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-39668

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 14 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve early detection for liver damage and cancer, in light of the findings in the Lancet Commission’s research on liver cancer.

Cancer remains a national priority, within the Scottish Government and across NHS Scotland. Our 10 year Cancer Strategy for Scotland 2023-2033 and Cancer Action Plan for Scotland 2023 – 2026 set out a comprehensive approach to improving cancer outcomes, with earlier and fast diagnosis a key ambition.

We are working in partnership with Alcohol and Drug Partnerships and NHS Boards to increase awareness of liver disease and support for early detection and treatment. This includes developing a nationwide model for the early detection of alcohol-related liver disease, building on learning from the innovative intelligent Liver Function Testing (iLFT) pilot pioneered by NHS Tayside and the Scottish Government through the National Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD).

Question reference: S6W-39641

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 14 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many cases of bankruptcy were declared in the past five years, broken down by local authority area.

The Accountant in Bankruptcy (AiB) publishes the number of bankruptcies by local authority area in the Annual Scottish Statutory Debt Solutions statistics publication. The latest available data for the April 2023 – March 2024 are available here: Scottish Statutory Debt Solution Statistics 2023-24: Comprehensive Excel Tables | Accountant in Bankruptcy the number of bankruptcies by local authority are on the sheet labelled Table_la_2a.

The 2024-25 publication is due for release on the 27 August 2025 where these figures will be updated.

Question reference: S6W-39625

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 14 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it monitors the level of joint working between local authorities.

There is a strong tradition of partnership working between local authorities, particularly through Regional Economic Partnerships. This partnership is a key way that services can be delivered more efficiently, and opportunities can be scaled. This is exemplified by the Northeast Regional Economic Partnership, involving Aberdeen City Council and Aberdeenshire Council, who are delivering the Northeast Investment Zone in partnership with both the Scottish and UK Governments.

Regional Economic Partnerships are delivered via bespoke regional arrangements, and many other examples of joint working are on a case-by-case basis, so formal monitoring of the “level” of joint working would not be possible.

However, the Scottish Government has committed in the Programme for Government to working with local authorities and other key partners, to identify how to strengthen these partnership arrangements. This work is not yet complete, and it would not be possible to comment on outcomes at this time.

Question reference: S6W-39622

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 14 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to review the number of NHS boards.

The Scottish Government does not have any current plans to review the number of NHS Boards.

In the NHS Scotland Service Renewal Plan, we have already committed to the creation of a new single body called ‘NHS Delivery’, which will bring together the existing functions of NHS National Services Scotland and NHS Education for Scotland, and will allow us to review and consolidate other crosscutting delivery functions.

We will continue to strengthen collaboration across NHS Bodies to ensure a more strategic, population-based approach to planning and keep governance arrangements under review to ensure they support the needs of Scotland's population and deliver best value for public services.

Question reference: S6W-39621

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 14 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has considered introducing a regional level of government in Scotland, including elected provosts and mayors.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting stronger regional working. In the Programme for Government we provided that we would:

Work with regional and local partners to identify how best to formally devolve further elements of decision-making and delivery to Regional Economic Partnerships (REPs), and present options before the end of this Parliament.

Officials undertaking this work are engaging with a range of partners across the public, private and third sectors, as well as further and higher education partners, the UK and Welsh governments, and regional groupings elsewhere in the UK in order to understand how best to empower regional partners.

The Scottish Government is also working with COSLA on the Local Governance Review to consider how power and resources should be shared between national and local government and with communities. From the extensive engagement to date, there has been no specific proposals to introduce elected mayors or provosts.

The views of Local Government would inform any future changes to Local Government’s structure or governance arrangements. This is in line with the Scottish Government’s commitment to respecting Local Government’s democratic mandate as part of the Verity House Agreement.

Question reference: S6W-39631

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 14 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the data collected for its planning application statistics is sufficient to detail the (a) number and (b) percentage of (i) housing developments and (ii) new homes approved in each reporting period.

The Scottish Government Planning Application Statistics (PAS) asks planning authorities to indicate the number of planning applications they have decided for major housing developments (50 or more dwellings or a site area that is or exceeds two hectares) and local housing developments (less than 50 dwellings or a site area of less than two hectares). This is expressed as a number in the published statistics, but it can also be expressed as a percentage.

The PAS does not include the number and percentage of new homes approved in each reporting period. However, the Scottish Government does publish statistics on the number of new build properties completed in its Housing Statistics for Scotland Quarterly Update: New Housebuilding and Affordable Housing Supply to end March.

Question reference: S6W-39639

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 14 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the methodology is for collecting the data included in its planning application statistics publications, and whether this process is (a) manual or (b) automated.

The methodology used to collect Scottish Government Planning Application Statistics (PAS) is an Excel-based survey which is completed biannually by planning authorities. The production of PAS uses a combination of manual and automated methods including Excel without macros, Excel with macros, R programming and Word. The PAS are Scottish Government official statistics meaning they are quality assured to a very high standard and they have been reviewed by Office of Statistics Regulation (OSR) which is independent of Scottish Government.

Question reference: S6W-39406

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 14 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many parents have experienced a (a) pregnancy loss, (b) stillbirth and (c) neonatal death in NHS (i) Highland, (ii) Western Isles, (iii) Orkney, (iv) Shetland, (v) Western Isles and (vi) Grampian in each year since 2021.

The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested. In relation to pregnancy loss only miscarriages that require hospital inpatient or daycase treatment are recorded by NHS Boards, making accurate data collection impossible.

The number of stillbirths and neonatal deaths in NHS Highland, NHS Western Isles, NHS Orkney, NHS Shetland, NHS Western Isles and NHS Grampian in each year since 2021 can be found in the National Records of Scotland Vital Events publications https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/births-deaths-marriages-and-life-expectancy/# and https://webarchive.nrscotland.gov.uk/20241128121908/https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/statistics/statistics-by-theme/vital-events/general-publications/vital-events-reference-tables

Question reference: S6W-39409

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 14 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of parents who experienced a (a) pregnancy loss, (b) stillbirth and (c) neonatal death in NHS (i) Highland, (ii) Western Isles, (iii) Orkney, (iv) Shetland, (v) Western Isles and (vi) Grampian have requested bereavement support in each year since 2021.

Question reference: S6W-39584

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 14 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-39106 by Ivan McKee on 8 July 2025, for what reason it chose to develop its own mobile app rather than co-opt the UK Government's mobile app for devolved public services.

The UK Government App is available for all UK residents including those in Scotland providing access to information on GOV.UK. The Scottish Government App will focus on offering services provided by Scottish Government and Scottish public sector organisations to the residents of Scotland.

A collaborative relationship has been established with the UK Government App team to support mutual learning and the reuse of knowledge where this is beneficial in terms of functionality, efficiency, and speed of delivery.