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-25707

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 23 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 5 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will offer free BRCA gene testing to anyone living in Scotland aged 18 or over with one or more Jewish grandparents, of any type of Jewish origin, in a similar way to NHS England's Jewish BRCA Testing Programme, in light of the reported finding that having a BRCA gene fault is associated with an increased risk of developing certain types of cancer, particularly breast, ovarian, prostate and pancreatic cancer.

As set out in answer to question S6W-25450 on 27 February 2024, NHS Scotland currently offers a whole gene screening panel for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer to test for faults in both BRCA1 and BRCA2 and a range of other target genes. At present, this testing is available to people from specific population groups (including those of Ashkenazi Jewish heritage) if they meet clinical criteria that indicate a higher genetic risk of breast and ovarian cancer.

The Scottish Strategic Network for Genomic Medicine (SSNGM) was established in 2022 to develop a fully considered and sustainable genomic medicine service for Scotland. The SSNGM contains specialist Scottish Genomics Test Advisory Groups (SG-TAG) for both cancer and rare and inherited conditions, whose role is to review and assess the clinical validity and utility of new tests, and changes to the referral criteria for existing tests.

The SSNGM plan to initiate a review of the existing hereditary cancer testing pathways in 2024. This review will include both the referral criteria for our existing genomic test offering and alternative testing methods and will make recommendations via the SG-TAG process.

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: S6O-03098

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 February 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to improve access to NHS dentistry in the Greenock and Inverclyde constituency.

Question reference: S6O-03063

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 January 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what dialogue it has had with Inverclyde Council regarding the Scottish Budget for 2024-25.

Question reference: S6O-02976

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 January 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been invested in the trunk road network in the Greenock and Inverclyde constituency since Amey took over management of the network.

Question reference: S6F-02700

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 January 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 January 2024

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s position is regarding any implications for its net zero ambitions of the UK Government’s Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill, which seeks changes to the licensing regime, including how regularly licensing rounds are held.

Question reference: S6O-02954

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 December 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what steps it is taking to address the cost of living crisis.

Question reference: S6O-02846

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 November 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the SQA in relation to the consistency of National 4 and National 5 prelim examination papers.

Question reference: S6O-02820

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 November 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met with Inverclyde Council to discuss any impact of depopulation on the Greenock and Inverclyde constituency.

Question reference: S6W-22419

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don on 9 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how it is working to increase the number of carers who provide social and personal care for children at home.

We have made a commitment to increase pay for those delivering direct social care to children and adults to £12 per hour from April 2024. Pay and conditions are of central importance in the wellbeing and retention of the social care workforce. We will continue to work with partners, including those representing Personal Assistants who support children and families, to build a more sustainable workforce who feel valued.

We have set up a short-life working group to better understand the pressures facing the children’s services workforce and to create and access more regular, real-time data about the workforce and vacancies, to achieve better planning of resources, improve workforce development and assist with career planning and pathways. This will also assist with retention of staff and more successful recruitment in the sector. We are committed to attracting and retaining the right people, developing them in their roles and raising the status of social care as a profession.

Question reference: S6W-21734

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 23 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what research is currently being undertaken into the use of cannabis for medical purposes.

Within the Scottish Government funding of Health and Care Research comes under the remit of the Chief Scientist Office (CSO).

CSO is funding the following research project:

ENDOCAN-1: A pilot randomised controlled trial of the efficacy of a Cannabinoid Oral Tincture in the management of Endometriosis-associated pain

Lead Investigator Dr Lucy Whittaker University of Edinburgh

Funding commitment £299,509

Project start date 01 April 2024