- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 November 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 18 November 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it took to support NHS Lothian following the NHS board’s whistleblowing investigation into maternity care at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh in December 2024.
Answer
I was first made aware of issues with maternity services in NHS Lothian in December 2024. At that time Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) had already started an investigation following whistleblower reports. I met with Lothian Chief Executive and Chair, and they outlined the improvement work they had underway. At my request, the Deputy Chief Medical Officer and Chief Nursing Officer/Deputy Chief Nursing Officer began working directly with NHS Lothian on the issues, providing support and reporting back to Ministers on progress. They noted that NHS Lothian was taking forward a suitable programme of work to address the issues raised as a priority. However the complexity of the issues and improvement required, particularly cultural change, would take time to take full effect.
Following the unannounced HIS inspection, the decision was made to escalate NHS Lothian’s maternity services to Level 3 of NHS Scotland’s Support and Intervention Framework. I have met with NHS Lothian’s Chief Executive to discuss the findings of the report and wider concerns on patient safety oversight, leadership, staff wellbeing and delays in care. NHS Lothian has provided assurances that they will move quickly to implement the required changes and I am scheduled to meet with the Chief Executive and Chair of NHS Lothian on 25 November for an update on progress.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 November 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 18 November 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that every maternity ward properly records serious birth tears and the number of women who experience significant blood loss while giving birth.
Answer
We expect all women who experience pelvic floor trauma and post-partum haemorrhage (PPH) will have this recorded within the electronic maternity record. Rates of third- and fourth-degree tears for each Board are available on the Scottish Pregnancy, Births and Neonatal Dashboard: Scottish Pregnancy, Births and Neonatal Dashboard. Data on PPH is collected by Healthcare Improvement Scotland as part of the Scottish Patient Safety Perinatal Programme.
We have written to all NHS Boards identifying the Obstetric Anal Sphincter Injury (OASI) care bundle as an approach which can be used by maternity services with a view to reducing the incidence of third- and fourth-degree tears. This will be one of several priorities for consideration by the expert members of the Scottish Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 23 October 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 17 November 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to meet the goals outlined in the 2018 Climate Change Plan, notably those set for before and in 2030, many of which are reportedly not on track to be met in time.
Answer
Our commitment to achieving net zero by 2045 is unwavering, and we are taking bold and decisive action to implement the necessary policies to reduce emissions in line with our new statutory carbon budget targets. On 6 November we published a draft Climate Change Plan which sets out our intended action across key sectors over the next 15 years. A revised monitoring and evaluation framework is being developed to support this work. The framework will continue to monitor key emissions sources and evaluate delivery of the key actions required to achieve our Carbon Budgets. The indicators used to evaluate delivery are currently being reviewed, it is anticipated some will be retained where they remain relevant, while new indicators will be introduced to reflect new or changed activities and where data availability allows.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 November 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 14 November 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many new midwives and nurses have been recruited at maternity units in each year since 2020-21.
Answer
The requested information on how many new midwives and nurses have been recruited at maternity units in each year since 2020-21 is not held centrally.
Information on the number of nurses and midwives employed by each NHS board, as well as the numbers joining the nursing and midwifery job families each year, can be found on the TURAS NHS Education for Scotland workforce statistics site at: NHS Scotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence .
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 November 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 13 November 2025
To ask the Scottish Government when the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care last met the Royal College of Midwives; whether the organisation raised any concerns about staffing, and, if so, what action has been taken as a result.
Answer
I last met with representatives from the Royal College of Midwives on the 11 September 2025.
Concerns about staffing was not the focus of discussion. Staff skill mix was raised, however it is the responsibility of Health Boards to ensure the appropriate staff skill mix of services. No actions were noted pertaining to concerns about staffing.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 31 October 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 11 November 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many people aged (a) 65 to 74, (b) 75 to 84, (c) 85 to 94 and (d) over 95 have waited at A&E for 12 hours or more in each month since January 2025.
Answer
This is a matter for Public Health Scotland who collate and manage this data.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 23 October 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 11 November 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussion it has had with the UK Government regarding the concentration of gambling advertising in areas of deprivation in Scotland.
Answer
The Scottish Government has not had any recent discussions with the UK Government regarding the concentration of gambling advertising in areas of deprivation in Scotland.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) administer advertisement rules which are designed to ensure gambling advertising is responsible, supported by Ofcom for broadcast gambling adverts, and the Gambling Commission for non-broadcast gambling adverts.
The Scottish Government is working closely with the UK Government (and Welsh Government) over the distribution of the Gambling Levy, to ensure there are funds available to develop a comprehensive approach to gambling prevention, early intervention and support in Scotland.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 23 October 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 11 November 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has given consideration to improving the situation of people who work on zero-hour contracts through enhanced worker benefits, better job stability or a higher minimum wage.
Answer
The Scottish Government firmly opposes the inappropriate use of zero-hours contracts and other non-standard types of employment that offer workers minimal job or financial security. We support the overall ambitions of the UK Government’s Employment Rights Bill and welcome changes being brought forward to strengthen workers’ rights, including the measures providing protections for workers on zero hours or low hours contracts. The gains this legislation will make for workers’ rights must be protected, and that is why we continue to advocate for the devolution of employment powers as the best way to protect workers’ rights in Scotland from any future UK Government actions that might remove these protections.
In the absence of devolved employment powers, Fair Work First criteria in procurement and grants, alongside provision of grant funding to the Real Living Wage accreditation scheme, are the tools we use to raise employment standards in Scotland. Since implementing more stringent grant conditionality from July 2023, requiring payment of at least the Real Living Wage and provision of appropriate channels for effective workers voice, between 1 July 2023 and 31 March 2025 it is estimated that over £6 billion in public sector grants was awarded with Fair Work First criteria attached. The number of accredited Living Wage employers is up from 14 in 2014 to over 3,900 in 2025, with at least 72,000 workers in Scotland getting a pay rise resulting from accreditation.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 10 November 2025
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 13 November 2025
Question to be taken in Chamber.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 13 November 2025
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 23 October 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 6 November 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to hold to account corporations that reportedly use specific branding to justify a so-called pink tax, which targets women to pay higher prices for basic goods.
Answer
The Scottish Government has no powers to hold corporations to account for the use of specific branding to target women to pay higher prices for basic goods. Consumer protection, including provisions to protect consumers from unfair trading practices, is wholly reserved to the UK Government and regulated by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
However, we believe that this practice is unacceptable and have raised the issue with the CMA.
