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-40834

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Independent
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 15 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has sought legal advice from the Lord Advocate regarding the legislative competence of the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill.

Question reference: S6W-41047

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 15 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what financial commitment will be required to maintain the removal of peak rail fares on an annual basis beyond the next five years.

The estimated cost to deliver the removal of peak fares is available in the ScotRail Peak Fares Permanent Removal Outline Business Case, published on Transport Scotland website: ScotRail Peak Fares Permanent Removal Outline Business Case

Any future predictions of the cost of delivery of this initiative must include variety of different factors, which naturally, may influence the annual cost.

There will be an evaluation of the project at the end of year 1 and year 3 which will assess the ongoing costs and impact of the scheme.

Question reference: S6W-41048

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 15 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the cost in the current financial year is of the removal of peak rail fares, and how this policy is being financed.

Question reference: S6W-40980

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 15 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a list of the functions that the MyCare.scot app will perform compared with a list of those of the NHS app used in England.

The initial launch of MyCare.scot in Lanarkshire will allow people to securely access and manage some hospital appointments online, receive communications, find local services and update personal information.

Information on which functionalities will be available can be found in our high-level Rollout Summary at: https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/strategy-plan/2025/09/health-social-care-app-mycare-scot-national-rollout-high-level-summary/documents/health-social-care-app-mycare-scot/health-social-care-app-mycare-scot/govscot%3Adocument/health-social-care-app-mycare-scot.pdf.

The member may also find it useful to refer to NHS England’s published information on the NHS App to understand its functionality. This can be found on their website at: https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-app/about-the-nhs-app/

Question reference: S6W-40984

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 15 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the publication of the document, Our Health and Social Care App: MyCare.scot: National Rollout High-Level Summary, on 26 September 2025, whether it will provide any possible alternative tracks that the public roll-out could take, as referenced under the “timeline at a glance” section.

Question reference: S6W-40983

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 15 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how the roll-out of the MyCare.scot app aligns with its ambition to establish a single digital platform for the NHS, and when that technology will be available in Scotland.

Scotland’s National Digital Platform (NDP) brings together cloud-based digital components and services. The technology available on the platform will improve consistency of access to core digital tools in the health and care system. MyCare.scot will make extensive use of the reuseable digital components and data services offered by NDP. The NDP is currently operational, and the member can read more about it at: https://www.nationaldigitalplatform.scot/about/.

Question reference: S6W-40981

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 15 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its recent announcement regarding the MyCare.scot app, whether any interoperability barriers of the different IT systems have been overcome.

It has been a critical aim of the Scottish Government over a number of years to improve interoperability within health and social care. We recently passed the Care Reform (Scotland) Act 2025, which includes the introduction of mandatory information standards across systems to support this aim. Details of the legislation can be found here: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2025/9/enacted.

I can confirm that we are currently looking at the proposed secondary legislation associated with the Act. This has included the process of setting up appropriate governance for this work.

The Scottish Government and partners actively seek to address interoperability challenges on an on-going basis. This includes work to ensure that key NHS systems will be interoperable with MyCare.scot.

Question reference: S6W-40978

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 15 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement and collaboration it has had with (a) COSLA and (b) individual local authorities in the development of the MyCare.scot app.

COSLA and Scottish Government, along with NES, are working together to develop and deliver MyCare.scot. COSLA are joint owners of our Digital Health and Care Strategy and previously committed to supporting delivery of the Digital Front Door Programme and by extension, MyCare.scot. COSLA also represents local authorities in that. The member can find more information about the strategy here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scotlands-digital-health-care-strategy/.

Question reference: S6W-40894

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Independent
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 15 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the park being managed by Historic Environment Scotland (HES) and regulated under the Holyrood Park Regulations 1971, what discussions it has had, or plans to have, with HES regarding by what date Duddingston Low Road in Holyrood Park can be fully re-opened; what work is required to allow it to do so; how much it would cost to carry out this work, and whether it agrees in principle that the road should be fully reopened.

The Scottish Government would like to see this site open and accessible for the public to enjoy, however it is vital that this only happens when it is safe to do so. Since Duddingston Low Road was closed in February 2025, there have been six instances of rockfall which have impacted the site.

Any further questions regarding operational matters of sites managed by Historic Environment Scotland, including queries relating to access in Holyrood Park, are best answered directly by Historic Environment Scotland.

I have asked Historic Environment Scotland to write to the member with a full reply to his question.

Question reference: S6W-41051

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 15 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it expects that modal shift or changes in passenger usage, resulting from the removal of peak rail fares, will allow the policy to be self-financing, and, if so, by when it expects the policy to be cost neutral.