Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-40017

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 8 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to reduce diagnostic waiting times for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in NHS Lanarkshire.

I refer the Member to the answer to question S6W-40018 on 8 September 2025, which outlines work that the Scottish Government is doing with all Health Boards, including NHS Lanarkshire. 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-40060

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 8 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what current work it is undertaking to address the reported rise in misogyny across Scotland, as highlighted in motion S6M-18495 and recent incidents where survivors of sexual violence have reportedly been targeted, and what its justification is for deciding to no longer proceed with its commitment to a standalone Misogyny Bill, in light of the recommendations from the Misogyny and Criminal Justice in Scotland Working Group and reported evidence of harm.

Given the short amount of time left in this Parliamentary session, there is insufficient time for a Misogyny Bill to be finalised and introduced. This is a complex area of policy and law, and it would be necessary that any Bill which brought misogyny into criminal law contained clear and unambiguous provisions in regard to the circumstances in which they apply. This would include the policy implications of the recent Supreme Court judgment.

We want new legal protections for women and girls to be in place, and the hate crime model presents an opportunity to do so. On Thursday, 28 August 2025, we laid in draft an SSI to add the characteristic of sex to the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021. If passed, it will make it an offence for a person to stir up hatred against women and girls, and where an offender is motivated by, or demonstrates, malice and ill-will towards women and girls in committing a criminal offence, that offence will be aggravated by prejudice relating to the characteristic of sex.

Further, we continue to take forward a range of actions in schools to address gender based violence and sexual harassment. Our Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) Scotland Programme is working to tackle gender stereotyping and attitudes that condone violence against women and girls, and addresses a range of behaviours including name-calling, sexting, controlling behaviour and harassment. We have also published a national framework for schools to help tackle sexual harassment and gender-based violence. Rape Crisis Scotland also provide a national sexual violence prevention programme to local authority secondary schools across Scotland. The programme aims to provide consistency in approaches to the prevention of sexual violence and contributes to Equally Safe (our strategy to prevent and eradicate violence against women and girls). Since the programme started in 2016, it has reached over 48,000 pupils.

Question reference: S6W-40059

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 8 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what immediate steps it is taking to ensure that women attending protests or public events, including any outside the Scottish Parliament by extremist groups or any where tensions may rise, are protected from harassment, intimidation and abuse.

The right to demonstrate and protest are fundamental human rights which the Scottish Government is committed to upholding. Those simply going about their business should be able to do so without the fear of any form of abusive behaviour. Where such behaviour occurs it should be reported to the police to allow them to take action.

The Scottish Government fully supports Police Scotland to take appropriate and proportionate action to safeguard public safety including at protests. Police Scotland has powers to tackle any behaviour which is antisocial or criminal, as well as public order powers to impose directions or conditions on, or disperse, public assemblies where this is deemed necessary.

Question reference: S6W-40339

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 September 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 19 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to prevent older people from becoming victims of phishing scams, including in relation to social security payments.

Question reference: S6W-39972

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 4 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what actions are being taken to address any shortfall in audiology staffing, in light of reports that the workforce is currently at 65% of the level required for safe and effective service delivery.

As part of our strategic approach to healthcare science, the Scottish Government is actively undertaking work to ensure healthcare science professions, including audiology, are included as part of wider work on reform and renewal of NHS Scotland.

This sits hand in hand with activity which will enable us to be able to map our scientific workforce in NHS Scotland more accurately, strengthening capacity, training and recruitment pipelines for audiologists, and supporting better workforce planning for the future.

Question reference: S6W-39965

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 4 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that audiology services are compliant with the British Sign Language (Scotland) Act 2015, and whether enforcement mechanisms are in place.

The Scottish Government instructed NHS Territorial Health Boards to outline their governance, reporting and management processes through a Local Assurance Framework in 2024, as well as, requiring the inclusion of audiology in their 2025-26 Annual Delivery Plans.

Decisions regarding accessibility policy and planning of this nature are made by individual Health Boards based on local priorities and needs. Boards are expected to assess the impact of their policies and functions on people with protected characteristics and equality groups in line with statutory requirements.

Question reference: S6W-39968

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 4 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made regarding supporting NHS boards to achieve Improving Quality in Physiological Services (IQIPS) accreditation for audiology services.

The Scottish Government has committed funding to all territorial Health Boards to undertake Improving Quality in Physiological Services (IQIPS) benchmarking throughout the current financial year.

An executive lead group for audiology has been reestablished, with representation from each NHS Territorial Health Board to consider the outputs and next steps of this work, which will conclude within the current financial year.

Question reference: S6W-39950

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 4 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will commit to amending NHS fertility guidelines to ensure that embryo creation and implantation remain funded when privately sourced donor eggs are used, provided that they meet UK safety and quality standards, in order to eliminate any discrimination against couples based solely on the origin of donor gametes.

Question reference: S6W-39969

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 4 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what measures are being put in place to ensure there is external audit and peer review of audiology services, as recommended in the Independent Review of Audiology Services in Scotland report.

Scottish Audiology Heads of Service have recently initiated an in house peer review process and are continuing to see positive results from this. As part of Improving Quality in Physiological Services (IQIPS) benchmarking, a mapping exercise is currently underway which includes the consideration of national peer review for audiology services.

An executive lead group for audiology has been reestablished, with representation from each NHS Territorial Health Board to consider the outputs and next steps of this work, which will conclude within the current financial year.

Question reference: S6W-39966

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 4 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will require NHS boards to include audiology-specific commitments in their British Sign Language local plans.

The Scottish Government instructed NHS Territorial Health Boards to outline their governance, reporting and management processes through a Local Assurance Framework in 2024, as well as, requiring the inclusion of audiology in their 2025-26 Annual Delivery Plans.

Decisions regarding accessibility policy and planning of this nature are made by individual Health Boards based on local priorities and needs. Boards are expected to assess the impact of their policies and functions on people with protected characteristics and equality groups in line with statutory requirements.

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