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 42727 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6F-01042

Asked by: Stephanie Callaghan, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 April 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 April 2022

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to the Climate Changemakers impact report from the Scottish Children’s Parliament.

Question reference: S6F-01029

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 April 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 April 2022

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's position is on whether Police Scotland's procedures and training for responding to cases of domestic abuse are sufficient.

Question reference: S6F-01022

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 April 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 April 2022

To ask the First Minister whether the Scottish Government will investigate the reported increasing number of children being referred to the gender specialist clinic in Glasgow, in light of reports of a similar inquiry planned by the UK Government.

Question reference: S6F-01014

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 25 April 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 April 2022

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-01013

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 April 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 April 2022

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-07868

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 25 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether COVID-19 spot checks on businesses will continue once restrictions relating to the pandemic have been fully lifted on 18 April 2022.

The remaining Covid-19 specific legal requirements have been removed, but regulators will continue to engage to support businesses in managing their risks and applying any relevant guidance. While Covid-19 specific spot checks may no longer be carried out, pre-existing regulations are still in place, for example on fresh air/ ventilation and cleanliness. Regulators will be conducting inspections as they would have before the pandemic. As part of these visits, Covid-19 risks and adaptations may be discussed.

Question reference: S6W-07913

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 25 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it will next carry out a survey on public attitudes to the (a) NHS and (b) social care.

Question reference: S6W-07670

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 25 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of how to improve the regulation of products in the medical nutrition industry.

The regulations for foods for special medical purposes are one of the categories covered by the foods for specific groups legislation. Retained Regulation (EU) No 609/2013 on Foods for Specific Groups replaced the former Foods for Particular Nutritional Uses approach and begun a new EU phased process to review and update the composition and labelling for each category. As part of this process, Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/128 was introduced and has applied to businesses since 2019.

This, now retained Regulation, lays out the compositional, labelling and notification requirements of foods for special medical purposes. These foods are a category of Foods for Specific Groups , specially processed or formulated and intended for the dietary management of patients and to be used under medical supervision.

These foods are intended for the exclusive or partial feeding of patients with a limited, impaired or disturbed capacity to take, digest, absorb, metabolise or excrete ordinary foodstuffs or certain nutrients contained therein or metabolites. They are also intended for use by patients with other medically-determined nutrient requirements, whose dietary management cannot be achieved only by modification of the normal diet, by other foods for particular nutritional uses, or by a combination of the two.

The powers to enforce the requirements in Scotland are contained within The Foods for Specific Groups (Scotland) Regulations 2016 (as amended).

Question reference: S6W-07671

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 25 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government (a) whether and (b) how it works with the UK Department of Health and Social Care to tackle medical malnutrition in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-07491

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 March 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 25 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of the reported shortage of lung cancer nurse specialists on the (a) treatment, (b) outcomes and (c) quality of life for lung cancer patients.

Information on the number of Clinical Nurse Specialists by specialist cancer fields is not held centrally.

However, we recognise the scale of the challenge facing Health Boards across Scotland. We are working closely with partners to accelerate domestic and international recruitment to Scotland. New investment of £300m has helped services deal with system pressures over winter and the NHS Recovery Plan, backed by over £1bn, has introduced a range of direct workforce investments and new measures to support Boards’ capacity for both domestic and international recruitment.

Overall NHS staff and nursing staff levels are currently at a record high, following ten consecutive years of NHS Scotland workforce growth. We are investing £11m over the next five years in new national and international recruitment campaigns and have established a national Centre for Workforce Supply to provide labour market intelligence. We are also recruiting at least 200 registered nurses from overseas, with funding of £4.5m available to Health Boards to take this forward.

Our latest DCE lung cancer campaign entitled - ‘Settling In’ – was launched in May 2021 with the aim of increasing awareness of the early signs of lung cancer and encouraging people with possible symptoms to contact their GP practice. Almost two-thirds (64%) of those who saw the campaign did something as a result, including looking out for symptoms and deciding to go to their GP practice with possible signs. As committed to in our NHS Recovery Plan, a new early cancer diagnosis vision for Scotland is also being developed to direct early diagnosis efforts over the coming years, including that of lung.