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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: 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-36751

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 24 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the support that it is giving to NHS Grampian, in light of the NHS board's reported ongoing financial difficulties.

NHS Grampian were escalated to Level 3 of the NHS Support and Intervention Escalation Framework in January 2025 for financial management and position. The Scottish Government are providing specific tailored support to NHS Grampian in order to help stabilise the financial position. Alongside additional cost improvement programmes, the support package includes a dedicated financial support lead within Scottish Government who frequently meets NHS Grampian Executives challenge their financial position and trajectories and ensure the Board is on track to meet financial improvement milestones.

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.

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-36364

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 17 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the publication of the report on the review of data, statistics and research on sex and gender (the Sullivan Review), when it will update its 2021 guidance for public bodies on the collection and publication of data on sex, gender identity and trans status, in line with recommendation 23 of the report.

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 Sullivan Review specifically recommends that the Scottish Government reviews its guidance in light of its recommendations. 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.

Ahead of this review, the Office of the Chief Statistician is engaged with wider-UK work on this topic. The Government Statistical Service (GSS) Harmonisation Team is currently developing harmonised standards for collecting data on sex and gender identity. The Office of the Chief Statistician is contributing to this work, and will consider its outputs as part of its review of the Chief Statistician’s guidance.

Question reference: S6W-36752

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 17 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce cancer waiting times in NHS Grampian, in light of the NHS board reportedly recording the worst cancer waiting times in Scotland.

Cancer remains a national priority, within the Scottish Government and across NHS Scotland, and I recognise that we must do more to ensure patients with cancer are treated faster.

We have invested over £40 million across NHS Scotland over the past five years to support cancer services and improve waiting times, with a focus on urology, colorectal and breast.

In NHS Grampian specifically, over £1.5 million of cancer funding has been provided to the board in 2024-25, to support delivery of diagnostics and treatment for patients referred with an urgent suspicion of cancer to reduce waiting lists.

Each territorial Health Board across Scotland has agreed performance improvement plans in place, detailing what is being done at local level to drive improvements. The Scottish Government has a sustained focus on the delivery of these plans and meet with Cancer Management Teams in all health boards across Scotland frequently, including NHS Grampian, to identify challenges, explore solutions, and share best practice.

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-36362

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 10 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking with NHS boards to support staff networks that provide support in relation to the protected characteristic of sex.

As part of our Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED), the Scottish Government encourages NHS employers to support the development of staff networks for all nine protected characteristics.
However, as individual employers, Boards are responsible for upholding their obligations under the PSED. Staff networks are just one way in which staff under the protected characteristic of sex are supported, including through the development of equality policy, training, and guidance.