures. Health Boards must take all reasonable steps to ensure they comply with this standard.

We know many people are still waiting too long and this is not good enough. We are determined do more and our Budget will provide a record £21.7 billion for health and social care.

As part of planned care funding for 2025-26 we have provided over £10.5 million to territorial health boards across Scotland to support endoscopy activity and reduce waiting lists.

To specifically support scope based diagnostics we have published an Endoscopy and Urology Diagnostic Recovery and Renewal Plan backed by £70 million. The plan focuses on key areas such as: Balancing Demand and Capacity; Workforce Training and Development; Infrastructure; and Innovation and Redesign.

Question reference: S6T-02583

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 09 June 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports of claims by a whistleblower at Police Scotland that officers are being “coerced” into logging individuals in line with their gender identity, even in serious sexual assault cases.