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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-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.

Question reference: S6W-33680

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 addressing the reported disparity in access to specialised healthcare services, such as oncology and cardiology, between urban and rural areas.

The Scottish Government is committed to delivering equitable and sustainable healthcare services across NHS Scotland through a comprehensive reform agenda. This includes a renewed approach for planning for NHS Scotland to ensure that appropriate clinically led planning for services is undertaken at a level which is best aligned to the size of population who make use of those services, and that this is undertaken in a collaborative and coherent way, with appropriate national leadership. These initiatives aim to deliver the highest quality outcomes for Scotland's population, ensuring healthcare services are equitable, effective, and future-proofed.

As part of this broader NHS reform, work is currently underway to develop and implement target operating models for NHS Scotland’s oncology services. These models are designed to ensure the delivery of excellent care that is equitably accessible to everyone across Scotland, regardless of their geographic location.

In addressing disparities in cardiology services, the Scottish Government’s Heart Disease Action Plan (2021) outlines specific actions to ensure timely and equitable access to diagnosis, treatment, and care for all individuals with suspected heart disease. Building on this, in 2024, we collaborated with clinicians across Scotland to establish agreed care pathways for cardiology. Combined with data from the Scottish Cardiac Audit Programme, these pathways will help identify priority areas for improvement and drive meaningful change in heart disease care delivery.

An NHS Board-led working group has also been convened to develop a framework for safe, quality and sustainable healthcare services across our rural and island communities. This work aims to develop a balanced model, with services provided as local as possible and specialised as necessary in order to ensure equity of outcomes.

Question reference: S6W-33651

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 what steps it is taking to address any workforce shortages and training gaps in rural healthcare, particularly in areas such as Aberdeenshire.

The Scottish Government commissioned NHS Education for Scotland (NES) to establish the Centre for Workforce Supply (CWS) in November 2021 to support workforce capacity across NHS Scotland and to ensure it has the right people, in the right place at the right time. The CWS works collaboratively with health boards, Health and Social Care Partnerships and other key stakeholders to support the implementation of innovative workforce initiatives which help tackle priority supply challenges. Over the next year, CWS will be leading work connecting with health boards such as Public Health Scotland, and NHS Grampian, with a view to understanding how population health, service demand, and workforce supply data, can be used more effectively in workforce planning.

NES have a range of resources and training programmes in place to support rural practitioners across Scotland including increasing the opportunities to train in rural Scotland, the GP Rural Fellowship and the new GMC Rural and Remote Health (unscheduled and urgent care) Credential.

We also commissioned the National Centre for Remote and Rural Health and Care (NCRRHC) in 2023, again delivered by NES. The purpose of NCRRHC is to co-ordinate work to improve remote, rural and island healthcare recruitment and retention; to increase access to training; and to develop new models of service delivery, which are focused on improved outcomes for rural and island communities.

Further, the Scottish Government has convened a Remote, Rural and Islands Task and Finish Group which is developing a framework and sustainable operating model to plan sustainable services for rural and island communities, which will include workforce considerations such as recruitment, retention and training.

Question reference: S6W-33685

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 steps it is taking to improve access to specialised optometry care for older people in remote areas.

Question reference: S6W-33681

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 steps it is taking to ensure that there is equitable access to community optometry services across both rural and urban areas.

Question reference: S6W-33688

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 it is doing to address any workforce shortages in community optometry, and how it is supporting the training of new practitioners.

The Scottish Government is not aware of any workforce shortages in community optometry. NHS Scotland commissioned and published a National Ophthalmic Workforce Review report in May 2023 which is available at: https://www.nhscfsd.co.uk/media/pjwntap4/national-ophthalmic-workforce-review-may-2023.pdf

The Scottish Government is working with Higher Education Institutions to deliver a new UK-leading Master's optometry undergraduate degree. This will support all optometry graduates from 2029 to have the opportunity to qualify with Independent Prescribing.

Question reference: S6W-33973

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6W-33316

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 24 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it is working with law enforcement agencies to tackle the supply of pipes and other paraphernalia used to consume illicit drugs.

We remain committed to reducing harm for individuals from the use of unsafe paraphernalia and will continue collaborating with stakeholders and harm reduction services on this matter.

We acknowledge the risks posed by unsafe, makeshift inhalation pipes, often shared among drug users. We are working closely with Police Scotland, Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, and other law enforcement agencies through the Serious Organised Crime Taskforce to address these issues.

In 2021, the Drug Deaths Taskforce advocated for expanding drug paraphernalia provision for safer consumption and urged the UK Minister for Policing to reconsider legal restrictions. Though initially rejected, Scottish Government officials are engaging with the new UK administration to revisit this matter.

Question reference: S6W-33286

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 24 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much it plans to spend in 2025-26 on work related to Scottish independence.