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-33608

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 29 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting employers to implement menopause workplace policies.

The Scottish Government supports employers to overcome barriers for those experiencing the menopause in several ways.

In the absence of powers on employment legislation the Scottish government seeks to drive Fair Work by attaching criteria to grants, contracts and other public funding through our Fair Work First principles. Menopause support is one of the good practice examples in the Fair Work First guidance and directs employers to resources produced by NHS Inform and Close the Gap. Fair Work First criteria have been applied to public funding totalling £2.4 billion since 2019.

Under the Women’s Health plan, in October 2023 NHS Scotland launched their National Menopause and Menstrual Health Policy for their workforce of around 180,000. This policy was designed to apply to any employer and we continue to promote it across public, private and third sectors.

The recently concluded Workplace Equality Fund supported four menopause-related projects, from which lessons learned and resources created will be shared widely with employers across Scotland alongside wider guidance, advice and support on all aspects of Fair Work as part of a fair work resource hub currently being developed with input from employers.

Question reference: S6W-33324

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 29 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what consultation it has had with stroke clinicians and third sector organisations in relation to thrombectomy funding in its draft Budget 2025-26.

The Scottish Government draft budget 2025-26 has been informed by planning forecasts provided by the Thrombectomy Advisory Group (TAG). Clinicians and third sector organisations, as well as NHS planning colleagues, are represented on the TAG and the information provided by them helps to inform decisions taken by the National Thrombectomy Programme Board.

Work is ongoing to establish how the £16 million funding announced in the Scottish budget, subject to parliamentary scrutiny, will be best used to maximise the number of patients able to benefit from thrombectomy.

Question reference: S6W-33319

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 29 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it is working to help ensure that victims of trauma, either physical or mental, do not turn to illicit substance use.

Evidence confirms that substance use can be a potential consequence for those of us who have experienced high levels of trauma and adversity in our lives.

The Scottish Government’s ambition, shared with COSLA, is for anyone who has been affected by trauma to be supported by the trauma-informed and responsive support, care and services they need. These are services built on safe, trusted relationships, which foster recovery, prevent re-traumatisation and help reduce the risk that individuals and/or their families might turn to substance use to cope.

Since 2018, the Scottish Government has invested over £12 million in the National Trauma Transformation Programme (NTTP). The NTTP aims to support all sectors of the workforce, to understand how to adapt the way they work to be trauma-informed. This includes understanding how substances can be a coping strategy for the impact of trauma and embedding the principles of choice, collaboration, empowerment, safety and trust to help improve the life outcomes of those affected.

Question reference: S6W-33752

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 29 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of its communications budget has been allocated to social media management and related activities in each of the last five years.

Social media management includes the management of Scottish Government social media accounts across platforms, and the directly related services comprise organic content production and outreach to secure content from creators and influencers.

The majority of the Scottish Government’s social media management and organic content creation is managed by internal teams, supported by agencies where required.

The Marketing Services Framework covers the provision of all marketing services, including the development of materials to deliver targeted messaging, engagement with audiences and to support behaviour change.

The relevant lots specifically for social media management support and content production as detailed above are Lot 3 Digital Marketing Services and Lot 4 Public Relation Services. The Media Planning, Buying and Associated Services Framework covers planning and buying services for a full range of media including television, radio, press, digital, online, cinema and out of home.

Total annual Scottish Government marketing spend on these contracts for PR Services, Digital Services and Online media buying as a proportion of total annual marketing spend is below.

It is not possible to refine down to solely social media platform management, social media content creation and social media advertising spend within the timescales required for this response.

Combined spend on PR Services, Digital Services and Online Media spend as a % of total marketing spend over the last five years (NB not solely social media spend) is below:

2019-2020 –27%
2020-2021 -24%
2021-2022 – 31%
2022-2023 – 26%
2023-2024 – 32%

Question reference: S6W-33709

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 29 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it has provided to NHS boards in relation to recording a patient’s biological sex on medical records.

The existing Scottish Government Records Management Health and Social Care Code of Practice (Scotland) 2024 has guidance on managing health records of people who identify as transgender. This links to guidance from the Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland, the General Medical Council and NHS National Services Scotland (NSS). It was recognised in 2020 that it was an area under development, and subsequently the Scottish Government's Chief Statistician issued guidance for public bodies on the collection of data on sex and gender in 2021. The Records Management Code of Practice for Health and Social Care 2024 incorporates the Chief Statistician's guidance along with feedback from stakeholders, providing further guidance to NHS Boards.

Question reference: S6W-33708

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 29 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on NHS Scotland's progress on the digitisation of all patient medical records.

Question reference: S6W-33667

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 29 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it can provide a specific timeline for the launch of the delayed cruise ship levy consultation.

Question reference: S6W-33326

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 29 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the £16 million allocated to stroke thrombectomy services in the draft Budget 2025-26.

Work is ongoing to establish how the £16 million funding announced in the draft Scottish budget will be best used to maximise the number of patients able to benefit from thrombectomy.

The new Scottish Budget was presented to Parliament on 4 December 2024 with £16 million allocated to the further development of the thrombectomy service and stroke policy. This details Scottish Ministers spend proposals for the year ahead and the Scottish Parliament will then scrutinise this information through the Scottish Budget Bill. Further details on the Scottish Budget and the Health and Social Care portfolio budget Finance can be found at; Scottish Budget 2025 to 2026.

Question reference: S6W-33322

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 29 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-26773 by Maree Todd on 7 May 2024, whether its position regarding potentially establishing an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) taskforce remains the same.

The Scottish Government is not currently planning to establish an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) taskforce.

However, we are undertaking a range of actions to improve access to diagnosis and support for people with ADHD.

The Scottish Government is working with NHS Boards, community partners, and the National Autism Implementation Team (NAIT) to improve access to diagnosis, by supporting local health partners to develop, enhance and redesign existing local neurodevelopmental services.

We are working with NAIT to implement Adult Neurodevelopmental Pathways across Scotland. By implementing a single diagnostic pathway for autism and ADHD, and by adopting a stepped care model, we hope to ensure that diagnostic and post-diagnostic support is provided in a timely and effective fashion.

We also provide funding to NHS Education for Scotland (NES) to deliver training resources to meet the needs of staff working in ADHD services across health and social care. These include webinars on ‘Assessing ADHD’ and ‘Understanding ADHD in Girls and Women’, which are available to all NHS and Social Care staff via an online knowledge hub.

Question reference: S6W-33715

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 29 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting NHS boards to digitise legacy medical records, and what progress has been made on this over the last five years.