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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-36998

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 2 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the potential risks of battery energy storage system sites, in light of reported concerns over public health and fire safety.

Safety is paramount in the delivery of all energy infrastructure, including Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS).

Where the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) receives information about a proposed BESS site, they refer those duty holders (site operators) responsible for the plant to the National Fire Chief Council's (NFCC) Grid Scale Planning Guidance for FRS. These guidelines detail, amongst other elements, minimum standards for fire safety systems and design features, water requirements for firefighting and access requirements.

Under reserved legislation, BESS sites also fall under process fire regulations under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 due to the equipment being used to collect, store and release electricity as required.

Question reference: S6W-37005

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects work on the National Treatment Centre Grampian Project to recommence.

The 2025-26 Scottish Budget provides additional investment of £139 million for NHS infrastructure. This provides increased core capital funding for NHS Boards and, as a first step to lifting the capital pause, allows work on the replacement of some acute facilities to resume, as well as providing funding to address NHS Boards’ priority areas for infrastructure investment.

Despite this additional investment, the capital funding position remains challenging and there remains uncertainty in the longer-term funding position, as we await the outcome of the UK Government’s spending review. All due consideration will be given as to which projects are affordable, deliverable and provide best value, following the outcome of that review. This will include consideration of the National Treatment Centre programme.

Question reference: S6W-37006

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the additional £2.6 million in funding announced for National Treatment Centre Highland, how many procedures will be allocated to patients from NHS (a) Grampian and (b) Tayside as a result of the anticipated increase in capacity.

Question reference: S6W-36999

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support small businesses, following the reported concerns of the Federation of Small Businesses over the "perfect storm" of rising energy and labour costs, increased administrative burdens and trade tariffs.

Economic growth is and always will be a clear priority for the Scottish Government and we are committed to ensuring Scotland is one of the best places to do business. FSB are is a key voice for small business and work closely with the Scottish Government to support all of the sectors that they represent in Scotland.

We are acutely aware of the concerns raised by the FSB over rising energy costs, employers national insurance increases, and trade tariffs. We have carried out initial analysis of trade statistics to understand Scottish exposure to US trade across key products and where that may differ from the UK economy. The First Minister discussed this particular matter with the Prime Minister earlier this month and made clear that urgent action should be taken to protect Scotland’s economic interests. We have also consistently called on the UK Government to reverse in full its decision to increase employer national insurance contributions from April 2025.

Here in Scotland we have the most generous small business rates relief in the UK with a competitive non-domestic rates relief package worth an estimated £731 million in 2025-26. We will publish our Programme for Government next week, which will ensure that small businesses are able to thrive and grow.

Question reference: S6W-36390

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 29 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will instruct NHS boards to conduct an audit of existing mixed-sex accommodation across the NHS estate, and what action it is taking with NHS boards to eliminate mixed-sex accommodation, in line with the guidelines and recommendations produced in 1999 and 2000.

Guidance issued to NHS Boards by the Scottish Government states that in all new hospital developments, there should be a presumption of 100% single rooms, and where existing accommodation is being refurbished as close to 100% as possible is expected. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) are working at pace on updated guidance for public bodies following the Supreme Court’s ruling, and the Scottish Government will await this guidance and review any relevant updates to NHSScotland patient policies and guides as appropriate.

Question reference: S6T-02484

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the interim update from the Equalities and Human Rights Commission on the practical implications of the recent UK Supreme Court judgment in For Women Scotland v The Scottish Ministers.

Question reference: S6W-36753

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 25 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to withdraw from Stonewall's Diversity Champions programme.

Question reference: S6W-36757

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 24 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support the care sector, in light of reported comments from the Chief Executive of Scottish Care that "the bottom will fall out of the sector in three months".

The Scottish Government understand the level of concern Dr Donald Macaskill has for the challenges currently being faced by the Social Care sector within Scotland

We are particularly concerned about the impact of the decisions taken by the UK Government, most notably the increase in employers National Insurance Contributions, as well as changes to the social care visa system and salary threshold levels. These decisions place serious financial strain on social care services, that so many people across Scotland rely on.

The Scottish Government has increased investment into our Health & Social Care Sector, the 2025-26 Budget provides funding of £21.7 billion for Health and Social Care - an uplift exceeding consequentials and taking funding to record levels. This budget will have a continued focus on reform and improvement in our services, driving efficiency and changing how we deliver our services to improve quality and access.

We are continuing to invest in health and social care services, with almost 2.2 billion invested in social care and integration – exceeding our commitment to increase funding by 25% by almost £350 million.

We are providing an additional £125 million to support delivery of the pay uplift to a minimum of £12.60 per hour for adult social care workers as well as £5.9 million of investment into Care Inspectorate and £13.4 million into the Independent Living Fund.

Despite substantial funding increases, significant challenge remains – prevention, early intervention and reform remain critical to delivering an effective, efficient and sustainable health and social care system. Scottish Government officials have estimated that the social care sector alone face additional costs of more than £84m as a result of the increase in Employer National Insurance Contributions.

The Scottish Government and COSLA continue to raise this issue with the UK Government and request that funding is provided to cover the full cost of these changes for public services and those commissioned services that deliver critical services such as social care.

While we continue to engage with the UK Government on this matter, Scottish Government officials are undertaking a programme of work to understand and respond to the current financial viability pressures in the sector and the impact that this change will have. This has included engaging with local leaders through the Collaborative Response and Assurance Group(CRAG), as well as monthly roundtables and weekly meetings with partners including Scottish Care.

That work is ongoing, and the Scottish Government is committed to working closely with partners to identify the pro-active steps that can be taken to mitigate these impacts and protect services.

Question reference: S6W-36794

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 24 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the board's reported financial situation, what its position is on how NHS Grampian will repay its reported loan from it of £92.2 million.

NHS Grampian are escalated to Level 3 of the NHS Support and Intervention Escalation Framework for financial management and position and the Board continue to receive tailored support from the Scottish Government.

Outstanding brokerage must be repaid to Scottish Government once an NHS Board has returned to financial sustainability. At present, Scottish Government are working with NHS Grampian to secure a credible path to balance, and outstanding brokerage will be recovered once this has been achieved

Question reference: S6W-36759

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 24 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-35620 by Neil Gray on 20 March 2025, whether it will provide details of the work that Healthcare Improvement Scotland is undertaking to standardise the reporting of incidents of rape and sexual assault in hospitals and on the NHS estate, and when these changes will be implemented.

Health Improvement Scotland are working with all NHS boards and partner organisations to standardise the reporting of adverse events, and have developed a national framework which was published in February 2025.

This also includes a standard review process through the development of a national Significant Adverse Event Review template with associated guidance and national learning summary. The category of violence and aggression (which includes instances of sexual violence) is a priority category.

The safety of staff and patients is the responsibility of the individual Health Board. We expect Health Boards to make every effort to keep staff, patients and service users safe and to report incidents to the police where appropriate.

The courts have extensive powers to deal robustly with sexual offending. All instances of such behaviour should be reported and escalated to Police Scotland as quickly as possible for consideration of necessary action.

Speciality	Procedure	Allocation
Orthopaedics	Foot and Ankle	70
Orthopaedics	Joints	600
Ophthalmology	Cataract	1753

Speciality	Procedure	Allocation
Orthopaedics	Joints	322
Ophthalmology	Cataract	400