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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-39555

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 25 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has paid to polling companies in each of the last five years, and which topics were polls held on.

Question reference: S6W-39561

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 25 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what policies and strategies it has in place to facilitate a freight modal shift to rail.

Question reference: S6W-39566

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 25 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, as part of the £2 million made available in its 2025-26 Budget to progress free bus travel for people seeking asylum, how many asylum seekers have accessed free bus travel through this funding to date, and what assessment it has carried out on any potential benefits of this scheme.

Question reference: S6W-39565

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 25 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many train stations operated by ScotRail in Scotland are not step-free, and what action it is taking to ensure better accessibility to all train stations.

Question reference: S6W-39563

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 25 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding its work to help local authorities deliver Low Emissions Zones (LEZs) in Scotland’s four largest cities, what assessment it has made of the impact of LEZs on air quality in each LEZ area since their introduction.

Question reference: S6W-39564

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 25 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has provided towards the construction of cycle lanes in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-38845

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 24 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, as part of its work to further the case for Scottish independence, what its policy is on whether it would introduce a ban on surrogacy in an independent Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-38847

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 17 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of Healthcare Improvement Scotland reportedly stating that the endometriosis pathway for Scotland is over 500 days past its review date, when it plans to complete its review of the pathway.

The Endometriosis Pathway was published by the Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) in January 2023. Following changes to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance a review of the pathway will be part of the 2025/26 workplan for the CfSD Gynaecology Specialty Delivery Group. CfSD have confirmed that the current pathway is clinically safe and should be used until the revised version is published.

Question reference: S6W-38848

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 17 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on methadone prescriptions in total in each of the last four years, broken down by the cost in each NHS board area.

The total drug costs and fees for dispensing methadone mixture and solution (1mg/ml) to the NHS in the last four years, broken down by NHS Board, are presented in the following table. Cost data are complete for all NHS Boards, whereas fees are incomplete as some payment elements are handled locally.

Table 1: Total drug costs and fees for dispensing methadone mixture1 Items dispensed in Scotland, by NHS Board – 2021-22 to 2024-25

Financial Year	Dispensing NHS Health Board	Gross Ingredient Cost (£)2	Methadone fees (£)3	Supervision fees (£)3
2021-2022	NHS AYRSHIRE & ARRAN	304,693.38	0.00	0.00
2021-2022	NHS BORDERS	41,349.86	40,124.00	159,567.05
2021-2022	NHS DUMFRIES & GALLOWAY	80,314.45	0.00	0.00
2021-2022	NHS FIFE	251,554.68	390,415.86	420,191.18
2021-2022	NHS FORTH VALLEY	147,969.88	0.00	0.00
2021-2022	NHS GRAMPIAN	381,538.65	0.00	0.00
2021-2022	NHS GREATER GLASGOW & CLYDE	1,255,396.78	0.00	0.00
2021-2022	NHS HIGHLAND	105,955.19	197,355.96	184,355.19
2021-2022	NHS LANARKSHIRE	289,756.86	0.00	0.00
2021-2022	NHS LOTHIAN	704,497.25	1,397,547.80	792,352.44
2021-2022	NHS ORKNEY	1,084.65	1,210.25	595.50
2021-2022	NHS SHETLAND	11,195.44	18,367.60	28,239.75
2021-2022	NHS TAYSIDE	310,481.97	343,301.76	683,187.40
2021-2022	NHS WESTERN ISLES	25.39	0.00	0.00
2022-2023	NHS AYRSHIRE & ARRAN	291,795.55	0.00	0.00
2022-2023	NHS BORDERS	39,789.04	37,985.50	139,743.90
2022-2023	NHS DUMFRIES & GALLOWAY	70,767.07	0.00	0.00
2022-2023	NHS FIFE	243,083.30	323,941.11	460,051.20
2022-2023	NHS FORTH VALLEY	129,429.92	0.00	0.00
2022-2023	NHS GRAMPIAN	369,590.97	0.00	0.00
2022-2023	NHS GREATER GLASGOW & CLYDE	1,197,752.81	0.00	0.00
2022-2023	NHS HIGHLAND	92,040.84	166,234.50	143,635.05
2022-2023	NHS LANARKSHIRE	278,789.50	0.00	0.00
2022-2023	NHS LOTHIAN	646,472.23	1,169,814.80	843,563.52
2022-2023	NHS ORKNEY	1,665.62	1,616.80	3,426.11
2022-2023	NHS SHETLAND	11,312.53	17,850.60	26,984.65
2022-2023	NHS TAYSIDE	299,996.81	0.00	0.00
2022-2023	NHS WESTERN ISLES	5.07	0.00	0.00
2023-2024	NHS AYRSHIRE & ARRAN	335,338.57	0.00	0.00
2023-2024	NHS BORDERS	40,875.13	33,747.00	105,262.35
2023-2024	NHS DUMFRIES & GALLOWAY	71,464.99	0.00	0.00
2023-2024	NHS FIFE	280,714.92	290,144.67	439,219.80
2023-2024	NHS FORTH VALLEY	131,621.10	0.00	0.00
2023-2024	NHS GRAMPIAN	423,089.50	0.00	0.00
2023-2024	NHS GREATER GLASGOW & CLYDE	1,313,087.61	0.00	0.00
2023-2024	NHS HIGHLAND	100,234.48	65,519.64	55,251.99
2023-2024	NHS LANARKSHIRE	308,163.04	0.00	0.00
2023-2024	NHS LOTHIAN	726,779.98	1,048,515.60	849,415.14
2023-2024	NHS ORKNEY	2,698.21	2,448.70	4,454.34
2023-2024	NHS SHETLAND	13,442.28	17,592.10	27,508.25
2023-2024	NHS TAYSIDE	338,191.82	0.00	0.00
2023-2024	NHS WESTERN ISLES	4.01	0.00	0.00
2024-2025	NHS AYRSHIRE & ARRAN	257,087.89	0.00	0.00
2024-2025	NHS BORDERS	29,526.74	29,081.50	71,850.25
2024-2025	NHS DUMFRIES & GALLOWAY	56,565.83	0.00	0.00
2024-2025	NHS FIFE	224,748.68	261,228.84	437,710.42
2024-2025	NHS FORTH VALLEY	94,568.56	0.00	0.00
2024-2025	NHS GRAMPIAN	335,528.19	0.00	0.00
2024-2025	NHS GREATER GLASGOW & CLYDE	1,046,733.51	0.00	0.00
2024-2025	NHS HIGHLAND	78,308.77	0.00	0.00
2024-2025	NHS LANARKSHIRE	240,929.05	0.00	0.00
2024-2025	NHS LOTHIAN	559,407.92	937,818.20	805,844.34
2024-2025	NHS ORKNEY	2,721.21	3,047.95	4,315.39
2024-2025	NHS SHETLAND	11,652.26	16,616.85	27,308.05
2024-2025	NHS TAYSIDE	262,708.84	0.00	0.00
2024-2025	NHS WESTERN ISLES	6.36	0.00	0.00

Table 1: Total drug costs and fees for dispensing methadone mixture1 Items dispensed in Scotland for all NHS Boards, by year – 2021-22 to 2024-25

Financial Year	Gross Ingredient Cost (£)2	Methadone fees (£)3	Supervision fees (£)3	Total Cost
2021-2022	3,885,814.43	2388323.23	2268488.5	8,542,626.17
2022-2023	3,672,491.26	1717443.31	1617404.4	7,007,339.00
2023-2024	4,085,705.64	1457967.71	1481111.9	7,024,785.22
2024-2025	3,200,493.81	1247793.34	1347028.5	5,795,315.60

Question reference: S6W-38846

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 17 July 2025

The ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking in response to reports that women wait longer than men for NHS operations.

In the majority of specialties there is minimal variation between female and male median waits but we recognise that in specialties that focus on treating conditions relating to urinary and reproductive systems there can be variation.

The Scottish Government is acutely aware that many women are particularly impacted by long waits for gynaecological appointments and procedures and this is not good enough.

As the first country in the UK to publish a Women’s Health Plan we are committed to reducing health inequalities and improving health outcomes for women and girls. Timely access to gynaecology services must be addressed and I am committed to including gynaecology as a priority in the next phase of the Plan.

As a starting point, the Government has allocated over £8.8 million to Health Boards to target long waits for gynaecology and I expect this to deliver significant improvements to the backlog in the coming year through waiting list initiatives and recruitment.

The investment is part of the £200 million announced as part of the Programme for Government to build capacity, tackle delayed discharge and improve patient flow through hospitals.