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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-39986

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 4 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what action it is taking to reduce diagnostic delays for brain tumour patients.

Scottish Government recognises that diagnosing brain cancer can be challenging as symptoms are wide-ranging and often vague.

Through our Cancer strategy 2023 to 2033 - gov.scot and initial three year Cancer action plan 2023 to 2026 - gov.scot published in June 2023, a new Earlier Cancer Diagnosis Vision was developed. This vision aims to reduce later stage disease by 18 percentage points in 10 years’ time, with a focus on reducing the health inequalities gap, including for those with brain tumours.

Actions and resources to aid this vision include the Get Checked Early and NHS Inform websites, which highlight the possible symptoms of brain tumours, encouraging individuals to contact their General Practice for early detection and referrals.

In August 2025, Scottish Government published the updated Scottish Referral Guidelines for Urgent Suspicion of Cancer. These guidelines support primary care clinicians to identify those with symptoms suspicious of cancer and identify those who require urgent assessment by a specialist and for the first time, the guideline includes an update to the guidance for urgent referral for suspected brain tumours

Other resources to support primary care also include:

Gateway C, a new primary care cancer education platform launched in April 2024. Gateway C provides tailored information to support earlier cancer diagnosis and enable effective decision-making. This platform is accessible to all primary care clinicians and includes a brain tumour course specifically aimed at assisting the effective assessment and management of patients with a potential brain tumour.
A new National Headache Pathway published by the Centre for Sustainable Delivery. This pathway, based on presentation at General Practice, clearly lists red flag symptoms that indicate the need for urgent and/or emergency assessment to exclude a secondary cause, such as a brain tumour.

Question reference: S6W-39972

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 4 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what actions are being taken to address any shortfall in audiology staffing, in light of reports that the workforce is currently at 65% of the level required for safe and effective service delivery.

As part of our strategic approach to healthcare science, the Scottish Government is actively undertaking work to ensure healthcare science professions, including audiology, are included as part of wider work on reform and renewal of NHS Scotland.

This sits hand in hand with activity which will enable us to be able to map our scientific workforce in NHS Scotland more accurately, strengthening capacity, training and recruitment pipelines for audiologists, and supporting better workforce planning for the future.

Question reference: S6W-39965

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 4 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that audiology services are compliant with the British Sign Language (Scotland) Act 2015, and whether enforcement mechanisms are in place.

The Scottish Government instructed NHS Territorial Health Boards to outline their governance, reporting and management processes through a Local Assurance Framework in 2024, as well as, requiring the inclusion of audiology in their 2025-26 Annual Delivery Plans.

Decisions regarding accessibility policy and planning of this nature are made by individual Health Boards based on local priorities and needs. Boards are expected to assess the impact of their policies and functions on people with protected characteristics and equality groups in line with statutory requirements.

Question reference: S6W-39940

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 4 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what urgent steps it is taking in response to the General Medical Council’s reported finding that 46% of doctors in Scotland witness patient safety failures weekly.

Question reference: S6W-39938

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 4 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the General Medical Council’s finding that Scotland performed worse than the UK average in 2024 on patient safety, and what it is doing to reverse this trend.

The Scottish Government welcomes the findings from the General Medical Council Report, and we will ensure any concerns raised are fully considered and addressed.

The Scottish Government meets regularly with Boards and Healthcare Improvement Scotland to discuss what actions can be taken to continue to build on the programmes of work already in place to improve the quality and safety of care delivered to patients in Scotland and to ensure a co-ordinated and holistic approach. These programmes and legislation include;

The Scottish Patient Safety Programme, underpinned by the Essentials of Safe Care, which is currently being refreshed for re-launch in October 2025.
Safe Delivery of Care Inspections, which were expanded in January 2025 to include inspection of maternity services.
A National Framework for Reviewing and Learning from Adverse Events in NHS Scotland, updated in February 2025, which provides a system-wide approach for identifying, reviewing, and learning from events.
The Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland), which came into force on 1 April 2024, puts systems and processes in place to enable real-time assessment of staffing.
The Scottish National Audit Programme recently commissioned new audits which aim to improve service provision and patient outcomes

In addition, the Scottish Government introduced legislation for a Patient Safety Commissioner for Scotland. Scotland’s first Patient Safety Commissioner, Karen Titchener, took up her post on 1 September.

A Quality and Safety Sub-group of the NHS Scotland Executive Group, chaired by Dr John Harden, Scottish Government National Clinical Lead for Quality and Safety, meets regularly to review data and reports from across the system, including the above programmes, to support improvement in the quality, safety and outcomes of care provided by NHS Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-39573

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 18 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 4 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-38187 by Jim Fairlie on 17 June 2025 and in relation to the Air Discount Scheme, which is due to expire on 31 March 2026, whether it will consider including business travel in the Air Discount Scheme when it is renewed by a new notification under the UK subsidy control scheme, in light of reports that the subsidy control scheme would not prohibit the inclusion of business travel.

Question reference: S6W-39937

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 4 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many patients have died or suffered serious harm in the past five years in circumstances linked to delays in emergency or corridor care.

Question reference: S6O-04889

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 4 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it supports allied health professionals to balance the demands of responding to system pressures with the delivery of rehabilitation and early intervention.

The Scottish Government recognises and values the crucial role of Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) in delivering preventative care, early intervention, and rehabilitation across Scotland. To support AHPs in balancing the demands of system pressures with service delivery, the Government invests in workforce development, provides access to professional guidance and resources, and promotes collaborative, multidisciplinary working. AHPs are also supported in maintaining their own wellbeing to sustain high-quality care.

Question reference: S6O-04914

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 September 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding any potential environmental impact, what its response is to reports that a category A nuclear safety event occurred at Faslane naval base between January and April this year.

Question reference: S6O-04918

Asked by: Gordon MacDonald, MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 September 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions the economy secretary and business minister have had with the UK Government regarding tariff exemptions and other support for the Scotch whisky industry.