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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-33409

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 24 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it records the purpose of each journey taken by the cars in its fleet, and, if so, whether it will provide the most recent breakdown of such journeys by purpose, including business travel and any other categories.

Question reference: S6W-33336

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 24 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has invested in clinical research into (a) dementia, (b) neurodegenerative conditions, (c) non-neurodegenerative conditions and (d) other neurological conditions in each of the last five years.

Within the Scottish Government, funding for Health and Care Research comes under the policy remit of the Chief Scientist Office (CSO)

CSO directly funds research through its research project and fellowship schemes. These are open to applications from across the clinical spectrum. All applications go through the same independent expert review process to enable funding decisions to be made

For multi-year projects and fellowships, the funding figure is allocated to the year corresponding to the start date and is the total amount committed to the project or fellowship

The 4 categories listed have been interpreted as follows:

Dementia - category including Alzheimer's; Frontotemporal Lobe Dementia; Lewy Body Dementia

2024-25	28,115
2023-24	299,999
2022-23	592,437
2021-22	260,978
2020-21	20,000

Neurodegenerative Conditions - category including MND/ALS; Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's

2024-25	132,368
2023-24	356,955
2022-23
2021-22	1,947,038
2020-21	73,325

Non-neurodegenerative conditions - category including Epilepsy; Migraine; Seizures

2024-25
2023-24	501,704
2022-23
2021-22	379,814
2020-21

Other neurological conditions - category including Ischaemic and Haemorrhagic Stroke; Cerebral Small Vessel Disease; Acquired Brain Injury

2024-25	550,919
2023-24	300,000
2022-23	856,698
2021-22	762,439
2020-21	78,744

In addition to directly funding research projects and fellowships, CSO also funds the NHS Research Scotland infrastructure that supports the running of Clinical Trials in the NHS here. This infrastructure includes topic-specific research networks which act as the interface between the research community, the NHS and patients themselves, facilitating the set up, delivery and completion of clinical studies across Scotland within their specific clinical areas

The research networks in Dementia/Neuroprogressive Conditions; Stroke; and Pain support the delivery of clinical studies across one or more of the above categories.

Details of CSO funding for these 3 research networks is provided in the table below:

Network / Specialty	FY 2020-21	FY 2021-22	FY 2022-23	FY 2023-24	FY 2024-25	Total per area
Neuroprogressive & Dementia	£506,000	£677,000	£777,000	£829,000	£855,000	£3,644,000
Stroke	£616,000	£641,000	£689,000	£734,000	£757,000	£3,437,000
NRS Pain	£14,404	£14,821	£18,000	£28,500	£30,000	£105,725
Total per Financial Year	£1,136,404	£1,332,821	£1,484,000	£1,591,500	£1,642,000	£7,186,725

Question reference: S6W-33314

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

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to address respiratory problems that are associated with smoking illicit drugs.

We know that there are links between smoking illicit drugs and some respiratory conditions. For example, smoking cannabis can lead to chronic bronchitis and clinicians sometimes see destructive emphysema in younger people.

To prevent harm in future generations, we are taking forward education work on substance abuse in our schools through the Curriculum for Excellence. Through educating young people about substance use and the impact it can have on their life and health, this will prevent them making unhealthy choices.

As part of our cross-government response to the final Drug Deaths Taskforce Report, we are investing £1.5 million in piloting Planet Youth in up to 35 schools across eight areas in 2025. Planet Youth is a universal approach to prevention that empowers communities to take action that will work for their specific circumstances to support young people to reduce the risk of substance use and its harms.

We are committed to ensuring that anyone living with a respiratory condition in Scotland receives the best possible care and treatment and will continue to ensure this takes account of areas of particular concern relating to drugs.

Question reference: S6W-33303

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, 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 what NHS digitalisation projects it is taking forward.

The refreshed Digital Health and Care strategy sets out our digitalisation ambitions and its associated delivery plan highlights our achievements to date and summarises the key commitments to be achieved.

The specific actions being taken can be read in the Strategy at: https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/strategy-plan/2021/10/scotlands-digital-health-care-strategy/documents/enabling-connecting-empowering-care-digital-age/enabling-connecting-empowering-care-digital-age/govscot%3Adocument/enabling-connecting-empowering-care-digital-age.pdf

Our most recent update to our deliver plan is available at:

https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/strategy-plan/2024/05/care-digital-age-delivery-plan-2024-25/documents/care-digital-age-delivery-plan-2024-25-scotlands-digital-health-care-strategy/care-digital-age-delivery-plan-2024-25-scotlands-digital-health-care-strategy/govscot%3Adocument/care-digital-age-delivery-plan-2024-25-scotlands-digital-health-care-strategy.pdf

Question reference: S6W-33281

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 24 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will update section 19 of the Historic Environment (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2011 to increase the maximum fine for offences in relation to unauthorised works and listed building consent above the current maximum of £50,000, recognising the effect of inflation, and whether it will consider pegging the fine to the independently assessed cost of restoring any damage.

Question reference: S6W-33313

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 what funding it has allocated to research by Scottish universities on alcohol and drug misuse in 2024-25.

Funding allocation to research by Scottish Universities in 2024-25 is £54,787. The National Mission is further supported by research undertaken at national and local levels by national boards such as Public Health Scotland and Health Improvement Scotland and third sector partners.

In October 2024, Chief Scientist Office (CSO) announced Phase 2 of the Reducing Drug Deaths Innovation Challenge. This £5 million partnership between CSO and UK Government Office for Life Sciences funds 7 innovation projects to address the rising issue of drug-related deaths. CSO contribute £500,000 to this partnership.

In addition, we provided funding of £52,500 to the University of Edinburgh to host the Drugs Research Network Scotland to deliver knowledge exchange activities through an annual conference and regular webinars and to monitor ongoing research activities.

Question reference: S6W-33331

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 24 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has identified the next priorities for the improvement of neurological care and support; if so, what these priorities are; what funding it will put towards achieving them, and over what time period.

Priorities for the Scottish Government are:

national implementation of the Scottish Epilepsy Register,
further adoption of successful approaches to improving services through the neurological conditions network,
continued improvements in provision of ‘social support’ and psychological services for people with neurological conditions,
continued development and adoption of condition specific care pathways,
continued development and adoption of approaches to workforce planning and training for nursing, pharmacy, neuropsychology allied health professionals, and neurophysiology.

This work will be considered as part of the development of the Long Term Conditions Strategy due to be published later this year. Any required funding will be considered during the 2025-26 budget deliberations.

Question reference: S6W-33333

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 24 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government which neurological conditions it has invested in through framework funding during the period covered by the Neurological Care and Support Framework for Action 2020–2025.

The largest proportion of funding has been awarded to projects that improve services for all or more than one neurological condition, including services for carers. Direct investment was also made to projects for the following specific conditions:

Acquired Brain Injury
Cerebral Palsy
Epilepsy
Functional Neurological Disorder (FND)
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS)
Migraine
Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
Parkinson’s Disease
Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP)
Psychogenic Non-Epileptic Seizures
Spina bifida/ hydrocephalus

A full list of projects funded through the Neurological Framework can be found here.

Question reference: S6W-33285

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 many full-time equivalent civil servants are currently engaged in work relating to Scottish independence.

Question reference: S6W-33335

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 24 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many people with a terminal neurological condition have met the criteria for requiring palliative care in each year since 2021-22, broken down by how many received specialist palliative care.