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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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S6W-33247

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 29 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-30182 by Jenni Minto on 8 October 2024, whether its draft Budget 2025-26 will impact on the National Thrombectomy Planning Board's plans for a phased approach to expanding thrombectomy services.

The Scottish Government remains committed to expanding the national thrombectomy service, and ensuring access to this treatment is as equitable as possible.

Through the National Thrombectomy Programme Board, and Thrombectomy Advisory Group, work is being undertaken to drive expansion of the thrombectomy service.

Planning is ongoing to establish how the £16 million funding announced in the Scottish budget, once scrutinised by the Scottish Parliament, will be best used to maximise the number of patients able to benefit from thrombectomy.

Question reference: S6W-33301

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 29 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the current spend per individual on palliative care by each Integrated Joint Board (IJB).

Question reference: S6W-33723

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 29 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address any patient concerns about data privacy in relation to the sharing of medical records across healthcare providers.

The Scottish Government is committed to addressing patient concerns about data privacy in the sharing of medical records across healthcare providers. We provide clear guidance on privacy and confidentiality, promote robust information governance practices, and support the NHS and healthcare providers in implementing appropriate processes to safeguard patient data.

The responsibility for developing data sharing agreements and publishing privacy notices is down to each individual Board. However, NHS Inform provides patients with supportive information to ensure they have an understanding of the holistic approach to data privacy NHS Scotland take. This information can be found here https://www.nhsinform.scot/care-support-and-rights/health-rights/confidentiality-and-data-protection/how-the-nhs-handles-your-personal-health-information/.

In addition to the guidance on Inform, Privacy by design is at the core of the National Information Governance Programme, forming a key part of our Data Strategy to ensure that digital and data-driven practices are developed with privacy safeguards embedded from the outset.

The Scottish Government also engages regularly with patients, the ICO, and citizen interest groups to ensure data-sharing practices respect patients' rights and expectations

Question reference: S6W-33702

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 29 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has any plans for NHS Scotland to combine medical records in a database that is shared with third parties, similar to the reported proposals by NHS Digital for England.

Health data is shared, typically in an aggregated and anonymised format, with trusted third parties through trusted research environments known as ‘Safe Havens’. These Safe Havens comprise of a national Safe Haven within Public Health Scotland and four regional Safe Havens associated with NHS Grampian, Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Lothian, and Tayside.

Safe Havens play a crucial role in protecting personal data, providing a secure space, and supporting the secure use of NHS data for researchers to access and analyse healthcare data without compromising individual privacy. Within Safe Havens researchers can work with anonymised or pseudonymised data, reducing the risk of re-identification of individuals. By implementing robust security measures and access controls, Safe Havens ensure that only authorised individuals can interact with the data, and that they can only access the level of data that is appropriate and proportionate.

Question reference: S6W-33706

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 29 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what work it is undertaking to ensure that digital access to medical records, with appropriate safeguards, is facilitated between (a) neighbouring NHS boards and (b) NHS boards and other medical services, such as community pharmacies.

Question reference: S6W-33709

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 29 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it has provided to NHS boards in relation to recording a patient’s biological sex on medical records.

The existing Scottish Government Records Management Health and Social Care Code of Practice (Scotland) 2024 has guidance on managing health records of people who identify as transgender. This links to guidance from the Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland, the General Medical Council and NHS National Services Scotland (NSS). It was recognised in 2020 that it was an area under development, and subsequently the Scottish Government's Chief Statistician issued guidance for public bodies on the collection of data on sex and gender in 2021. The Records Management Code of Practice for Health and Social Care 2024 incorporates the Chief Statistician's guidance along with feedback from stakeholders, providing further guidance to NHS Boards.

Question reference: S6W-33750

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 29 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what contracts it has awarded to external companies for social media management and related services in the last five years, and what the total cost was of any such contracts.

Social media management involves the management of Scottish Government social media accounts across platforms, and the directly related services comprise organic content production and outreach to secure content from creators and influencers.

The majority of the Scottish Government’s social media management and organic content creation is managed by internal teams, supported occasionally by agencies where required.

The Marketing Services Framework covers the provision of all marketing services, including the development of materials to deliver targeted messaging, engagement with audiences and to support behaviour change. The Media Planning, Buying and Associated Services Framework covers services for a full range of media including television, radio, press, digital, online, cinema and out of home.

Social media management support would be covered by various lots within these frameworks, depending on the required service, such as:

Digital content production, including websites and routine i.e. non-advertising social media content is covered by Lot 3 Digital Marketing Services. The list of suppliers is here
Managing accounts or outreach on behalf of the Scottish Government is covered under Lot 4 Public Relation Services. The list of suppliers is here
Promotional Media to increase visibility of online content is covered by both Lots 1 and 2 for domestic and international use. The list of suppliers is here

The total spend by the Scottish Government against each of these Lots includes social media management and related services, but spend is not limited to this. The limitations are detailed, along with total spend for the last 5 years, below:

Digital Services agencies occasionally carry out social content creation for the Scottish Government – this is commissioned alongside activity such as website content creation, testing and improvement, and services relating to the successful, safe and secure functioning of websites - to meet the overall policy objectives of each project. A breakdown of the annual Scottish Government marketing spend on Digital Services contracts can be found here and the figures are outlined below:

2019-2020 - £566,678
2020-2021 - £265,975
2021-2022 - £432,181
2022-2023 - £133,378
2023-2024 – £96,302

Public Relation Services agencies carry out influencer marketing and social content creation for the Scottish Government, and this is commissioned alongside media relations and other PR functions to meet the overall policy objectives of the project. A breakdown of the annual Scottish Government marketing spend on PR Services contracts can be found here and the figures are outlined below:

2019-2020 – £411,238
2020-2021 - £530,488
2021-2022 - £695,596
2022-2023 - £281,760
2023-2024 –£340,111

Media Services agencies carry out media planning and buying for the Scottish Government to promote marketing activity including social media content over social media advertising channels. This is often commissioned alongside other online advertising channels such as paid for search and display advertising– to meet the overall policy objectives of each project.

A breakdown of the annual Scottish Government marketing spend on online channels via Media Planning and Buying contracts can be found here and the figures are outlined below.

2019-2020 - £1,333,735
2020-2021 - £5,057,831
2021-2022 - £6,265,931
2022-2023 - £1,459,995
2023-2024 – £1,168,354

To note, Scottish Government marketing outputs as a whole will be carried across multiple social platforms in either paid or organic form in the course of campaign activity, as this bolsters the desired policy outcomes in line with key Scottish Government priorities.

Scottish Government marketing and advertising spend is published each year and can be found at https://www.gov.scot/collections/marketing-spend/ including a breakdown by media type. As the 2024-25 financial year is not yet complete the information is not included.

Question reference: S6W-33667

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 29 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it can provide a specific timeline for the launch of the delayed cruise ship levy consultation.

Question reference: S6W-33708

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 29 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on NHS Scotland's progress on the digitisation of all patient medical records.

Question reference: S6W-33715

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 29 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting NHS boards to digitise legacy medical records, and what progress has been made on this over the last five years.