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 47874 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6W-36090

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 29 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland report, Investigation into the care and treatment of Mr TU, published in March 2023, what steps it will take to ensure that mental health services consistently involve families and carers, especially in discharge planning and crisis planning processes.

NHS Boards have duties under the Carers Act to involve unpaid carers in decision making and planning the return from hospital of the person they care for (or will care for). More specifically, the Core Mental Health Quality Standards state that a person’s support network should be involved in their care if they wish. Progress on implementing the standards is measured by Healthcare Improvement Scotland.

To support Boards in discharging these duties we have funded NHS Education for Scotland (NES) to develop three training modules for the health and social care workforce to help them identify, include and support unpaid carers including young carers. In 2025 and 2026 NES will promote and support the use of these training resources across the health and social care workforce. We are also funding NES to develop carer awareness training for staff in mental health services.

Question reference: S6W-36375

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 29 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what records NHS Scotland holds on the purchasing of the drug stilbestrol.

Question reference: S6W-36325

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 29 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that Scotland's Rural College's Elmwood Campus in Cupar, Fife, has sufficient funds to enable all courses, including animal care, to continue after the 2024-25 academic year.

The Scottish Government recognises the concerns of students, parents of students and staff affected by the proposed cuts to Animal Care provision and appreciates that this is a very worrying time for everyone at the Scotland's Rural College's (SRUC)Elmwood Campus.

After discussions, we can provide assurance the SRUC are committed to retaining a presence at Elmwood, and that there are no plans for closure of the campus. We do not anticipate any current Animal Care students being affected by these proposals, and any student who has not fully completed their one-year programme by the end of the current academic year will be supported by SRUC to achieve this.

We expect SRUC to continue to offer Animal Care provision at its other campuses, allowing students to progress to the next level of study at another campus, if the decision is made to withdraw Animal Care courses from Elmwood. Furthermore, I can confirm that Horticulture and Gamekeeping as well as Estate Management courses will be retained at Elmwood Campus.

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) recently announced their indicative funding allocations for the university sector for 2025-26, which has provided certainty on the level of funding that SRUC receive and allows them to plan for the forthcoming academic year. This announcement detailed £17.7m in funding for SRUC in AY 2025-26, to support their teaching, research and estate maintenance. Additionally, SRUC have received a further £9.7 million as part of SFC’s indicative funding college allocations, announced on the 10April.

It should be highlighted that Scottish universities are autonomous, with responsibility for their own governance, course provision and estate management.

Question reference: S6W-36534

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 29 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the calls to designate the North Sea energy transition a “national mission”, and what contribution it plans to make to that effort.

Question reference: S6W-36382

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 29 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many children and young people have received a private diagnosis for autism in each year since 1999.

The Scottish Government does not collect this data.

The Scottish Government is committed to implementing the National Neurodevelopmental Specification: Principles and Standards of Care for Children and Young People, published in September 2021, which specifies service standards that all children’s services should follow, to ensure access to support is effective and consistent across Scotland.

The Scottish Government have also established the National Autism Implementation Team, in partnership with Queen Margaret University, to support Health and Social Care Partnerships to consider best practice and support improvement through the redesign of autism diagnostic services.

The National Implementation Team is supporting NHS Boards to examine diagnostic pathways for autism and establish regional experts to assist with improving tiered autism specialisms across health boards.

Question reference: S6W-36464

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 29 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many formal (a) warnings, (b) notices and (c) interventions regarding suicide risks linked to infrastructure in mental health units have been issued since 2020, broken down by NHS board.

Question reference: S6T-02486

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure greater access to affordable early years provision, in light of reports of the rising cost of childcare for families with children under the age of three.

Question reference: S6T-02484

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the interim update from the Equalities and Human Rights Commission on the practical implications of the recent UK Supreme Court judgment in For Women Scotland v The Scottish Ministers.

Question reference: S6F-04032

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 May 2025

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s response is to reports of local authorities suspending council housing allocations.

Question reference: S6F-04026

Asked by: Lorna Slater, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 May 2025

Question to be taken in Chamber.