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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-22069

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what further action it can take to ensure that women are not harassed when travelling to abortion services, in light of reports that the anti-abortion group, 40 Days for Life, has resumed protests outside the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.

Women should be able to access abortion services without fear of intimidation, harassment, or unwanted influence. That is why the Scottish Government has been supporting Ms Gillian Mackay MSP to draft and develop the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Bill.

I am delighted that Ms Mackay introduced the Bill into Parliament on 5 th October, and I will continue to work closely with her during the Bill’s parliamentary passage.

Question reference: S6W-22190

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has discussed the most appropriate ways to support people with endometriosis with colleges and universities in Scotland’s further and higher education sectors; if so, when these discussions last took place, and when any further discussions are planned to take place.

Question reference: S6W-22072

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has given any consideration to abortion clinic buffer zones in place across the rest of the UK in formulating its own position on implementing protections for those attending clinics in Scotland.

Safe access zones have been established by national legislation in Northern Ireland, and in some local authority areas in England using Public Spaces Protection Orders. The Scottish Government has given careful consideration to both approaches, and has engaged with officials from these administrations to learn from their experiences of implementation. Officials also continue to engage with UK Government counterparts as they work to bring national legislative provisions into force that will establish safe access zones in England and Wales, as well as with officials from the Republic of Ireland, where a bill to establish zones is currently making its way through the National Parliament (Oireachtas).

This consideration and engagement has informed the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Bill; however, the Bill reflects Scotland’s particular circumstances and requirements.

Question reference: S6W-22189

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has gathered any information on awareness of endometriosis among the general public, and, if so, whether it will publish those findings.

In March 2023, the Scottish Government ran an endometriosis public awareness campaign in partnership with Young Scot, targeted primarily at increasing young people’s awareness of the condition.

Following the campaign a post-evaluative survey ran to measure the impact of the information on the audience. Key statistics are as follows:

82% of young people agreed or strongly agreed that they are more informed about the symptoms of endometriosis
71% of young people agreed or strongly agreed that they are more informed about how to support someone with endometriosis
74% of young people agreed or strongly agreed that they would know where to get support or what steps they could take if they thought they may have endometriosis
97% of young people who visited young.scot/Endometriosis found it useful or very useful

Question reference: S6W-22070

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many women have had to travel outside their NHS board area for an abortion in each year since 2019-20, also broken down by the patients' NHS board.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) data is provided below on numbers of patients receiving abortion treatment in a Health Board other than their Board of residence.

It is not possible to distinguish how many patients had to receive treatment in another Health Board or how many chose to do so.

Number of terminations where Board of treatment is different from Board of residence, Scotland, 2019 to 2022.

Health board of residence	2019	2020	2021	2022 (Provisional)
NHS Ayrshire and Arran	15	8	7	9
NHS Borders	*	*	*	*
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	*	*	*	*
NHS Fife	82	73	84	85
NHS Forth Valley	12	23	14	12
NHS Grampian	11	*	10	*
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde	9	6	8	8
NHS Highland	116	131	158	144
NHS Lanarkshire	348	343	266	273
NHS Lothian	5	10	6	8
NHS Tayside	9	14	11	14
Island Boards	53	45	37	45
Total	665	660	605	605

Excludes terminations where board of residence is not known or terminations were carried out privately.

* Indicates values that have been suppressed due to the potential risk of disclosure.

Question reference: S6W-22071

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether its ministers have engaged with any of their counterparts in Northern Ireland, Wales and England about introducing abortion clinic buffer zones in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-22191

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether there is any guidance for (a) public and (b) private sector employers on how to support employees with endometriosis.

As set out in the Women’s Health Plan , we are committed to developing a menopause and menstrual health workplace policy for NHS Scotland, as an example of best practice and to promote equivalent efforts across the public, private and third sector. This policy and its supporting guides will launch at the end of October.

It aims to provide a supportive environment, where staff (in a predominately female sector) can perform at their best, in a way that supports their wellbeing and ultimately helps staff retention.

Line managers and workplace adjustment guides will also be published to supplement the policy. These guides will be available to all staff across Scotland, not just NHS Scotland employees.

Additionally, Endometriosis UK run the Endometriosis Employer Friendly Scheme and a number of employers across Scotland have signed on to the scheme. In addition, the Endometriosis UK website also hosts resources for employers and employees on how to support those with endometriosis in the workplace.

Question reference: S6W-22188

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether the final version of the Endometriosis Pathway for Scotland has been formally shared across NHS Scotland, and, if not, when that will happen.

Question reference: S6W-22115

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government by what date it plans to publish the guidelines for farmers to adopt ahead of the proposed implementation of provisions in the Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Bill.

Question reference: S6W-22062

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to improve abortion services in Scotland, in order to prevent any need for women to travel to England for abortions.

The Scottish Government is working to take forward the action in the Women’s Health Plan that seek to enable all patients to access mid-trimester abortion care locally or regionally. Progress has been made, with all mainland NHS Boards now offering services up to at least 20 weeks’ gestation as recommended by the 2022 Healthcare Improvement Scotland Sexual Health Standards.

The Scottish Government commissioned NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) to develop a specification to deliver a national service for abortions between 20 to 24 weeks gestation within Scotland. NSS has been discussing its specification with NHS Boards and is also exploring other delivery options for the service.

We are also working with individual NHS Boards to support clinicians who wish to receive training to deliver later stage abortions to be granted funding to do so, and to encourage NHS Boards to ensure that patients close to 20 weeks’ gestation are prioritised for appointments.