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-35247

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 11 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an assessment of trends in the level of demand on the NHS for the type 2 diabetes treatment, Ozempic.

The data for the number of people being prescribed Ozempic by year in Scotland can be found in the following table.

To note: the table contains prescribing data for Ozempic only and does not include data for those being prescribed other branded semaglutide medicines.

Paid Calendar Year	Number of Paid Items
2020	19,945
2021	30,584
2022	44,022
2023	47,086
2024	38,690

As always, it remains a clinical decision to prescribe Ozempic or any other medication in line with prescribing guidance and in consultation with the individual to ensure that they have taken into account the patient’s clinical condition and own individual circumstances.

Question reference: S6W-35210

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 11 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will engage with Clowes Developments, which has recently purchased the former Pladis McVitie’s biscuit factory in Tollcross, Glasgow, and whether it will take measures to ensure that the former factory site is retained for a high value industrial and manufacturing use.

Scottish Enterprise, our national economic development agency, works with businesses in Scotland to create high-value jobs, enable innovation, boost productivity and attract investment. Scottish Enterprise would be happy to engage with Clowes Developments to discuss the support available to them going forward.

However, any decision about future development on the site is a matter for Glasgow City Council in the first instance.

Question reference: S6W-35238

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 11 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its guidance on applying the waste hierarchy, what discussions it has had with (a) SEPA and (b) affected communities regarding new energy-from-waste incineration sites that have already received approval, including what consideration has been made for community (i) consent and (ii) engagement regarding these sites.

There are currently three Energy from Waste (EfW) sites currently in construction and commissioning and SEPA keeps the Scottish Government updated about their development.

With respect to community consent, these facilities require planning consent from the relevant local authority and a permit from SEPA. Both the planning process and SEPA permitting process include formal consultation processes.

For EfW permits, SEPA consults the public twice: firstly at an early stage of the application and again on SEPA’s draft determination and draft decision document. This process has been followed for all EfW permits to date. Some EfW facilities also have regular liaison meetings with their local community and SEPA attends when invited.

Permits plus compliance and monitoring data are published by SEPA on its public register and EfW operators are also required, via the permit, to publish their monitoring data on their own website. There is also a 24 hour pollution hotline which members of the public can use to inform SEPA of any issues associated with an EfW facility.

Question reference: S6W-35276

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 11 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many bursaries have been provided to students attending independent schools in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S6W-35248

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 11 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps are being taken to (a) monitor and (b) tackle the illegal availability online of injections of the type 2 diabetes treatment, Ozempic.

The Scottish Government encourages anyone to contact their GP or diabetes clinical team to discuss the use of Ozempic or any other medication as part of their treatment for type 2 diabetes. They will be best placed to recommend any medicines or treatments based on their own individual circumstances.

The Chief Pharmaceutical Officer is taking the issue of illegal online medicines seriously. She has met with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS), Police Scotland and the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) to discuss this.

The GPhC published updated guidance on 4 February 2025 regarding buying medicines safely online and Healthcare Improvement Scotland is considering how to improve the general awareness of these medicines, as well as establishing clear expectations for their safe and appropriate use within the independent healthcare sector.

The Chief Pharmaceutical Officer is also considering communications for healthcare professionals in Scotland on how to report known or suspected illicit prescribing of Ozempic.

Question reference: S6W-35229

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 11 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an updated assessment of whether Scotland is on track to reach net zero by 2045.

This Government’s commitment to net zero by 2045 is absolutely unwavering. We await the advice of the Climate Change Committee on new Carbon Budget levels, expected on 21 May 2025. Once we have received this advice, we will bring forward the Scottish Carbon Emission Targets via secondary legislation, with the aim of publishing a draft Climate Change Plan to achieve those targets in the autumn, which will set a deliverable course towards net zero. The analysis undertaken by the Ricardo study, which was published on the Scottish Government Website in 2024, was only based on the information at that time on delivery of policies in the Climate Change Plan update which covers the period up to 2032. Further policies are currently under development for the next Climate Change Plan which will cover the period up to 2040 and the draft for consultation will include information on costs and benefits of the policies.

Question reference: S6W-35236

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 11 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it reportedly blocked the development of a Rolls-Royce small modular reactor at Grangemouth refinery in November 2022, in light of claims that this would have delivered much cheaper off-grid electricity to the country's most energy-intensive heavy industrial cluster and the refinery's owner Ineos stating that a “huge disadvantage” in energy costs had driven the decision to close refining operations there.

Question reference: S6W-35286

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 11 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the speech by the Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health as part of the debate on motion S6M-16353 on 6 February 2025, whether the work to roll out baby loss suites in all territorial NHS boards will be completed by the end of 2025.

The Scottish Government committed through the Programme for Government 2023 – 24, published on 5 September 2023, to improving miscarriage care, including the provision of separate private spaces in hospitals with maternity wards for women experiencing pregnancy and baby loss.

The Delivery Framework for Miscarriage Care, published on 6 February 2025, sets out that those experiencing miscarriage at any stage of pregnancy should be seen in a separate private space appropriate for bereavement. This action carries a priority category of “N” which means this should be implemented within 6 months from 1 April 2025.

Question reference: S6W-35338

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 28 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 11 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when the evacuation system on the MV Isle of Mull will be upgraded.

Question reference: S6W-35226

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 11 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to increase availability of English as a second or other language (ESOL) classes in the Greater Glasgow area, in light of reports that lack of availability is causing challenges for people who require at least a B1 level of English to access employability, social security and other support.

The Scottish Government recognises the vital role English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) plays in supporting people whose first language is not English, equipping them with the communication skills necessary to contribute and integrate economically, culturally and socially in Scotland.

The Scottish Government is committed to ESOL and welcomed the independent review of community learning and development (CLD) which followed with a report, Learning: For All. For Life report. The report provided 20 recommendations, including on ESOL, varying in complexity and scope.

The Scottish Government and CoSLA accepted recommendation 1.1 to set up a joint CLD Strategic Leadership Group (SLG). The SLG will play a central role in developing our detailed response to the remaining recommendations.

This academic year, Scottish Government provided £500k for ESOL in Glasgow. This is in response to the review report calling for immediate action to address the exceptional pressures and need for ESOL, which disproportionately impacts Glasgow.

I have also written to the Scottish Funding Council with supplementary guidance to ensure ESOL remains a priority for colleges in the forthcoming academic year 2025-26.

Colleges are responsible for decisions on course provision and are best placed to respond flexibly to local ESOL need alongside partners including local authorities and the third sector. Local authorities themselves play an important role in delivering their CLD Plans, which supports the provision of community based ESOL.