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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-25255

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 15 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) B, (b) single track and (c) unclassified road upgrades it has planned for 2024 in the Highlands and Islands region, and whether it can confirm the (i) projected date of completion and (ii) total budget for each project.

Transport Scotland, working on behalf of Scottish Ministers, have no B roads, single track roads or unclassified roads in the Highlands and Islands region under its responsibility.

The local road network is the responsibility of local authorities and they will allocate resources on the basis of local priorities. The vast majority of funding to local authorities from the Scottish Government is provided via a block grant and we do not stipulate how local authorities should utilise their individual allocations. It is therefore the responsibility of each local authority to manage their own budget and to allocate the financial resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

Question reference: S6W-25260

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 15 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent on improvements on the A96 between Aberdeen and Nairn in the last 12 months.

Question reference: S6W-24922

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 29 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 15 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of research published in the Annals of Oncology journal, which reports an expected rise in bowel cancer death rates for adults aged 25 to 49 years in the UK by 26% for men and 39% for women, including (a) what data is available for Scotland, (b) what action it is taking to prevent bowel cancer and (c) how it will improve detection rates in people under the age of 50.

(a) There are a number of published data sets available in Scotland that help us understand bowel cancer. These are facilitated by Public Health Scotland and include data on incidence, mortality, staging, waiting times for cancer organised by tumour type.

Cancer Incidence

Public Health Scotland provides an annual update of cancer incidence statistics in Scotland from January 1997 to December 2021. All cancer types are included. Most recent data can be found here

Cancer Mortality

Public Health Scotland provides interpretations of the risk factors that cause cancer and changes in survival for the most common causes of cancer death. Most recent data can be found here

Cancer Staging

Public Health Scotland provides data examining the impact of COVID-19 on cancer staging distributions, with the focus of the report being on the 2022 data in comparison with the most recent pre-pandemic data (2018 and 2019). Most recent data can be found here

Cancer Waiting Times

Public Health Scotland provides quarterly updates of Cancer Waiting Times statistics, reporting two National Standards on how long patients waited for their first cancer treatment. The 62-day standard applies to patients urgently referred with a suspicion of cancer by a primary care clinician/general dental physician, patients referred by one of the national cancer screening programmes, and direct referrals to hospital where the signs and symptoms are consistent with the cancer diagnosed. The 31-day standard applies to all patients, regardless of the route of referral. The most recent data can be found here

(b) The research conducted by Cancer Research UK, published in the Annals of Oncology journal in January 2024, states that bowel cancer can be linked to diet and alcohol intake. The Scottish Government has introduced strong public health interventions to address these risk factors.

The Scottish Government’s Alcohol Framework sets out our priorities for preventing alcohol-related harm and introduced the Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) to alcohol sales in Scotland. The Scottish Government’s Alcohol Framework, published 20 November 2018, sets out our priorities for preventing alcohol-related harm. It contains 20 actions building on existing measures to change Scotland’s relationship with alcohol, including our world-leading minimum unit pricing policy. The Scottish Government takes a whole population approach to tackling alcohol-related harms, in line with the World Health Organization’s focus on affordability, availability and attractiveness of alcohol.

Prior to the pandemic, the reduction in alcohol sales showed encouraging early signs that the introduction of MUP was having a positive impact. In the 12 months following the introduction of MUP and before the pandemic, there was a 2% decrease in alcohol sales for off premises consumption.

The Scottish Government continue to endorse a healthy balanced diet as represented by the Eatwell Guide . Food Standards Scotland has translated the Eatwell Guide into the Eat Well, Your Way resource. This provides meaningful, practical advice and tips to help people make healthier food and drink choices, whilst acknowledging the social, cultural and environmental influences on food choice.

Our Diet and Healthy Weight Delivery Plan sets out ambitious and wide-ranging action to deliver our vision for a Scotland where everyone eats well and has a healthy weight.

(c) The Scottish Government is committed to detecting cancer as early as possible. A new Detect Cancer Earlier campaign – Be The Early Bird - launched in March 2023, aiming to reduce fear of cancer and empower those with possible symptoms to act early. Following successful independent evaluation, the campaign re-ran in September 2023 to prompt health-seeking behaviour.

The wider Detect Cancer Early Programme works closely with the Scottish Cancer Coalition, including Bowel Cancer UK, to support awareness raising efforts and uses social channels to promote joint content and messages where possible.

Question reference: S6W-25002

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 15 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the debate in the Parliament on Forestry (Contribution to Net Zero) on 9 November 2022, what progress it is making on the delivery of the £100 million investment for the forestry sector to increase woodland creation.

Question reference: S6O-03112

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 February 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to review the operations of the Parole Board for Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-03116

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 February 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the First Minister’s reported comments that it “has to go further” to ensure that plans to radically reform how young people are cared for in Scotland are realised, whether it has identified what steps it will take to achieve this.

Question reference: S6O-03115

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 February 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, as part of its work to further the case for Scottish independence, and in light of the Supreme Court ruling that the Scottish Parliament cannot legislate for a referendum on Scottish independence, for what reason its position is that there should not be a referendum at this stage on the powers of the Scottish Parliament.

Question reference: S6O-03111

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 February 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the potential impact of the £58.7 million reduction to the College Operational Expenditure budget for 2024-25 on the Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire constituency.

Question reference: S6O-03110

Asked by: Collette Stevenson, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 February 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the Read Write Count with the First Minister programme.

Question reference: S6O-03113

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 February 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of its current relationship with local authorities.