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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: S6F-04741

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 09 March 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 March 2026

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-04746

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 March 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 March 2026

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to promote vaccinations to combat measles, in light of reports of recent diagnoses in the NHS Grampian area.

Question reference: S6W-44008

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 March 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 9 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what the reason is for the reported exclusion of children and young people’s services from the current strategic work to develop its Long Term Conditions Framework, including from recent governance and scoping events, and what steps it will take to ensure that children and young people are structurally included in the design of governance, advisory arrangements and strategic priorities at the current stage of the process, in line with its commitments under the Disability Equality Plan, the National Transitions to Adulthood Strategy for Young Disabled People (2025–2030), and its duties under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024.

Question reference: S6W-44002

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 27 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 9 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what resources it has committed to progressing the policy commitment to deliver automatic individual payments of universal credit in Scotland, and how it is ensuring this remains a priority within the work of the social justice directorate.

The Scottish Government remains committed to working with the DWP towards the delivery of split payments for Universal Credit. During 2025 we engaged with the DWP to update the policy design specification, which we resubmitted to them in early 2026 with a request for a formal impact assessment to be carried out. We will continue to work with the DWP to ensure this work is carried out as quickly as possible, noting that progress is reliant on DWP resources.

Question reference: S6W-44009

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 March 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 9 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will commit to ensuring that children and young people with long-term conditions are structurally and meaningfully included in governance, prioritisation and strategic design decisions regarding its Long Term Conditions Framework, including through the development of a parallel children and young people’s long-term conditions framework to run concurrently with the adult framework.

Question reference: S6W-44012

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 March 2026
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 9 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider extending by 28 days the deadline for participation in the public inquiry into the section 37 application for the 400kV Kintore–Tealing overhead line (ECU00005225), in light of reports that several residents who have made submissions to the planning application have not received notification from the Planning and Environmental Appeals Division, and whether it will confirm how many people were invited to take part in the inquiry.

The Scottish Government will not extend the deadline to participate in the public inquiry into the 400kV Kintore –Tealing overhead line. The 14 day period given to confirm participation in the public inquiry accords with the guidance on Priority Applications for Transmission Infrastructure (February 2025). To extend this period would jeopardise Scottish Ministers' ambition to determine the application within 52 weeks.

The Planning and Environmental Appeals Division (DPEA) notified 10,524 individuals and organisations with a right to take part, including 31 statutory consultees and 10,493 interested parties (10,005 by email and 488 by letter). Records confirm that all notifications were issued. Only one person has reported not receiving the original email, and their response has since been recorded. Anyone who believes they missed correspondence can contact DPEA, and all inquiry information remains available on the DPEA case portal.

Question reference: S6W-43953

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 9 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on (a) what new action it has taken to reduce waiting times for gender-affirming care at Glasgow's Sandyford Gender Identity Clinic, and (b) what funding it has allocated in the Budget 2026-27 to support this work.

The Scottish Government continues to work closely with Health Boards, including NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, to improve the delivery and accessibility of gender identity services in Scotland.

Since December 2022, the Scottish Government has invested over £8.5 million to support this work. Of this, over £2.2 million has been allocated directly to NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to support the reduction of waiting times for these services. This includes an anticipated £430,800 of new funding for the 2026-27 financial year, subject to final budgetary processes.

In February 2026, I met with the Chief Executive of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to discuss what more can be done to bring down waiting times for these services. This discussion included the exploration of new models of care, the role of sub-national planning, the sharing of best practice between Health Boards; and providing recurrent funding to stabilise staff recruitment and retention.

Additionally, work is also progressing to implement a new Target Operating Model for young people’s gender identity services. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde is currently considering how this model will be applied locally.

Question reference: S6W-43964

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 9 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the potential impact of its reported decision to reduce funding for the Mark Scott Leadership for Life Award from £75,000 to £30,000 in 2026-27, and whether it will reconsider this decision, in light of the award’s role in supporting young people’s confidence, leadership skills, community cohesion and progression into further education and employment.

While we recognise the positive impact that the Mark Scott Leadership for Life Award continues to have, we need to prioritise budget decisions to respond to an increasingly challenging financial environment. However, it is important to recognise that we will continue to support the Award in 2026-27 with £30,000 which will, on the basis of previous years’ experience, enable the Outward Bound Trust to leverage in support from other funders so that it can continue to support young people through the programme. The Scottish Government has funded the Outward Bound Trust to deliver the programme since 2012. Our commitment to the programme has been substantive and has amounted to £1.4 million over that time.

Question reference: S6W-43965

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 9 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in the light of the decision to arrange NHS boards into two sub national planning structures for the west and east of Scotland, what impact this will have on the planned establishment of a northern medicines formulary to complement the existing east formulary and the west formulary, which is in development.

This work is being taken forward by Health Boards using a regional collaborative consensus model, which builds upon proven existing local governance and decision-making processes for formulary development.

Work to establish a formulary for the north region has not yet begun, however, as the new sub-national planning structures are implemented, we expect Health Boards to evolve their approach to regional formulary work and consider the possible impact this will have on both the established and developing regional formularies.

Question reference: S6W-44006

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 27 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 9 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-36671 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 2 May 2025, whether it expects automatic split payments of universal credit in Scotland, as it committed to in 2017, to be delivered by the end of 2026, and, if not, when this can be expected.

The delivery of the split payment policy is reliant on the DWP’s ability to carry out an impact assessment of the proposed policy and then to make the necessary changes to the Universal Credit system. The DWP have not yet provided a delivery timetable, therefore it is not currently possible for the Scottish Government to commit to a delivery date. The Scottish Government continues to work with the DWP to progress this policy.