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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-37253

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 16 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to any implications for community safety in Scotland, whether the Minister for Business raised the issue of alleged "secret Chinese police stations" on his recent trip to China.

During my visit, I raised concerns about China’s human rights record.

Any foreign country that operates within Scotland, must abide by Scottish law. The Scottish Government fully supports individuals’ rights to freedom of expression, which is an extremely important principle.

Investigations into infringements of law and civil rights are a matter for law enforcement agencies. As a matter of long-standing policy we will not comment on the detail of security.

Question reference: S6W-39199

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 07 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 4 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the announcement in Scotland’s Population Health Framework 2025-2035, which was published on 17 June 2025, that it will pilot a lung screening programme in Scotland’s most deprived areas, what areas the programme will cover; how many people it will include; on what date it will start; how long it will last; what its aims are compared with the previous pilot programme, and for what reason a further pilot is required in light of the previous pilots in Scotland, Wales and England.

Question reference: S6W-39196

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 07 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 4 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-27865 by Maree Todd on 13 June 2024, whether it will provide an update on whether it has commenced the recruitment for the additional roles to ensure that every GP practice has access to a mental health and wellbeing service, and, if so, how many have been recruited, and what training is in place for them.

Question reference: S6W-39201

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 07 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 4 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Welsh Government's announcement on 28 June 2025 that it will introduce a national lung cancer screening programme at a cost of £13 million per annum once fully implemented, what it would cost to roll out an equivalent programme across Scotland, and what the requirements would be for (a) staff and (b) equipment, such as mobile scanning units capable of providing low dose computed tomography.

Question reference: S6W-39202

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 07 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 4 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is regarding the reported comments of Professor David Weller that a nationwide lung cancer screening programme has the potential to be a game changer when it comes to reducing the burden of lung cancer in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-39203

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 07 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 4 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it has reportedly not introduced targeted lung cancer screening, in light of the UK National Screening Committee's recommendation in June 2022, and whether it holds any information regarding an estimate of how long it would take to roll out such a national programme.

Question reference: S6W-38729

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 16 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 4 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of the Children (Equal Protection from Assault) (Scotland) Act 2019, including whether it is aware of any data setting out (a) the views of children and families on the impact of the Act, (b) the views of professionals with responsibility for child protection on the impact of the Act, (c) whether the Act has led to an increase in referrals of families to social work or other family support services, and (d) whether the Act has led to an increase in parental prosecutions for assault.

The Scottish Government has not yet carried out an assessment of the impact of the Children (Equal Protection from Assault) Scotland Act 2019.

The Implementation Group for the Act continues to meet on a yearly basis. Minutes of these meetings are at: Children (Equal Protection From Assault) (Scotland) Act 2019 implementation group - gov.scot.

We are not aware of any data on the views of children and families on the impact of the Act itself. However, the Policy Memorandum for the Bill which became the 2019 Act summarised information on the incidence of physical punishment and on children and young people’s views of physical punishment. Please see Children (Equal Protection from Assault) (Scotland) Bill Policy Memorandum (paragraphs 46 to 51).

On the views of professionals, the Scottish Government is aware of a recent open letter by a range of health bodies calling for the removal of the “reasonable punishment” defence in England: Thirteen leading public health organisations call on Government to outlaw physical punishment | RCPCH.

The Scottish Government does not have data on changes in relation to the number of referrals to social work or other family support services. The Child Protection Statistics for Scotland only started including data on inter-agency referral discussions (IRDs) from 2023-24: Children’s Social Work Statistics: Child Protection 2023-24 - gov.scot In any event, the reasons for IRDs taking place are varied.

Data on the number of people convicted for common assault as a main charge is available at criminal-proceedings-scotland-2022-23-main-tables.xlsx (see table 4b). If there are multiple charges proven against an accused in a single proceeding, the main charge is the crime or offence receiving the most severe penalty. The data is not split to show whether the person being prosecuted is a parent: this information is not held in the Criminal Proceedings data. The figures for 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23 are likely to reflect the impact of the pandemic and should not be considered indicative of longer-term trends.

Information on crimes recorded by the Police is available at Recorded+Crime+-+2024-25+-+Bulletin+tables.xlsx (see table A1 for information on common assault). Again, this does not show information on whether a person recorded as committing a crime is a parent.

Question reference: S6F-04215

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 23 June 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 June 2025

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-38386

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 19 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it currently oversees the work of non-departmental public bodies, also known as quangos; how they are held accountable for their decision-making, and whether it plans to review any such arrangements.

The Scottish Public Finance Manual (SPFM) sets out the lines of accountability for public bodies. Executive NDPBs are directly accountable to Ministers, and through Ministers to Parliament. The Chief Executive is designated as the Accountable Officer (AO) responsible for the use of resources. However, Ministers remain accountable to the Parliament for the allocation of public funds. A Board holds the Chief Executive to account and the relationship between Ministers, SG and the NDPB is set out in the relevant legislation and the Framework Document for the public body. Sponsorship also plays a crucial role in ensuring that public bodies are contributing as fully as possible to delivering the Government’s targets and National Performance Framework national outcomes.

Further information can be found in the written submission to the SPCB Supported Bodies Landscape Review Committee which can be viewed on the Parliament’s website.

Question reference: S6W-38282

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 18 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what plans there are to incentivise students to study STEM subjects at (a) National 5, (b) Higher, (c) Advanced Higher and (d) university level.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all young people have the opportunity to develop core STEM skills and knowledge. Through the Curriculum Improvement Cycle, we have established a systematic approach to curriculum improvement which will help to ensure that STEM subjects are attractive and accessible to all children and young people.

Inspiring young people to study STEM is at the heart of our STEM Education and Training Strategy. In the last Financial Year alone, the Scottish Government provided over £1.74 million to a range of organisations which support high-quality delivery of STEM education. This includes funding SSERC’s Young STEM Leader Programme, which gives young people the chance to become STEM role models and inspire their peers to develop an interest in STEM through the creation and delivery of STEM activities and events.

Further opportunities are available for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds including the SSERC Research Placements Programme which helps develop pupils’ professional skills through undertaking STEM research placements and Strathclyde University’s Engineering Scholars Programme which provides tutoring opportunities. The Scottish Funding Council also provide support to senior phase pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds and underrepresented groups through the National Schools Programme (NSP) which provides impartial advice and application support to pursue higher education in university, which includes STEM subjects.

The Scottish Government also funds a range of highly regarded professional learning for STEM teachers and technicians and we continue to fund Scottish Teachers Advancing Computing Science (STACS) which work to drive improvement in the take up and delivery of computing science in schools. This funding underlines the Scottish Government’s commitment to the delivery of high-quality STEM education in Scotland’s schools. All these programmes help young people realise positive post-school destinations including further and higher STEM education and employment.