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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-36363

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 17 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to respond to the correspondence of 21 February 2025 from the Equality and Human Rights Commission regarding single-sex facilities, and whether its response will be published and made publicly available.

Question reference: S6W-36398

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 17 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that all aspects of the child contact process, including legal proceedings, court-ordered contact arrangements and the use and condition of contact centres, (a) meet the needs of children with additional support needs, including autism, (b) prioritise children's wellbeing and expressed wishes and (c) provide a trauma-informed, child-friendly environment.

The Scottish Government plans to lay secondary legislation in summer 2025 to add child contact services to the list of care services that the Care Inspectorate regulates. The Care Inspectorate will develop a Quality Framework for child contact services to help ensure the best outcomes for all children using these services, including those with additional needs.

The intention is that the Care Inspectorate will also be required to notify the Equality and Human Rights Commission where a child contact service provider has, or may have, failed to comply with their duties under the Equality Act 2010, and in particular any duty to make reasonable adjustments to premises to facilitate their use by disabled people.

The Children (Scotland) Act 2020 provides for a register of child welfare reporters, who can be appointed in child contact cases to obtain the child’s views or report on the child’s best interests. Once implemented, the register will help ensure reporters are skilled and trained in key areas, such as communicating with children and child development, including learning disabilities.

The Scottish Government will make further commencement regulations this year in relation to the 2020 Act, including provisions to enhance how the views of the child are heard. This was outlined to the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee on 11 March 2025: Letter from the Minister for Victims and Community Safety.

The Scottish Government has also consulted on a proposed Learning Disability, Autism and Neurodivergence Bill. Proposals include better identification of neurodivergence within the justice system and mandatory training. The Scottish Government has committed to publishing draft provisions for this Bill.

Question reference: S6W-36291

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 17 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether any Barnett consequential funding arising from the Lower Thames Crossing project will be used to accelerate the development of the Clyde Metro project.

Development consent for the Lower Thames Crossing was granted by the UK Secretary for State for Transport on the 25 March 2025. The UK Chancellor of the Exchequer noted in a speech made on the 29 January 2025, that the UK Government was exploring private finance as option to fund the project. Therefore, it is currently unclear what, if any, Barnett consequentials may arise from this project and in any case, these are not ring fenced for transport projects in Scotland.

The ongoing stage of the early development process for Clyde Metro, known as the Case for Investment, is being led by Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT), supported by Glasgow City Council, with Transport Scotland providing a project assurance role. This key stage, which will inform decisions around network selection, phasing and implementation is well underway and is currently anticipated to be complete by mid-2027.

This initial stage in the development process is being delivered drawing upon funding from the Glasgow City Region Deal. It is too early in the development process to determine the longer term funding of Clyde Metro, however, it is envisaged that the funding models for its implementation will be considered as part of the on-going Case for Investment work.

Question reference: S6W-36214

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 31 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 17 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to mandate that data on sex be collected by default in all research and data collection that it or its non-departmental public bodies commission.

The Office of the Chief Statistician published guidance for public bodies in Scotland on the collection of data on sex and gender in 2021. This guidance recommends that statistics producers should collect data (for operational, statistical and research purposes) that best serves the needs of users in their specific context, an approach with aligns with the guidance published by the Office for Statistics Regulation in 2024.

Question reference: S6W-36288

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 17 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to improve the early detection and prevention of liver disease.

The Scottish Government is supporting the development of UK-wide clinical guidelines on alcohol treatment which will be published this year, and is also committed to publishing a service specification for alcohol treatment and recovery. The clinical guidelines and service specification will set out the need for early detection and prevention of alcohol-related liver disease. Implementation of early detection will build on existing pilot initiatives and services already commissioned in local areas.

Question reference: S6W-36807

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 17 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many incidents involving (a) patient and (b) staff exposure to sewage leaks in NHS hospitals have been reported in each of the last three years.

Question reference: S6W-36711

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 17 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to the approach taken in Staffordshire regarding addressing antisocial behaviour on off-road bikes, and whether it will consider a similar approach being taken in Scotland, including in the Mid Scotland and Fife region.

The Scottish Government is aware of this approach.

Police Scotland have a range of existing powers under road safety and antisocial behaviour legislation and common law to take appropriate action such as seizure of vehicles and disposal where appropriate. They have also pursued awareness campaigns, such as in December 2024, that highlighted concerns around illegal e-bikes, clarified the legal position, and publicised the number of such vehicles that had been seized.

Police Scotland also pursue a range of initiatives based on identified local need such as increased and targeted patrols at hot-spot areas, use of off-road vehicles for pursuit where safe to do so, and potential measures such as use of drones. This flexible local needs approach is undertaken by policing divisions including Mid Scotland and Fife.

Question reference: S6W-36241

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 17 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether its commitment to ensure "that by March 2026 no one is waiting longer than a year for their new outpatient appointment or inpatient/day-case procedure" includes people on waiting lists for mental health services and neurodevelopmental conditions.

The additional £100 million investment contained in the Budget to reduce waiting times will create 150,000 extra appointments and procedures for elective services. This does not include mental health or neurodevelopmental services.

Improving mental health remains an absolute priority for the Scottish Government and whilst we recognise the ongoing pressures facing the NHS, long waits are unacceptable and we remain committed to supporting Boards to meet the standard that 90% of patients start treatment within 18 weeks of referral for both CAMHS and Psychological Therapies (PT). Currently Psychological Therapies (PT) services are responding well to demand, with one in two people referred starting treatment within three weeks. And in CAMHS, the national performance against the 18-week standard is the best performance ever reported since the standard was introduced in 2014 with 89.1% of patients starting treatment within 18 weeks of referral in the last quarter.

We do not have a treatment time target for neurodevelopmental services. Our key focus is on improving support. The Neurodevelopmental specification aims to ensure that children and families receive the support and access to services that meet their needs at the earliest opportunity.

Despite the progress made across the system, we are not complacent and we remain committed to supporting all Boards to meet the standards and to clear long waiting lists. Performance does still vary across Health Boards, and we continue to provide enhanced support to those Boards not on track to meet the standard, providing access to professional advice, ensuring they have robust improvement plans in place and monitoring their implementation.

Question reference: S6W-36216

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 31 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 17 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will ensure that, whenever sex is recorded, it is made clear whether this refers simply to sex, or to a person's "legal sex" based on a Gender Recognition Certificate.

The Office of the Chief Statistician published guidance for public bodies in Scotland on the collection of data on sex and gender in 2021. This guidance recommends that statistics producers should collect data that best serves the needs of users in their specific context, an approach with aligns with the guidance published by the Office for Statistics Regulation in 2024. The Scottish Government guidance provides definitions for terms such as ‘legal sex’ which can be used by users or producers of the data.

The Scottish Government has previously committed to reviewing its guidance on collecting data on sex and gender by the end of 2026 as part of the Non-Binary Equality Action Plan.

Question reference: S6O-04562

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment has been done of any impact on CAMHS waiting times targets, in light of reports of autism assessment services being cancelled leaving more children in distress and unable to access support that requires a diagnosis.