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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-40143

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 5 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the eligibility criteria for a COVID-19 vaccine have reportedly changed, in light of reported concerns that older people who act as unpaid carers, who were previously eligible for a vaccine, will now have to pay up to £100 for one.

The Scottish Government’s decision-making throughout the COVID-19 vaccination programme has been guided by the expert clinical advice of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).

In its statement of 8 April 2024 the JCVI stated it no longer advised an offer of COVID-19 vaccination for unpaid carers and household contacts of people with immunosuppression. As a result, unpaid carers and household contacts of people with immunosuppression were removed from the programme as of winter 2024-25. This position is consistent across all UK nations, and remains unchanged for winter 2025-26.

The reasons the JCVI no longer advised the inclusion of these groups are:

that the indirect benefits of vaccination (vaccinating an individual in order to reduce the risk of severe disease in other people) became less evident compared with previous years due to high levels of population immunity;
the fact that vaccines provide moderate protection against severe COVID-19 for a few months;
protection against mild symptomatic infection is much more limited in terms of peak protection and duration of protection and that with the evidence available, protection against transmission is extremely limited.

In its statement of 14 November 2024, the JCVI once more updated its advice on eligibility for COVID-19 vaccination and for winter 2025-26 the following groups remain eligible:

Residents in care homes for older adults
All adults aged 75 years and over
Individuals aged 6 months and over who are immunosuppressed (as defined in the 'immunosuppression' sections of tables 3 and 4 in the COVID-19 chapter of the Green Book).

The statement advised that the COVID-19 vaccination programme should now move to JCVI's standard cost effectiveness assessment, as per other routine vaccination programmes.

Furthermore, over the last four years, population immunity to COVID-19 has been increasing due to a combination of naturally acquired immunity following recovery from infection and vaccine-derived immunity. COVID-19 is now a relatively mild disease for most people, though it can still be unpleasant, with rates of hospitalisation and death from COVID-19 having reduced significantly since it first emerged. This has led to a more refined approach to the targeting of the COVID-19 vaccination programme, with a focus on individuals where there is good evidence of a high risk of hospitalisation and/or mortality.

The Scottish Government encourages those eligible to take up the offer of COVID-19 vaccination.

Question reference: S6W-40071

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 September 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 19 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the application by Tesla Energy Ventures Limited for an electricity supply licence, what its position is regarding any impact on its energy policy and strategy in the event that the licence is granted by Ofgem.

Question reference: S6W-40363

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 September 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 19 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-34957 by Neil Gray on 20 February 2025, regarding the commitment in the NHS Recovery Plan 2021-2026 to recruit 1,000 additional staff in primary care mental health, whether it remains the case that the programme is paused.

Question reference: S6W-40279

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 September 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 18 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what criteria it uses to determine whether to commission an independent review of local maternity services.

Question reference: S6W-40030

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 22 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 3 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) care homes and (b) care home places there (i) were in 2015 and (ii) currently are, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S6W-40031

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 22 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 3 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports of residents being placed in care homes more than two hours from family and wider support networks.

Although we have overall responsibility for health and social care policy in Scotland, the statutory responsibility for delivering, commissioning, providing appropriate social care capacity at a local level lies with local authorities, NHS boards and integrated Health and Social Care Partnerships.

It is, therefore, vital that these local authorities assess local population needs and target their investment where it’s needed to improve the social care infrastructure and access to care within their relevant area for current and future population needs.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that care is delivered as close to home as possible, recognising that strong family and community connections are vital to individuals’ health and wellbeing. Local authorities should take this into account when planning and commissioning care packages, prioritising arrangements that support proximity to loved ones and familiar environments.

We are committed to developing a sustainable health and social care system in Scotland that ensures people get the right care, in the right place, at the right time.

Question reference: S6W-40280

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 September 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 17 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the future of maternity services in Caithness, what engagement it plans to have with local stakeholders, including the Caithness Health Action Team.

Question reference: S6W-40281

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 September 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 17 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recent report by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which raised concerns regarding high rates of maternal mortality and disparities in access to sexual and reproductive health services affecting women and girls in remote areas, and how it will address the report’s recommendations, particularly in relation to maternity services in Caithness.

Question reference: S6W-39791

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 1 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to discourage NHS dental practices from moving wholly to private practice.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-39790 on 1 September 2025. 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.

It should also be noted however that as the majority of dentists are independent contractors, they are free to decide whether or not they wish to provide NHS services.

Question reference: S6W-39790

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 1 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made providing additional funding to NHS dental practices in order for more people to be registered with them.

Ensuring the sustainability of NHS dental services is a priority for Scottish Government, which is why we introduced dental payment reform in November 2023 to make it more attractive for dentists to provide NHS services, by paying fees that better reflect the current market rates of providing dental services to patients. The 2025/26 Scottish Budget further reinforces our commitment to NHS dentistry, with an increase of almost 15% in funding for primary care dental services agreed. This takes total funding to over half a billion pounds for the first time and means that over the course of this Parliament, we will have increased investment in primary care dental services by 33%.

Scottish Government has also made provision in the 2025-26 budget for grant awards, such as the Scottish Dental Access Initiative (SDAI) grant, which pays out up to £100,000 for establishing, relocating or extending NHS dental practices in eligible areas; and the Recruitment and Retention allowance, which allows new trainee dentists to qualify for ‘golden hello’ payments of up to £37,500 in the first three years of practice.