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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-41403

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 17 October 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 14 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the reported purchase of Kinrara Estate near Aviemore by Oxygen Conservation is in the public interest.

Question reference: S6W-41404

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 17 October 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 14 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government where the liability lies for any repayment of planting grants given to the Kinrara Estate, near Aviemore, following the reported sale of the estate by Brewdog to Oxygen Conservation.

Question reference: S6W-40688

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 6 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of Calmare therapy being offered in Ireland, Italy, Germany, USA and Australia, what its position is on the reported view of the UK specialist clinic, the London Spine Unit, that the therapy is an “efficient and safe alternative for several different types of refractory chronic neuropathic pain, with a very rare possibility of adverse events”.

The Scottish Government is determined to improve care and support for people with chronic pain. Progress continues with our Implementation Plan which sets out the actions we will take to address the things people with chronic pain have told us matter most to them.

It is our intention that people can access safe, effective, evidence-based care and support. Decisions about the appropriateness of referral to pain specialist services, or medications for pain management, will be made by the clinician in discussion with the patient, with reference to their medical history and line with clinical best practice. Calmare therapy is not currently recommended for use in the UK.

Question reference: S6W-40687

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 6 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what research it is undertaking into the potential (a) effectiveness and (b) cost-effectiveness of Calmare therapy in offering relief for conditions such as nerve pain, cancer pain, opioid-induced pain and chronic regional pain syndrome, and whether this therapy is being considered for routine commissioning to offer relief for such conditions.

The Scottish Government’s Chief Scientist Office (CSO) is responsible for supporting health and care research. The CSO runs a number of projects and fellowship funding schemes for Scottish-led research.

Applications on the potential (a) effectiveness and (b) cost-effectiveness of Calmare therapy 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.

We have asked NHS Research Scotland Networks for Musculoskeletal and Pain that might be expected to have Calmare therapy within their portfolios whether they are supporting any studies. Neither is currently doing so.

Question reference: S6W-40745

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 1 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of it withdrawing the Scottish Good Practice statement on myalgic enchephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and adopting the NICE Guideline on the condition, how compliant specialist services for ME/CFS are to be instituted and monitored for NICE Clinical Guideline compliance across Scotland, and whether it will implement and fund the Delivery Plan elements that are within its devolved competence.

The provision of healthcare services is the responsibility of NHS boards. We expect all boards to ensure that their services are informed by current clinical best practice. In commissioning boards’ plans for the recently announced £4.5 million a year in funding for ME/CFS, long-COVID and other similar conditions, we have stressed the importance of ensuring that services are informed by current clinical best practice, such as National Institute for Excellence in Healthcare (NICE) guidelines NG:206 and NG:188- which are available to clinicians across the UK.

There are no devolved elements of the UK Government’s Delivery Plan on ME/CFS; it covers the population of England only. However, the UK Government shared anonymised responses to its public consultation on the draft Plan from stakeholders living in Scotland with the Scottish Government, and we are taking these views into account as we progress our ongoing work on ME/CFS.

Question reference: S6W-40852

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 29 September 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 27 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has considered seeking to amend the definition of peatland under the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024 to cover areas of peat with a thickness of 30 centimetres or greater, and if so, what the outcome was, in light of the recent decision by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to restrict burning of upland peat in England to a maximum depth of 30 centimetres, except where covered by a licence.

Question reference: S6W-40833

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 26 September 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 10 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to mark the anniversary in November of the founding of the Highlands and Islands Development Board.

Question reference: S6W-40832

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 26 September 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 10 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment has been made of the impact that the Highlands and Islands Development Board had on the economic and social development of the Highlands and Islands.

Question reference: S6W-40526

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 15 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 23 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-36012 by Fiona Hyslop on 31 March 2025, by what date the construction of the controlled pedestrian crossing at Raigmore interchange in Inverness will begin.

Question reference: S6W-40128

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 16 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to conduct a post-implementation review of its Habitats Regulations, similar to that carried out by the UK Government in July 2025, and, if so, what the timeline for this will be, and whether it will publish any conclusions that it has reached on the regulations to date.