Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-40783

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 26 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 9 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that some children with additional support needs in Edinburgh are being "parked" on temporary timetables due to there being insufficient resources to fully support them in mainstream classroom settings.

Part-time learning is a decision which should be taken in agreement with the school and the local authority. It should take into account the circumstances of the individual learner including the existing planning arrangements in place for the child or young person.

We continue to work with all our partners to ensure that all children and young people get the support that they need to reach their full potential.

We are refreshing our national guidance on attendance – Included, Engaged and Involved Part 1 to set a clear expectation that any use of part-time timetables includes a plan to support the young person return to full time education at the earliest appropriate point. We anticipate refreshed guidance will be published in early 2026.

Question reference: S6W-40782

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 26 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 7 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address the reported shortage of pupil support assistants in schools, in light of reported concerns from parents and unions that this is leaving a large number of children unable to attend school full-time.

We continue to work with our partners to ensure that all children and young people get the support that they need to reach their full potential.

Pupil support staff play a vital role in the education of our children and young people. Scottish Ministers have invested £15m per year since 2019-20, helping local authorities to respond to the individual needs of children and young people and to maintain near-record levels of pupil support staff in Scotland. In addition, the Scottish Government are investing an additional £29 million to support the recruitment and retention of the ASN workforce, in a context of record spend of over £1 billion by local authorities on ASN in 2023-24.

Question reference: S6F-04368

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 06 October 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 October 2025

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-40732

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 3 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish information on diagnostic waiting times and outcomes for younger people presenting with potential cancer symptoms.

The Scottish Government does not hold data for diagnostic waiting times and outcomes for younger people presenting with potential cancer symptoms.

Cancer waiting times data is collected by Public Health Scotland (PHS). The most up-to-date data was published in September 2025, and can be found on the PHS website: Cancer waiting times - 1 April to 30 June 2025 - Cancer waiting times - Publications - Public Health Scotland.

Data is collected for two cancer waiting times standards for individuals (aged 16 or older at the date of diagnosis) who have a newly diagnosed primary cancer. These are:

a 31-day standard from decision to treat until first treatment, regardless of the route of referral.
a 62-day standard from urgent referral with suspicion of cancer, including referrals from national cancer screening programmes, until first treatment.

Question reference: S6W-40709

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 3 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding private dental practices, what action it is taking to identify a named lead body for practice-level oversight and to publish an escalation pathway for patients.

Question reference: S6W-40710

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 3 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to introduce a minimum data standard to ensure that the General Dental Council captures a mandatory practice field, which will include the practice name, full address and company number, and facilitates the publication of anonymised complaint data linked to individual practices.

Question reference: S6W-40654

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 22 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 3 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to guarantee the construction of affordable new homes.

The Scottish Government cannot guarantee construction but can provide multi-annual policy and funding certainty, increased spend and a planning and regulatory environment which is conducive to investment and delivery. Our Housing Emergency Action Plan seeks to deliver against this tripartite approach.

The Scottish Government remains focussed on our target of delivering 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, with at least 70% for social rent and at least 10% in our rural and island communities.

Local authorities have responsibility for setting out the investment priorities supported through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP), ensuring the delivery of the right homes in the right places. In support of these priorities the AHSP has been increased, with the budget for 2025-2026 now £808 million.

Recognising the importance of multi-year funding for housing and the confidence this brings to the sector, the Housing Emergency Action Plan published on 2 September includes a commitment to deliver up to £4.9 billion investment over the coming four years, with homes delivered through a mixture of public and privately leveraged investment. Further details will be outlined in the forthcoming Scottish Spending Review and Scottish Budget.

Actual progress on all homes delivered through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP) are reported via our quarterly official statistics. Official statistics for the Affordable Housing Supply Programme are available on the Scottish Government website at Housing statistics - gov.scot.

Question reference: S6W-40736

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 2 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the risks to people of delayed cancer diagnoses, particularly among (a) younger people and (b) people from minority ethnic backgrounds.

We have assessed the strong evidence that the earlier the stage cancer is diagnosed the better the outcomes are for those affected, irrespective of age, cancer type, race or any other protected characteristic.

This has informed our Earlier Cancer Diagnosis vision as part of the Cancer Strategy for Scotland 2023-2033 and initial three-year Action Plan for Scotland 2023 – 2026. The vision is to reduce later stage disease by 18 percentage points in 10 years’ time (2033), making clear our ambition to reduce inequalities in access to cancer care and improving outcomes for anyone diagnosed with cancer.

Question reference: S6W-40734

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 2 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance exists for GPs to support early identification of cancer and other serious illnesses in people who present multiple times with unexplained or deteriorating symptoms.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of early diagnosis of cancer or serious illness and would expect any patient presenting with potential symptoms to be assessed as quickly as possible.

The Scottish Referral Guidelines (SRG) for Suspected Cancer support primary care clinicians to identify those with symptoms suspicious of cancer and identify those who require urgent assessment by a specialist.

A clinical review of SRGs has been completed with updated guidance published on 6 August 2025. These include a nationally agreed non-specific symptoms referral criteria for the first time to support primary care to ensure that the right people are on the right pathway at the right time.

A new primary care cancer education platform – Gateway C – was launched in 2024 in NHS Scotland, funded by the Detect Cancer Earlier (DCE) Programme and supported by NHS Education for Scotland (NES).

Gateway C provides innovative and tailored information to support earlier cancer diagnosis efforts and enable effective decision-making. This free online platform is accessible to all primary care clinicians including pharmacists, dentists, and optometrists.

Further to this, we have continued to invest in our Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services. They provide primary care with access to a new fast-track diagnostic pathway for people with non-specific symptoms suspicious of cancer, such as weight loss and fatigue. We opened another service in NHS Forth Valley in 2025, bringing our national total to six.

Question reference: S6W-40737

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 1 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it monitors repeat GP attendances for unresolved symptoms, what data it collects on such cases, and how this data informs policy to prevent missed diagnoses.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of early diagnosis of cancer or serious illness and would expect any patient presenting with potential symptoms to be assessed as quickly as possible.

The Scottish Referral Guidelines (SRG) for Suspected Cancer support primary care clinicians to identify those with symptoms suspicious of cancer and identify those who require urgent assessment by a specialist.

A clinical review of SRGs has been completed with updated guidance published on 6 August 2025.

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