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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-33342

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 24 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will expand the Young Patients Family Fund eligibility criteria to (a) those attending day treatment and (b) under-25s.

There are no plans to expand eligibility of The Young Patients Family Fund (YPFF) at this time.

In addition to support available under the YPFF, financial support for travel to hospital is available via the patient travel expenses reimbursement schemes. Under those schemes, patients and authorised escorts can reclaim reasonable costs of travel associated with attending a hospital appointment, in line with eligibility criteria and medical requirements.

Question reference: S6W-33336

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 24 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has invested in clinical research into (a) dementia, (b) neurodegenerative conditions, (c) non-neurodegenerative conditions and (d) other neurological conditions in each of the last five years.

Within the Scottish Government, funding for Health and Care Research comes under the policy remit of the Chief Scientist Office (CSO)

CSO directly funds research through its research project and fellowship schemes. These are open to applications from across the clinical spectrum. All applications go through the same independent expert review process to enable funding decisions to be made

For multi-year projects and fellowships, the funding figure is allocated to the year corresponding to the start date and is the total amount committed to the project or fellowship

The 4 categories listed have been interpreted as follows:

Dementia - category including Alzheimer's; Frontotemporal Lobe Dementia; Lewy Body Dementia

2024-25	28,115
2023-24	299,999
2022-23	592,437
2021-22	260,978
2020-21	20,000

Neurodegenerative Conditions - category including MND/ALS; Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's

2024-25	132,368
2023-24	356,955
2022-23
2021-22	1,947,038
2020-21	73,325

Non-neurodegenerative conditions - category including Epilepsy; Migraine; Seizures

2024-25
2023-24	501,704
2022-23
2021-22	379,814
2020-21

Other neurological conditions - category including Ischaemic and Haemorrhagic Stroke; Cerebral Small Vessel Disease; Acquired Brain Injury

2024-25	550,919
2023-24	300,000
2022-23	856,698
2021-22	762,439
2020-21	78,744

In addition to directly funding research projects and fellowships, CSO also funds the NHS Research Scotland infrastructure that supports the running of Clinical Trials in the NHS here. This infrastructure includes topic-specific research networks which act as the interface between the research community, the NHS and patients themselves, facilitating the set up, delivery and completion of clinical studies across Scotland within their specific clinical areas

The research networks in Dementia/Neuroprogressive Conditions; Stroke; and Pain support the delivery of clinical studies across one or more of the above categories.

Details of CSO funding for these 3 research networks is provided in the table below:

Network / Specialty	FY 2020-21	FY 2021-22	FY 2022-23	FY 2023-24	FY 2024-25	Total per area
Neuroprogressive & Dementia	£506,000	£677,000	£777,000	£829,000	£855,000	£3,644,000
Stroke	£616,000	£641,000	£689,000	£734,000	£757,000	£3,437,000
NRS Pain	£14,404	£14,821	£18,000	£28,500	£30,000	£105,725
Total per Financial Year	£1,136,404	£1,332,821	£1,484,000	£1,591,500	£1,642,000	£7,186,725

Question reference: S6W-33331

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 24 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has identified the next priorities for the improvement of neurological care and support; if so, what these priorities are; what funding it will put towards achieving them, and over what time period.

Priorities for the Scottish Government are:

national implementation of the Scottish Epilepsy Register,
further adoption of successful approaches to improving services through the neurological conditions network,
continued improvements in provision of ‘social support’ and psychological services for people with neurological conditions,
continued development and adoption of condition specific care pathways,
continued development and adoption of approaches to workforce planning and training for nursing, pharmacy, neuropsychology allied health professionals, and neurophysiology.

This work will be considered as part of the development of the Long Term Conditions Strategy due to be published later this year. Any required funding will be considered during the 2025-26 budget deliberations.

Question reference: S6W-33333

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 24 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government which neurological conditions it has invested in through framework funding during the period covered by the Neurological Care and Support Framework for Action 2020–2025.

The largest proportion of funding has been awarded to projects that improve services for all or more than one neurological condition, including services for carers. Direct investment was also made to projects for the following specific conditions:

Acquired Brain Injury
Cerebral Palsy
Epilepsy
Functional Neurological Disorder (FND)
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS)
Migraine
Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
Parkinson’s Disease
Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP)
Psychogenic Non-Epileptic Seizures
Spina bifida/ hydrocephalus

A full list of projects funded through the Neurological Framework can be found here.

Question reference: S6W-33335

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 24 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many people with a terminal neurological condition have met the criteria for requiring palliative care in each year since 2021-22, broken down by how many received specialist palliative care.

Question reference: S6W-33346

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 23 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to renew the Collaborative and Compassionate Care – The Cancer Strategy for Children and Young People in Scotland 2021-2026.

The delivery of the Cancer Strategy for Children and Young People in Scotland 2021- 2026 continues to be taken forwards by the Managed Service Network for Children and Young People with Cancer (MSN CYPC) into 2026.

The progression of actions in the strategy are regularly reviewed by MSN CYPC and will inform any future national strategy approach required to ensure that children and young people with cancer will have access to the best possible treatment and care.

Question reference: S6W-33001

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 23 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide multi-annual funding for (a) long COVID and (b) myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) services in NHS boards.

The draft budget published on 4 December 2024 includes new investment of £4.5 million to deliver new specialist support across the country for long COVID, ME, Chronic Fatigue, and other similar conditions.

The funding commitment is for 2025-26 only at this stage. As the Cabinet Secretary outlined in his letter to the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee on 4 December 2024, “the Scottish Government operates an annual budget due to the single year settlement from the UK Government”. The UK spending review in the spring will provide much needed clarity on future funding levels which will help to inform our budget setting and move spending onto a more sustainable path. We would recommend that the question of a multi-year commitment is revisited after the UK Government spending review.

Question reference: S6W-33345

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 23 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish an evaluation of the outcomes of the Collaborative and Compassionate Cancer Care – The Cancer Strategy for Children and Young People in Scotland 2021-2026.

Implementation and evaluation of the Collaborative and Compassionate Cancer Care The Cancer Strategy for Children and Young People in Scotland 2021–2026 is managed by the Managed Service Network for Children and Young People with Cancer (MSN CYPC).

Consideration will be given to an evaluation of the delivery of this strategy as it continues into 2026. Recommendations and actions are continually reviewed by MSN CYPC and the 2023-24 MSN CYPC Annual Report has been published on the MSN CYPC website – www.msncypc.Inhs.scot.

Question reference: S6W-33348

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 23 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what data is published that disaggregates the information that it has for 16- to 25-year-olds with cancer from other age groups.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) publishes annual data on 16 to 25 year olds with cancer in Scotland in their incidence statistics. The latest report is available on the PHS website

PHS also publishes information on cancer in children (ages 0 to 14) and young people (ages 15 to 24) in Scotland

Children and young people with cancer in Scotland 9 May 2023 - Children and young people with cancer in Scotland - Publications - Public Health Scotland

Question reference: S6W-33343

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 23 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what financial support it provides to 18- to 25-year-olds to attend day appointments for cancer treatment.

Health Boards are expected to support patients and their families in identifying and accessing available support. Financial support for travel is available for patients and authorised escorts, according to eligibility criteria and medical requirements, through schemes such as the Patient Travel Expenses Scheme (PTES) and the Highlands and Islands Travel Scheme (HITS).

Scottish Government has funded Young Lives Vs Cancer to provide practical advice and emotional and financial support to young people diagnosed with cancer and their families. This includes advice on potential welfare benefits as well as direct grants.

Further to this, we are working in partnership with Macmillan to improve the service we offer patients with cancer through the Transforming Cancer Care Programme (TCC). This partnership with Macmillan is worth £27 million and is the first of its kind in the UK. The programme ensures that every patient with cancer in Scotland has access to a specialist key support worker, who can provide emotional, financial, and practical support.