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

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 42583 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6W-22637

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 14 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the shortages of ADHD medication, including what is causing these shortages, and what action it is taking, in conjunction with NHS boards, to mitigate the shortages.

The Scottish Government is aware that there are ongoing global supply issues affecting the availability of various products which are licensed for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It is anticipated that the shortages will be resolved by end of December.

The shortages are caused by a combination of manufacturing issues and an increase in global demand. The pricing and the supply of medicines is currently a reserved matter for the UK Government. We continue to engage with the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) and we will continue to monitor the situation.

The Scottish Government recognises the impact of these global shortages on people living with ADHD and their families. NHS Scotland has robust systems in place to manage medicine shortages when they arise and anyone affected by this issue should speak to their usual clinical team.

Question reference: S6W-22634

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 14 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what it considers the definition of invasive non-native species to be, and whether this aligns with the definition given by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.

The Scottish Government considers the definition of invasive non-native species to be that provided in the GB Invasive Non-Native Species Strategy and that this does indeed align with the definition given by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. The Strategy defines an invasive non-native species as any non-native species that has been intentionally or unintentionally introduced outside its native range by human actions and which has the ability to spread causing damage to the environment, the economy, our health, or the way we live.

Question reference: S6W-22615

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 14 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will commit to adding blood cancer to the list of cancer types included in Public Health Scotland's data publications, to help facilitate comparison between blood cancers and solid tumours.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) publishes incidence and mortality data on leukaemias, Hodgkin lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin lymphoma and multiple myeloma annually.

PHS previously published survival data on these same cancers. However in the 2023 release, a different approach was taken to assess the short-term impact of COVID-19 on cancer survival for a select few cancers. It utilised a much smaller cohort than the usual methodology which meant an estimate of survival for rarer cancers could not be calculated. Some estimates for blood cancers are available for the 2016-2020 cohort upon request to PHS.

In future cancer survival publications, these same blood cancers will be included again, as survival publications will revert back to previous methodology.

Question reference: S6W-22613

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 14 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with NHS Scotland and other partners regarding introducing CAR T-cell therapy for children and young people.

The Scottish Medicines Consortium accepted tisagenlecleucel (Kymriah ® ) for routine use in NHS Scotland in February 2019 for the treatment of B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, which is a very rare type of cancer of the white blood cells.

It is used to treat children and adults under 25 years-old, where the cancer has not responded to treatment (refractory); has come back after a transplant (relapsed); or has come back after treatment for the second time. National Services Division does not currently commission a paediatric CAR-T service in Scotland, but all eligible children and young people under 16 years of age have access via referral to a specialist unit in England.

Question reference: S6W-22626

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 14 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made on the medium-term action to "Implement and raise awareness of current national guidelines on endometriosis and develop and implement further pathways for care where these don’t currently exist", as set out in its Women's Health Plan 2021-2024.

Question reference: S6W-22614

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 14 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on how many children and young people who are eligible for CAR T-cell therapy have had to travel to England for treatment, in each of the last six months for which data is available.

Question reference: S6W-22606

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 14 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what formula it plans to use to calculate its proposed Building Safety Levy.

Question reference: S6W-22566

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 14 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many prison cells currently containing two or more inmates have less than 8m² living space, excluding space dedicated to sanitary facilities, broken down by prison.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

The following table shows the number of cells as on 1 November 2023 which accommodate two or more people in our care, and have an average living space of under 8m² (excluding sanitary facilities).

Establishment	Number of Cells
Barlinnie	402
Dumfries	24
Edinburgh	182
Glenochil	209
Grampian	37
Inverness	1
Low Moss	131
Perth	118
Polmont	11

Whilst the Council of Prevention of Torture’s (CPT) minimum standard for personal living space in prison establishments for multiple occupancy cells is 4m² plus fully-partitioned sanitary facility, not complying with this standard does not constitute a breach of the law.

Question reference: S6W-22552

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 14 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has held with (a) Transport Scotland and (b) Glasgow City Council regarding the development of the Clyde Metro.

Since the publication of the draft second Strategic Transport Projects Review in January 2022, a multi-partner working group consisting of Transport Scotland, Strathclyde Partnership for Transport and Glasgow City Council, known as the Client Delivery Group, has met regularly to discuss and better define the scale of work that Clyde Metro might represent, together with the associated resource and programme requirements. This is overseen by a Programme Steering Group comprising of the Chief Executives of those organisations. I am pleased that Strathclyde Partnership for Transport have undertaken to lead the next stage of the case for investment for Clyde Metro. Transport Scotland will continue to be involved in a project assurance and support role.

Question reference: S6W-22603

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 14 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding the transfer of powers required to implement its proposed Building Safety Levy.

The Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Finance (DFM) has written to the Financial Secretary to the Treasury and other UK Government Ministers to formally request the devolution of the requisite power under section 80B of the Scotland Act 1998 (“Power to add new devolved taxes”).

We remain in discussion with the UK Government on the process and timelines through which powers can be devolved. The DFM will provide an update to Parliament once agreement on these matters has been reached.