- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 17 July 2025
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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.
Answer
This information is not held centrally. You may wish to contact NHS Highland, NHS Western Isles, NHS Orkney, NHS Shetland and NHS Grampian who may be able to provide this information.
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 17 July 2025
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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.
Answer
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
- Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 July 2025
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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.
Answer
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.
- Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 July 2025
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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.
Answer
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.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 31 July 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 14 August 2025
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the Planning and the Housing Emergency - Delivery Plan does not mandate new methods to monitor planning approvals and build-out in relation to planning consents for new homes.
Answer
The ‘Planning and the Housing Emergency – Delivery Plan’ (November 2024) committed to new guidance on housing land audits (HLAs) and this was published in January 2025. HLAs provide information on past housing completions and future programming of new homes in an area. The guidance will embed a consistent approach to monitoring of housing land across all local authorities, whilst still allowing flexibility to reflect local circumstances. At a national level, approval rates for all planning applications and starts and completions are recorded in official statistics.
- Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 31 July 2025
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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.
Answer
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).
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 31 July 2025
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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.
Answer
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.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 08 August 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 14 August 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-39313 by Neil Gray on 28 July 2025,
whether the £4 million invested to deliver extra dermatology activity has been
allocated to NHS boards, and, if so, whether there has been a noticeable
difference to waiting times throughout the country as a result.
Answer
In addition to the £106 million targeted investment announced in May 2025 to address at the longest waits, the Government has now committed a further £4 million to deliver extra dermatology activity, bringing total additional funding for this year to over £110 million.
The additional dermatology funding was allocated to the three NHS Boards with the largest volumes of long waits and is broken down as follows:
Health Board | Total Cost 25-26 |
NHS Ayrshire & Arran | 1,339,000 |
NHS Grampian | 246,953 |
NHS Lothian | 2,576,446 |
Grand Total | 4,162,399 |
This funding will support a planned 4,100 new outpatient appointments and 1,500 ‘see and treat’, and will also see photo-triage of up to 8,300 digital images, allowing clinicians to triage, diagnose and assess some skin conditions, leading to a better and quicker service for patients.
The activity supported by the additional £110 million investment will require a lead-in period for full implementation; therefore, it is too early to observe a noticeable difference to waiting times at this stage.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 08 August 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 14 August 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether the resources allocated for dermatology departments
across NHS boards have assisted with decreasing waiting times in NHS Lothian,
in light of reported figures suggesting that, as of 18 July 2025, 13,312
patients are waiting to be seen by a dermatologist in this NHS board.
Answer
The Scottish Government has allocated over £2.5 million to NHS Lothian for dermatology services and is currently working with the Board to develop a plan to support further reductions to the waiting list backlog.
The activity supported by the additional £2.5 million investment will require a lead-in period for full implementation; therefore, it is too early to observe a noticeable difference to waiting times at this stage.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 04 August 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 14 August 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the reported findings by the British Society for Haematology that 19.7% of consultant haematologists in Scotland are due to retire in the next three years.
Answer
Following work with stakeholders to review the number of specialty training places needed to meet anticipated future service demand and consultant need, since 2014 the Scottish Government has funded the creation of hundreds of additional specialty training places in Scotland across multiple different specialties, including in haematology.
Specialty training expansion has been done in line with recommendations made by the Scottish Shape of Training Transition Group, largely based on workforce modelling taking into account consultant retirals data to support future annual consultant/GP growth of 1% to meet anticipated increases in service demand.