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-33230

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 24 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether any of the finance that has been announced for the Bright Start Breakfasts initiative will be allocated to not-for-profit organisations that operate breakfast clubs within schools, and, if so, whether this will include organisations that are not currently in receipt of public funding to support such activities.

Question reference: S6W-33153

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 24 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its resonse is to reported concerns that elements of the new Parkhead Hub facilities in Glasgow are not a friendly environment for dementia patients.

It is the responsibility of local authorities, health boards and health and social care partnerships to manage and provide appropriate services in their area, and to engage with their communities on how this is provided.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving the dementia experience, and the 10-year Dementia Strategy for Scotland recognises the critical role of community services and supports in enabling people to live well for longer following a dementia diagnosis. We are now working to realise the ambitions of this Strategy through initial activities set out in the first 2-year Delivery Plan. This includes efforts to deliver the SIGN dementia guidelines, which provides evidence-based guidance on where and how care and support should be provided across primary and secondary care settings.

Question reference: S6W-33175

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 24 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many signs are located along the A90, and what proportion meet current standards for visibility and effectiveness.

There are a total 4,552 road traffic signs on the A90 trunk road network. Of these, a total of 185 signs do not meet the current standards for visibility and effectiveness and are on a works programme for future replacement. Where regulatory signage and warning signage are noted as defective they are categorised as Category 1 defects. These are required to be made safe when identified, following which a temporary or permanent repair must be undertaken as soon as possible and no later than 24 hours following first identification. Where possible, Category 2 sign replacement is coordinated with other works on the network to mitigate disruption to road users.

Question reference: S6W-32368

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 06 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 24 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the potential impact on passenger numbers in Scotland, what discussions it has had with National Rail regarding its current Railcard terms and conditions, including that tickets must be bought before boarding the train.

The terms and conditions of all GB-wide railcards are set by National Rail, part of the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) under UK Government rail industry rules. There have been no recent specific discussions concerning changes to railcard terms. ScotRail has confirmed with officials at Transport Scotland that National Railcards can be used to buy tickets online, via the app, or at TVMs. Where ticket purchasing facilities are not available at a station, passengers can use their National Rail card when purchasing a ticket from a member of staff on-board of ScotRail trains.

Question reference: S6W-33405

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 24 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many journeys have been undertaken by the cars in its fleet in each of the last five years, broken down by fuel type.

Question reference: S6W-33407

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 24 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many journeys undertaken by the cars in its fleet in each of the last five years were longer than 50 miles, broken down by fuel type.

Question reference: S6W-33406

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 24 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the current average journey distance is for the cars in its fleet, broken down by fuel type.

Question reference: S6W-33304

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 24 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what NHS patient record digitisation projects are being taken forward.

The Digitisation of records is an operational responsibility of individual Health Boards and GP practices.

At a national level, and building on the existing use of electronic patient record systems, we are focussed on allowing medical records to be stored, linked, and shared securely. This will support our ambition set out in the 2021 Digital Health & Care Strategy to make the right information available to all appropriate staff, when and where it is needed.

To achieve this, most Health Boards have a Clinical Portal. This system works across organisational, regional, and national boundaries to provide a timely transfer of information. The key projects to improve the sharing of information within Health Boards and GP Practices is the GPIT Programme, the National Digital Platform, TRAK Care and Clinical Portal.

HEPMA (Hospital Electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration) is a system that can also replace paper prescribing and medication administration systems within hospitals. It has already been successfully implemented in thirteen Health boards across Scotland with the remainder being progressed. We are also developing the Digital Prescribing and Dispensing Pathways (DPDP) programme which will replace the current paper prescription in Scotland with a digital approach.

The specific actions being taken can be read in the Strategy: https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/strategy-plan/2021/10/scotlands-digital-health-care-strategy/documents/enabling-connecting-empowering-care-digital-age/enabling-connecting-empowering-care-digital-age/govscot%3Adocument/enabling-connecting-empowering-care-digital-age.pdf

Question reference: S6W-33330

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 24 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the priorities from the Neurological Care and Support Framework for Action 2020-2025 that will not have been reached by the end of the framework period.

Question reference: S6W-33334

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 24 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether any so-called postcode lottery in neurological care and support provision has been fully addressed through the actions set out in the document, Neurological Care and Support in Scotland: A Framework for Action 2020 – 2025.

The aims contained in the document Neurological Care and Support in Scotland: A Framework for Action 2020 – 2025 are applicable to healthcare delivery across Scotland. Through this we have supported a number of national initiatives to improve care and reduce variation, including:

Self-evaluation by all NHS boards against the General Standards for Neurological Care and Support 2019. Development of national care pathways for headache and Functional Neurological Disorder, with care pathways for further conditions in development
Agreement of a Business Case and funding to adopt the Scottish Epilepsy Register across Scotland, improving the safety and quality of care for people with epilepsy
Development of a neurology nurse specialist competency framework
Formation of collaborative improvement networks which include NHS boards, Health and Social Care Partnerships, third sector organisations and people with lived experience to encourage consistent adoption of the successful approaches funded through the Framework
Development, by third sector partners, of a toolkit for the consistent commissioning of social support for people with epilepsy
Improved provision of public information on individual neurological conditions through the development and/or revision of 23 NHS inform webpages
Through national charities, development of nationally-accessible sources of self-management support for people with MS, spina bifida hydrocephalus, progressive supranuclear palsy, cerebral palsy and non-epileptic seizures
Re-development of the internationally recognised neurosymptoms.org web resource to support people with Functional Neurological Disorder
Dissemination of nationally-accessible clinician education resource for ME/CFS