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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-43664

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 24 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Young Lives vs Cancer regarding the charity's proposal to expand the Young Patients Family Fund's eligibility criteria to include all children and under 25s with cancer, and whether steps will be taken to expand the criteria for the fund, in light of the UK Government's recent announcement of a £10 million travel fund, based on Young Lives vs Cancer’s proposed model.

The Young Patients Family Fund (YPFF) is designed to support the families of all babies, children and young people from birth to age 18 who require inpatient care in Scotland, regardless of diagnosis.

I met with the charity Young Lives vs. Cancer on 25 September 2024 to discuss their Running on Empty Campaign.

Financial support for travel to hospital appointments is available through the patient travel expenses reimbursement schemes. Under these schemes, patients and authorised escorts may reclaim reasonable travel costs associated with attending hospital appointments, subject to eligibility criteria and clinical requirements. These arrangements apply across Scotland and provide support to eligible young people and their families irrespective of condition.

Question reference: S6W-43552

Asked by: Marie McNair, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 24 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what work it is undertaking to improve waiting list times for online schooling resources for young people with severe anxiety linked to medical diagnoses.

At a national level, the Scottish Government funds a pilot of the i-Sgoil service, which provides live online teaching for young people, including those with severe anxiety, who have disengaged from their school learning for an extended period of time.

This is a national offer to complement arrangements put in place by schools and local authorities and is not a standalone substitute for locally-led support.

Statutory responsibility for the delivery of education sits with local authorities – as set out under the Education (Scotland) Act 1980. Officials continue to engage with e-Sgoil and local government on a sustainable funding model for i-Sgoil, including the possibility for councils to fund additional places directly, which would allow for increased capacity and reduced waiting lists/times.

The Scottish Government is committed to working with local authorities and other partners to implement a range of support for local authorities and schools in delivering these functions.

Question reference: S6W-43698

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Independent
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 24 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it has decided to recalculate the baseline for funding the uplift to the real Living Wage in its draft Budget 2026-27, in light of it funding it in its entirety for nearly 10 years for adult social care workers, and concerns that social care employers will have a £19 million gap to cover.

The draft Budget 2026-27 set out a further £160 million investment to enable the payment of the Real Living Wage to adult social care workers in commissioned services in the next financial year.

The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government has subsequently announced that a further £20 million will be allocated to the Local Government Settlement for Social Care, which can be used towards funding the Real Living Wage for adult and childcare sectors.

This will take the total Scottish Government investment in adult social care pay to over £1.1 billion annually.

Question reference: S6W-43766

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 16 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 24 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the UK Government recently announcing that financial support will be available to families of children and young people with cancer to cover travel costs to and from appointments, what plans it has to make similar financial support available to families of children and young people with cancer in Scotland.

Scottish Government recognises that families play a vital role in supporting children and young people while they are in hospital, and the cost of visiting should not be a barrier to providing that support.

Financial support for travel to hospital appointments is available through NHS Board patient travel expenses reimbursement schemes such as the Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme (HTCS) and the Patient Travel Expenses Scheme (PTES). Under these schemes, patients and authorised escorts may reclaim reasonable travel costs associated with attending hospital appointments, subject to eligibility criteria and clinical requirements. These arrangements apply across Scotland and provide support to eligible young people and their families irrespective of condition

In some cases, the family of a young cancer patient may be eligible for support under the Young Patient Family Fund (YPFF). This would be if the cancer patient is under 18 years of age and receiving inpatient treatment. In such an instance, the parents, primary carers and/or siblings (aged under 18 years) of the young inpatient could claim under YPFF if they are ordinarily resident in Scotland and have incurred allowable expenses as a result of a hospital visit. Full YPFF terms and conditions can be found here - https://www.mygov.scot/young-patients-family-fund/help-and-support.

Question reference: S6W-43786

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 24 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what long-term plan it has to support people with obstructive sleep apnoea.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that people with respiratory conditions including obstructive sleep apnoea receive the best possible care and treatment to enable them to live longer, healthier, and more independent lives.

Our Respiratory Care Action Plan for Scotland has supported national work to strengthen prevention, diagnosis, care and support for people living with respiratory conditions. Through the Centre for Sustainable Delivery, national pathways are being developed for severe asthma, COPD and interstitial lung disease, with specific innovations underway to improve the diagnosis and management of sleep apnoea.

Work is also progressing to improve access to pulmonary rehabilitation, a key intervention for people with chronic respiratory conditions, supported by a new digital first model being developed in partnership with Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland.

We also recently published the Scotland's Population Health Framework and the Health and Social Care Service Renewal Framework in which we outline our shared, long-term vision for reforming and renewing health and social care services to ensure they are more sustainable, preventative, and equitable.

We know many people are still waiting too long for appointments and treatments for conditions such as sleep apnoea and this is not good enough. We are determined to do more and this year we have allocated more than £135.5 million of additional funding to health boards to help tackle the longest waits for planned care. This funding means thousands more appointments, operations and procedures are being delivered this year compared to 2024-25.

To build on this progress, extra funding of up to £20 million is being made available to health boards for the last quarter of the year, with the focus on Boards and specialities with long waits.

We will continue to work with clinicians, national delivery partners and the third sector to ensure that people with obstructive sleep apnoea can access timely diagnosis, effective treatment and ongoing support as part of safe, high quality respiratory care.

Question reference: S6W-43792

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 24 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will introduce interim national safeguards to empower healthcare staff as well as patients, their families and carers, to trigger an urgent clinical review where there are concerns that a patient’s condition is deteriorating, pending the recommendations of the short-term working group established to consider this matter.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that everyone in Scotland has fair and reliable access to the protections offered by Martha’s Rule, which empowers patients and families to escalate concerns about care.

The right to request a second opinion is already enshrined in the Patient’s Charter, along with the Scottish Patient Safety Programme’s work in the recognition, response and review of deteriorating patients which includes a strong focus on listening to and acting on the concerns of patients, their families, carers and staff, to ensure action is taken. A short-life group will be further developing these principles, including clear escalation and independent advocacy.

Question reference: S6W-43790

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 24 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what specific lessons learnt, if any, it has taken from the pilot of Martha’s Rule initiative across 143 hospital sites in NHS England, and for what reason it considers it necessary to duplicate the pilot process prior to introducing a similar initiative in Scotland.

The Scottish Government has considered the learning from NHS England’s pilots and recognised that there is opportunity to further embed the principles of Martha’s Rule alongside the Essentials of Safe Care approach that already forms part of the Scottish Patient Safety Programme.

Healthcare Improvement Scotland is establishing a short-life working group which will include stakeholders from across the NHS. The group will consider learning from NHS England as well as gathering views from those with lived experience of the NHS in Scotland. The Group will develop robust and consistent guidance, underpinned by the clear principle of escalation and advocacy. The first meeting of the group is scheduled for March 2026.

Question reference: S6W-43732

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 24 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care is ashamed that the written case for Scottish ministers and the Lord Advocate in the judicial review of the Scottish Prison Service policy for the management of transgender people in custody did not include a single mention of women’s rights.

Question reference: S6W-43765

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 24 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the Distress Brief Intervention programme.

The Distress Brief Intervention (DBI) Programme is live in all 31 HSCPs across Scotland providing timely support to those in distress and easing pressures on frontline services.

In November the programme reached the milestone of 100,000 referrals.

Over the coming months, the Scottish Government will be working with our partners to review how well DBI has been embedded, and what else may be needed moving forward to strengthen it. Our focus will be on the sustainability of the programme, and maintaining the right level of support to frontline services.

Question reference: S6T-02910

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 February 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the reported disclosure that £96.2 million has been spent by NHS Scotland on damages, legal expenses and associated costs linked to maternity and obstetric care.