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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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S6W-38569

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 June 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 25 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the reasons for the 16% annual rise in reported sex crimes in Scotland in 2023-24.

Question reference: S6O-04801

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 June 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether policies such as culling livestock and promoting less meat consumption could have a detrimental impact on the rural economy.

Question reference: S6W-38102

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 11 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the detailed Project Willow report by EY-Parthenon, whether the Scottish National Investment Bank will provide investment to fill the gaps in private finance requiring state support set out at page 39; if so, how much will be invested, and what it will be invested in.

The Bank makes commercial investments in businesses or projects in line with the three strategic missions set for it by Scottish Ministers:

Achieving a Just Transition to net zero carbon emissions by 2045
Extending equality of opportunity through improving places by 2040
Harnessing Innovation to enable our people to flourish by 2040

The Bank has operational and administrative independence over its investment decisions, and is represented on the Grangemouth Investment Taskforce.

Question reference: S6W-38172

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 11 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason only 56.7% of inpatient or day case treatments were completed within 12 weeks of referral during the quarter ending March 2025.

We must recognise that our health service has experienced unprecedented pressures over the past few years, including pandemic backlogs, staff shortages and the most difficult winter the NHS has ever faced, with the pausing of all non-emergency treatment inevitably leading to planned care delays and an increase in waiting times.

We have remobilised services but understand that activity levels are still lower than we would wish them to be. Patients requiring urgent care, including cancer treatment, are being prioritised. The Scottish Government remains committed to delivering reductions in waiting times.

Our Budget will provide a record £21.7 billion for health and social care. More than £106 million has been allocated to health boards to help tackle the longest waits for procedures and operations.

Question reference: S6W-37975

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 11 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what value-for-money assessments it has carried out in relation to public inquiries since 2007.

The Finance and Public Administration Committee is currently conducting an inquiry into the cost effectiveness of Scottish Public Inquiries. I wrote to the Committee on 30 May 2025 providing a detailed response to their request for information from Scottish Government in relation to its role as sponsor of current and previous public inquiries. This response noted that Section 17 of the Inquiries Act 2005 confers responsibility for the procedure and conduct of an inquiry on its Chair, independent of Ministers, and that this includes a statutory requirement for a Chair to act 'with regard to the need to avoid any unnecessary cost (whether to public funds or to witnesses or others)'.

Assessment of value for money would therefore be a matter for a Chair of an inquiry to consider as they deem appropriate within the overall duty to avoid unnecessary cost, and those inquiries which are currently ongoing have responded independently to the call for evidence received from the Committee on costs. Responses are published on the Committee pages of the Scottish Parliament website.

The findings and conclusions of the Committee's inquiry will be considered once known.

Question reference: S6W-38171

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 11 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what immediate steps are being taken to reduce the number of patients who have been waiting for over two years for an outpatient appointment.

We want patients to be treated as soon as possible. However, we know many are facing unacceptable waits and we are determined to do more. That is why we are targeting an additional £200 million to reduce waits and enhance capacity. Funding of £106m has already been agreed with Boards to improve waiting times during 2025-26.

We are also looking to optimise the full force of the £21.7 billion committed through the Scottish Budget to health and social care to improve performance.

We will continue to target resources to reduce waiting times, particularly for those waiting longest for treatment, through maximising productivity and additional resources.

This is all part of our programme to drive up productivity and tackle waiting lists, supported by the Centre for Sustainable Delivery. Together, our actions will further enable NHS Scotland to maximise capacity, build greater resilience and deliver reductions in the number of patients who have waited too long for treatment.

Question reference: S6W-38170

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 11 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many patients have been waiting for over two years for an outpatient appointment.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) publishes statistics on the length of time patients wait to be seen as a new outpatient or admitted for treatment as an inpatient or day case in the Stage of Treatment (SoT) publication. The latest publication release contains data up to quarter ending 31 March 2025.

At 31 March 2025, there were 5,262 waits over two years for an outpatient appointment.

Trend information of the wait experienced by patients whilst still on the waiting list (ongoing waits) can be found in the ‘Waits over 52 weeks’ data table in sheets ‘Table 3.1.1’ for new outpatient appointments, and ‘Table 3.2.1’ for inpatient or day case admissions. The data is ongoing from 31 December 2019 onwards and can be filtered by health board and specialty: waits_over_52_weeks_may25.xlsx

Question reference: S6W-38551

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 June 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 24 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has undertaken of any regional inequalities in cancer care capacity across NHS boards.

Question reference: S6W-38540

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 June 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 24 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the reasons for the reported 30% increase in road deaths from 2023, and what its position is on whether its current road safety strategy is effective.

Question reference: S6W-38550

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 June 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 24 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what budget it has allocated to fund any additional safer drug consumption rooms beyond Glasgow.