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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-33652

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 27 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting the development of healthcare facilities in rural and remote areas, including any planned expansions in Aberdeenshire.

Question reference: S6W-33684

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any impact of community optometry services on reducing hospital referrals for eye-related conditions.

Question reference: S6W-33693

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it monitors the effectiveness of community optometry services in detecting and managing preventable blindness.

As well as a sight test, a routine NHS eye examination in Scotland provides a comprehensive eye health assessment, tailored to meet the needs of the patient. This helps with early detection of a range of sight-threatening conditions and some general medical conditions.

Where the optometrist suspects the patient has a sight-threatening condition, where clinically appropriate they will refer the patient to the hospital eye services. Data on such referrals can be found in the Public Health Scotland report referred to in answer to question S6W-33638 on 27 January 2025.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Question reference: S6W-33542

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 27 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how the needs of rural areas are considered in the planning of national healthcare strategies.

The Scottish Government considers the varying needs of all parts of our population when developing plans and strategies, including the needs of people living in rural and island areas. We recognise that our rural and island communities have specific, place-based needs when it comes to the effective delivery of public services, including healthcare.

That is why we have established an NHS Board-led working group which is considering ways to improve delivery of safe, quality and sustainable healthcare services across rural and island Scotland.

More broadly, work is underway to develop a systematic approach to mainstreaming rural policy, the Rural Assessment Toolkit, which will support identifying and addressing the needs of rural communities and economies in our work.

Under the Islands Act 2018, the Scottish Government has a duty to consider issues that affect island communities in the development and delivery of all policies, strategies and services. We are also working with island communities and local authorities to develop a new National Islands Plan to be published later this year.

These workstreams support our endeavours to meaningfully improve outcomes for our rural and island communities across portfolios.

Question reference: S6W-33789

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 27 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to invest in (a) mobile and (b) other modes of training for heat pump installation in rural areas, to increase local expertise, tackle any disparities experienced in rural areas, and remove any barriers to improving energy efficiency.

We are committed to supporting Scotland’s workforce develop the skills needed for the clean heat transition. We have invested in a mobile training centre, launched in August 2023, for heat pump installation to ensure training is equally available across all locations. We also support clean heat installers through our Low Carbon Skills Grant which funds heat pump training in colleges across Scotland. It allows heating and plumbing apprentices to include heat pump training modules as part of their qualification at no additional cost to their employer. A number of colleges with likely rural catchments have delivered these modules.

Question reference: S6W-33526

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 27 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of healthcare staff currently working in rural areas are locum staff, broken down by NHS board.

Question reference: S6W-33790

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 27 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to address any issues related to lower energy performance certificate (EPC) ratings in (a) homes in rural areas compared with homes in urban areas and (b) older homes compared with newer builds.

We provide uplifts in our heat in buildings delivery schemes to help meet additional challenges faced by homeowners in rural and island communities.

The Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan offers an uplift of £1500 to the grant funding available for energy efficiency measures in remote rural areas and islands.

The Warmer Homes Scotland scheme operates a national customer price model to ensure equal access to grant funded installation of energy efficiency improvements across Scotland, including in rural and island areas.

Both our Area Based Schemes and the Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund provide an uplift to reflect higher delivery costs in more remote areas, of 11% in rural areas and 22% in remote rural/island areas.

We will work with Historic Environment Scotland, and other key stakeholders to find the best solutions for older and more traditional buildings. We are considering the development of an assessment tool which could provide owners with information on the types of heating systems and energy efficiency measures appropriate for traditional buildings or those with protected characteristics.

We published a Government Response to our consultation on Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) reform on 21 January. We will lay regulations later this year which will push ahead with reforms to the infrastructure and assessor market operational framework for EPCs.

Question reference: S6W-33537

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 27 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what role telemedicine plays in rural healthcare, and how its use has changed in the last five years.

Telemedicine is essential to supporting care across Scotland. Access to services has shifted significantly over the past 5 years and we expect this to continue as we roll out improved ways to engage with health and social care services. Digital services are supporting people across Scotland to reduce unnecessary travel whilst also saving time, cost and uncomfortable journeys.

A range of different services have been scaled up including over 2 million NHS Near Me video appointments, over 100,000 people using Connect Me for remote health monitoring at home and exponential increase in access to Digital Mental Health Therapies across Scotland all supporting rural access. The NHS Near Me closure report highlights that the highest uptake of Near Me usage is seen predominantly in rural Health Boards.

Question reference: S6W-33535

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 27 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many emergency air ambulance call-outs have been made to rural areas in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-33595

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 17 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 27 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the article Infinite and Everywhere, which was published in August 2024 by These Islands, and the reported view that "renewables are a low return on capital business", that they represent a different economic opportunity to oil and gas, and that "It is the Union which unlocks Scotland’s potential in renewables".

The Scottish Government does not share this view.

The returns to Scotland from renewables are substantial. For example, the Fraser of Allander Institute estimates that in 2021 Scotland’s renewable energy sectors and supply chain supported over £10.1 billion of output, more than 42,000 full time equivalent jobs, and over £4.7 billion of Gross Value Added across the Scottish economy.

The reality is of course that some factors influencing our energy potential are governed at the UK level and decisions about that are taken in Whitehall. The Scottish Government is working collaboratively with the UK Government to ensure that decisions resulting from the ongoing Review of Electricity Market Arrangements (REMA) will be beneficial for Scotland’s people and economy.

The Scottish Government believes that an independent Scotland which maximises local renewable power generation can create greater energy self-reliance, reduce our exposure to the volatility of global gas prices, and ensure the lower cost of renewables is passed through to customers.