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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-40581

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 September 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 1 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the timeline is for the introduction of the next phase of the Women’s Health Plan.

Question reference: S6W-40509

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 15 September 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 29 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to introduce a protest exclusion zone around properties where asylum seekers are living either temporarily or permanently, in light of the reported increase in violence and intimidation surrounding such sites.

Question reference: S6W-40508

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 15 September 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 29 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to provide additional protection for locations where asylum seekers are living either permanently or temporarily, in light of the reported recent increase in violence and intimidation surrounding such properties.

Question reference: S6T-02665

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 15 September 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Royal College of Nursing’s reported concerns regarding the decline in the number of nursing students, in light of recent UCAS figures showing that the number of accepted places on nursing courses beginning this autumn in Scotland is 5% lower than last year.

Question reference: S6W-40487

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 September 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 26 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Scottish Rugby report, Breaking the silence: why breast health matters in rugby, which was published in September 2025 and highlights research concerning the difference in performance made by having a proper fitting for a sports bra, how it will raise awareness among women and girls of the potential damage to health that can be caused by ill-fitting sports bras, including informing them of the potential damage that might arise in sporting settings.

Question reference: S6W-40011

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 11 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to reduce the number of deaths from breast cancer, in light of it being the most common cancer affecting women in Scotland.

All cancers, including breast, remain a national priority, within the Scottish Government and across NHS Scotland. That is why we published our Cancer strategy 2023 to 2033 - gov.scot along with an initial three year Cancer action plan 2023 to 2026 - gov.scot on 15 June 2023.

The strategy and plan take a comprehensive approach to improving patient pathways from prevention and diagnosis through to treatment and post-treatment care.

We know that the earlier cancer is diagnosed the easier it is to treat and even cure which is why we continue to invest in our Detect Cancer Earlier (DCE) Programme, initially launched in 2012.

The Programme takes a whole-systems approach to early detection and encompasses primary care, diagnostics, public education, data, innovation and screening.

A Detect Cancer Earlier campaign – Be The Early Bird - launched on March 2023 aiming to reduce fear of cancer and empower those with possible symptoms to act early. This campaign ran for a second time in March 2025 and is due to run again in the coming months.

Scottish Government has also commissioned the Scottish Cancer Network to collaboratively develop national clinical management pathways. One of the first, addressing breast cancer, was published in 2023.

Clinical management pathways are developed through consensus and outline the patient journey from diagnosis through to follow-up or end of life care. The pathways describe the treatment options at the various points in each pathway to support shared decision making. The use of these pathways throughout NHS Scotland supports clinicians in their decision making enabling them to improve outcomes for patients with breast cancer.

Further to this, Scottish Government is continuing to take action to improve waiting times with £14.23 million of the £110 million in additional planned care funding for 2025-26 to Cancer Waiting Times, with a focus on colorectal, urological and breast as our most challenged pathways.

Question reference: S6W-40012

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 11 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the article in The Lancet, The potential role of Mifepristone in breast cancer prevention: beyond medical abortion.

There are studies that show a developing evidence base for the use of mifepristone in breast cancer prevention as outlined in the opinion piece in The Lancet.

The regulation for the licensing, safety and efficacy of medicines is currently reserved to the UK Government and is the responsibility of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The MHRA is also responsible for enabling innovation, research and development that is beneficial to public health, including overseeing clinical trials which underpin evidence based practice. Clinical trials are an important part of the pathway by which a new medicinal product or a new use of an existing medicine can be marketed for use as a new treatment.

Before a medicine can be marketed, a pharmaceutical company must be able to demonstrate its safety, quality and efficacy. A marketing authorisation (sometimes called a licence) is granted to market a medicine for a specific indication (condition) and not to the medicine itself. The decision to apply for a marketing authorisation for a new medicine or new indication is for a pharmaceutical company to make. In doing so they must include data from clinical trials and other studies demonstrating the quality, safety and efficacy of the medicine. After detailed assessment and providing the data is satisfactory, a marketing authorisation may be granted.

Question reference: S6W-39845

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 11 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to concerns raised in the report by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights regarding human rights and access to maternity services, and what lessons can be learned in relation to Wigtownshire maternity services.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-38163 on 17 June 2025, on the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights report as regards to the provision of maternity services in rural areas.

The Scottish Government expects all NHS Boards to provide maternity services that are delivered as close to home as practicable, balanced with ensuring the safety of mother and baby. Within the policies we set, it is for NHS Boards to determine the model of service delivery best suited to meet the needs of their local areas and population.

Maternity services continue to be provided for women in Wigtownshire, including local antenatal and postnatal care, scanning and the option of midwife-supported home birth for women who choose to birth locally. Women who require more complex maternity care continue to be supported by the full clinical team at Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary. Responsibility for the design and delivery of local services lies with NHS Boards and Integration Joint Boards in line with their duties to deliver safe, effective and sustainable care. NHS Dumfries and Galloway has reaffirmed its commitment to the delivery of safe, high-quality maternity care for all families in Wigtownshire.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

Question reference: S6W-40013

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 8 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the article in The Lancet, The potential role of mifepristone in breast cancer prevention: beyond medical abortion, whether it would support research into the use of mifepristone as a drug to help prevent women at high risk of breast cancer from developing the disease.

Within the Scottish Government, the Chief Scientist Office (CSO) is responsible for supporting Health and Care research.

CSO runs a number of project and fellowship funding schemes for Scottish-led research and this role is well known across the Health and Care research community here.

Grant Funding – Chief Scientist Office

Fellowship Funding – Chief Scientist Office

Applications on the potential use of Mifepristone to prevent women at high risk of breast cancer from developing the disease are welcomed. In common with all applications, these would go through CSO's standard independent expert review process to enable funding decisions to be made.

In addition, through UK-wide funding arrangements, the majority of funding programmes administered by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) are open to applications led by researchers based in Scotland.

Scottish Researchers to be able to access further NIHR research funding – Chief Scientist Office

Question reference: S6W-40372

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 22 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the recently published report, Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder; The Welfare State: Recommendations for Reform, how it will (a) act to improve the experiences of people with premenstrual dysphoric disorder applying for a social security benefit and (b) implement the report’s recommendations.