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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-37580

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 May 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 27 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether any of the £4.5million announced for long COVID, myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and other similar conditions has been allocated, and how much has been provided to individual NHS boards.

Question reference: S6W-37581

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 May 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 27 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the reported increase in the number of people having to access private healthcare as a result of lengthy waiting lists is consistent with its pledge of maintaining an NHS that is free at the point of need.

Question reference: S6W-37579

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 May 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 27 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has provided to palliative care in each of the last 10 financial years.

Question reference: S6W-37577

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 May 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 27 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when the Palliative Care Strategy will be implemented.

Question reference: S6W-37576

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 May 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 27 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether the £5 million of hospice funding is to take account of the Agenda for Change pay rises only, or whether it is expected to cover the 2025-26 pay deal.

Question reference: S6W-37575

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 May 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 27 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will outline the timing and criteria for the allocation of the £5 million for hospices, which was announced in February 2025.

Question reference: S6W-37177

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 13 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when it will review and revise guidance to NHS boards on equality issues, in light of the Supreme Court ruling regarding For Women Scotland Ltd vs The Scottish Ministers.

The Scottish Government accepts the judgment of the Supreme Court. Work has already begun on implementation.

The Permanent Secretary was asked to stand up a Short Life Working Group to ensure support and consistency across Government.

Following publication of the EHRC’s update, we wrote to the EHRC to confirm that no public body, service provider or other association should issue specific guidance before the EHRC Code of Practice and guidance is finalised.

As the enforcer and regulator of the Equality Act all organisations must consider and comply with the EHRC revised Code of Practice and guidance to ensure there is a consistent and clear understanding of the correct application of the law for all involved in this complex area.

Question reference: S6W-37176

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 13 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance has been issued to NHS boards on equality issues in each of the last 10 years, broken down by who issued it and when.

The Scottish Government expects all Boards, to comply with the legislative requirements, and in their role as employers to meet the standards set out in the national workforce policies. All guidance regarding patient health, health care delivery and workforce policies and updates, are communicated to key stakeholders in Boards for dissemination.

These are all published publicly on the NHS Scotland Publications website.

Question reference: S6W-37283

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 13 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it assesses how many (a) neuropsychiatrists and (b) neuropsychologists are needed in NHS Scotland.

a) There is no specific workforce data collected for neuropsychiatrists in Scotland or the rest of the UK. This is not a specialty or sub-specialty of psychiatry and would usually be a special interest of doctors trained in Old Age or General Adult Psychiatry. As part of higher psychiatry training programmes resident doctors are able to undertake additional training in this area such as a masters degree and placements in liaison psychiatry.

b) Neuropsychologist is not a recognised job role within NHS Scotland. Postgraduate Applied Psychologists (mainly Clinical Psychologists) may undertake further training to various levels in neuropsychology. NHS employing Boards make decisions about what additional training may be required to meet the needs of their population. Every year NHS Education for Scotland (NES) undertakes an annual commissioning process with Boards to discuss their psychological workforce development and training needs. NES supports the provision of Neuropsychology training at the University of Glasgow which is highly valued by Boards.

Question reference: S6W-37281

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 13 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many full-time equivalent (FTE) (a) neuropsychiatrists and (b) neuropsychologists are employed in each NHS board.

a) There is no specific workforce data collected for neuropsychiatrists in Scotland or the rest of the UK. This is not a specialty or sub-specialty of psychiatry and would usually be a special interest of doctors trained in Old Age or General Adult Psychiatry. As part of higher psychiatry training programmes resident doctors can undertake additional training in this area such as a masters degree and placements in liaison psychiatry.

b) WTE Applied Psychologists working in Neuropsychology in NHS Scotland as of 31st December 2024*:

NHS Board	WTE Applied Psychologists working in Neuropsychology
Total NHS Scotland	54.2
NHS Ayrshire & Arran	5.6
NHS Borders	0.0
NHS Dumfries & Galloway	0.8
NHS Fife	1.6
NHS Forth Valley	2.4
NHS Grampian	8.9
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde	16.6
NHS Highland	3.1
NHS Lanarkshire	3.6
NHS Lothian	8.3
NHS Orkney	0.0
NHS Shetland	0.0
NHS Tayside	3.4
NHS Western Isles	0.0
State Hospital	0.0
Golden Jubilee National Hospital	0.0
NHS Education for Scotland	0.0

* This is by area of work for applied psychologists which includes clinical and counselling psychologists working in neuropsychology, some of whom will also have additional specialist training in neuropsychology conferring eligibility for The British Psychological Society’s Qualification in Clinical Neuropsychology (QiCN), and others who are working towards this.