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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S6O-03942

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that young people across Scotland have access to facilities that can support their involvement in arts and culture.

Question reference: S6O-03944

Asked by: Maggie Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what conversations it has had with its international development partners regarding building resilience to increasing humanitarian crises.

Question reference: S6O-03946

Asked by: Michelle Thomson, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what it anticipates the impact of the recent UK Budget will be on funding for Creative Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-03963

Asked by: Colin Beattie, MSP for Midlothian North and Musselburgh, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how it collaborates with local authorities to monitor teacher numbers and staffing needs across council areas.

Question reference: S6O-03941

Asked by: Roz McCall, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to encourage library usage in the Mid Scotland and Fife region.

Question reference: S6O-03884

Asked by: Edward Mountain, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 6 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of payments under the Basic Payment Scheme had been made to farmers by 15 October 2024.

Question reference: S6W-30963

Asked by: Clare Adamson, MSP for Motherwell and Wishaw, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 5 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to improve waiting times for endoscopy appointments.

Significant additional activity is already underway following the allocation of £30 million funding to target reductions to the national backlogs that built up throughout the pandemic. This includes over 40,000 extra diagnostic procedures.

The Scottish Government has also helped develop the Endoscopy and Urology Diagnostic Recovery and Renewal Plan. This plan focuses on key areas such as: Balancing Demand and Capacity; Workforce Training and Development; Infrastructure; and Innovation and Redesign.

This plan has so far delivered four mobile endoscopy units across Scotland, providing 5-6 additional endoscopy rooms, and a Dyce facility to provide additional endoscopy procedures for NHS Grampian. Additionally, the national endoscopy surveillance framework, introduced in February 2022, has been implemented in all Health Boards.

Question reference: S6W-30966

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 5 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-29790 by Jim Fairlie on 25 September 2024, whether it anticipates that it will achieve its commitment to spend £250 million on peatland restoration by 2030.

Question reference: S6W-30866

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 25 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 5 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to fulfil the commitment made in the Children's and Young People's Cancer Plan to expand access to specialist psychological support.

The psychological support considerations regarding specialist workforce for children and young people with cancer are currently being reviewed by the Managed Service Network for Children and Young People with Cancer (MSN CYPC) as part of a wider workforce review.

This review includes making clear how the current workforce could be upskilled, as well as how the MSN will prioritise various roles across the entirety of the patient pathway to support psychological needs. The Scottish Government is in regular contact with the MSN as their review continues.

Question reference: S6W-30706

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 5 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to address the reported doubling risk of obesity among children from deprived areas, compared with those from less deprived areas.

According to the 2022 Scottish Health Survey, 23% of children who live in most deprived areas are at risk of obesity, compared with 15% in the least deprived. Addressing the risk of obesity and its associated health conditions is therefore a key priority for the Scottish Government in reducing health inequalities for those on lower incomes.

We have provided core funding of £8.25 million to health boards to continue to deliver adult, children and young people’s weight management services in 2024-25.

Our aim to halve childhood obesity by 2030 and significantly reduce diet related health inequalities is deliberately ambitious. A Whole Systems Approach to childhood obesity remains the strongest evidence-based route to improving levels of healthy weight in children.

However, dealing only with the consequences of poor diet and higher weight is not enough. We also need to address the underlying causes. This includes ending poverty, supporting fair wages, and improving our physical and social environments. Since 2022-23, we continue to allocate around £3bn a year to policies which tackle poverty and protect people as far as possible during the ongoing cost of living crisis.

With particular reference to child poverty, our Scottish Child Payment provides £26.70 per eligible child per week – support that is only available in Scotland.