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-32520

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 December 2024
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Jenni Minto on 19 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when it will consult on proposals for the further regulation of non-surgical cosmetic procedures.

Question reference: S6W-32358

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 19 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care last met the (a) chair, (b) chief executive and (c) board of NHS Grampian.

Both Ministers and Scottish Government officials are in regular contact with senior representatives of all NHS Boards, including NHS Grampian.

The Scottish Government has been working very closely with NHS Grampian in relation to the recent pressures on local services. I attended a meeting with the Board leadership team, including the Chair and Interim Chief Executive, and local elected representatives on 29 November 2024 to discuss the Board’s operational resilience plan and cover the actions underway to resume business as usual at the earliest opportunity.

Question reference: S6W-32355

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 19 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many hospitals still use a paper patient note system.

The Scottish Government does not request this information from hospitals regarding their individual systems and therefore does not hold it.

Although the Scottish Government sets the regulatory guidelines as to how long health records should be retained, and when they should be destroyed, the responsibility for the overall conduct and management of patient records sits with NHS Boards directly. Therefore, to obtain information regarding the format of individual hospital records, the member should request it via the individual NHS Boards.

Question reference: S6W-32230

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 19 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to publish Regional Marine Plans for existing Marine Planning Partnership areas.

Three Marine Planning Partnerships (MPPs) have been established covering the Shetland, Clyde and Orkney marine regions, and are at various stages of progressing with their Regional Marine Plans.

The draft plans for Shetland and Orkney have concluded their public consultations and are making progress towards being submitted to Scottish Ministers for consideration, approval and adoption. The draft Clyde Regional Marine Plan is currently in the process of a policy update ahead of identifying a suitable period for a public consultation.

Officials will continue to work constructively with each MPP to refine and develop their plans to be suitable for adoption by Scottish Ministers.

Question reference: S6W-32231

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 19 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when Regional Marine Plans will be developed for the remainder of the Scottish Marine Regions.

The Scottish Government published the formal response to the final report of the Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform (ECCLR) Committee Inquiry into Regional Marine Planning in Scotland in August 2023.

As part of this response, the Scottish Government has provided a clear approach to regional marine planning moving forward, with the position that no further MPPs should be established until after the adoption of the updated National Marine Plan (NMP2). This is with the exception of the Western Isles, where early work on developing an MPP had already commenced.

Question reference: S6W-32214

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 19 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government by what date the Green Heat Finance Taskforce will publish part 2 of its report.

Question reference: S6W-32085

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 19 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects to conclude its review of the use of ultra-high frequency electronic identification in livestock.

Question reference: S6W-32380

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 19 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it has reportedly decided to freeze the funding for the national mission to reduce drug-related deaths and harms at £60 million in its draft Budget 2025-26.

The funding for Drugs and Alcohol in the 2025-26 draft budget is £80.9m. This includes £60m as part of our commitment to provide £250m in additional funding over 5 years to reduce drug deaths and improve the lives of people who use drugs and alcohol.

£19.1m has moved to baselined funding which ADPs have highlighted as important for sustainability and recruitment.

Overall funding for Alcohol and Drugs, including Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs) has been maintained at the record levels set in 2023-24.

Question reference: S6W-32213

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 19 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what finance mechanisms are being considered by the Green Heat Finance Taskforce to deliver the clean heat transition.

The Green Heat Finance Taskforce’s Part 1 report identified a range of finance mechanisms that could be expanded or developed to support individual property owners finance the upfront costs of installing clean heat and energy efficiency measures. These included approaches to encourage greater secured lending, developing equity release products focused on retrofit and exploring the potential to offer property linked finance in Scotland.

Its Part 2 report will cover financing place-based and social housing retrofit programmes as well as financing of heat networks. The report will focus on how to attract private investment at scale to unlock blended finance opportunities, combining public and private contributions, to deliver coordinated activity across multiple properties.

Question reference: S6W-32266

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 19 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how the investment of £21 billion in health and social care in its draft Budget 2025-26 will be allocated across different services and regions.

The draft budget for 2025-26 includes £21.7 billion of investment in health and social care services – an uplift exceeding consequentials and taking funding to an all-time high.

A full breakdown of how the £21.7 billion will be allocated across different services and regions can be found in tables 3.02 and 3.04 in the published Scottish Budget 2025-26 document. This can be found online here:

Scottish Budget: 2025-26

Further information is also set out in the 2025-25 level 4 budget tables here:

Supporting documents - Scottish Budget 2025 to 2026 - gov.scot