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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-41891

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 1 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its objectives are for engagement at the COP30 UN climate summit in Belem, Brazil, with (a) activists, (b) civil society partners from the Global South and (c) partners in its Climate Justice Fund programmes, and how it will evaluate the outcomes of this engagement.

Question reference: S6W-41887

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 1 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many of its (a) ministers, (b) special advisers and (c) officials are attending the COP30 UN climate summit in Belem, Brazil, as part of its delegation, and for how many days each category of attendee is scheduled to be present at the summit.

Question reference: S6W-41894

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 1 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to use the discussions and outcomes from the COP30 UN climate summit in Belem, Brazil, to inform the finalisation and implementation of its draft Energy Strategy.

Question reference: S6W-41886

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 27 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on the patient (a) feedback and (b) complaints recorded by NHS boards regarding travel for planned care outwith a patient’s board area in each of the last five years, and what main themes were identified.

NHS Health Boards are required to provide the Scottish Government with Complaints and Feedback Annual reports and complaints statistics on an annual basis, and these are published by Public Health Scotland. There are specific indicators that Boards must use when reporting their statistics, including total numbers of complaints received and closed, outcomes and timescales for completion. Complaints and Feedback Annual reports must cover, learning from complaints, complaints process experience and staff awareness and training. However, these do not include the specific themes areas requested about which complaints are made.

The most recent publication, which also includes links to each Board’s Complaints and Feedback Annual reports, was in January 2025 for the reporting year 2023/24 and can be found at the following link: Annual report on NHS complaints - 2023 to 2024 - Annual report on NHS complaints - Publications - Public Health Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-05256

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 November 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting skills development to promote the future of the north east fishing industry.

Question reference: S6W-41714

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 20 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-40762 by Gillian Martin on 9 October 2025, what indicators it uses to evidence “a deeper level of engagement” at international events, and what evidence it will publish from the September 2025 programme in (a) Japan and (b) New York to demonstrate progress against those indicators, including baselines, targets and timescales.

I refer the Member to the answer detail for question S6W-40762, which sets out the key objectives for participation and engagements undertaken during Scotland’s programme in Osaka and Tokyo across the 6 months and also confirms the intention to publish an evaluation of Scotland’s Expo Osaka programme. We are currently working on the evaluation, which we aim to publish in early 2026.

With regard to indicators used to evidence a deeper level of engagement, I once again refer the Member to the answer to S6W-40762, particularly the stated objectives identified for the Scottish Government’s attendance at Climate Week NYC. As an example of impact, opportunities at NYCW lead directly to Ms. Martin receiving invitations to a wider range of opportunities to engage, especially at UN-sponsored events at COP30. Detail on the Scottish Government programme at COP30 will be published in due course.

Question reference: S6O-05204

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 November 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making on reducing audiology waiting lists at NHS Grampian.

Question reference: S6W-41710

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 18 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has approved the proposed “Heroes of Net Zero” campaign, and, if so, what the (a) objectives, (b) target audiences and (c) delivery timeline and key milestones are, and whether it will provide details of any forecast or actual costs for each financial year of the campaign, including any costs to date.

Question reference: S6W-41717

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 18 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of Scotland’s percentage share of global greenhouse gas emissions in each of the last five years.

The Scottish Government remains fully committed to reaching net zero by 2045 and Scotland’s new draft Climate Change Plan (CCP) is clear that climate action presents a real and growing economic opportunity to create green jobs and boost investment. The CCP describes how we will ensure that the opportunities of net zero – for cleaner air, better infrastructure and energy security, affordable heating and improved public services – are seized and fairly distributed as part of a just transition. Supporting people to take climate action has never been so important – particularly as we are witnessing a concerning rise in anti-climate rhetoric, despite the majority of people in Scotland recognising that climate change is an immediate and urgent problem.

Scotland’s share of global greenhouse gas emissions has decreased from 0.25% in 1990 to between 0.08%-0.09% in each of the last five years. Scotland has demonstrated how smaller countries can contribute to global change, decarbonising much faster than the EU27 average. Using comparable statistics published by the EU (which exclude emissions from land use), Scotland is 18 percentage points closer to net zero than the EU27 average. Through our positions as Regions4 president and Under2 Coalition European co-chair, Scotland is using its leadership to strengthen international cooperation and capacity building; strengthen states, regions and devolved governments’ influence within international climate discussions and drive global climate ambition. If the world is to deliver on our Paris Agreement commitments and the Glasgow Climate Pact, all nations need to continue to increase ambition and take credible action to reach net zero emissions, rather than rolling back on collective progress.

Question reference: S6W-41715

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 18 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the cost of translation services has been to each NHS board in each of the last seven financial years.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally.

Whilst Scottish Government regularly review the financial positions of NHS Boards, data regarding spending on translation services is not collected.

Each Health Board is responsible for their own spending decisions and Scottish Government expects that Boards will ensure best use of available resources whilst prioritising patient safety and care.

Cost of translation services can be obtained from Health Boards individually.