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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-39304

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 28 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to (a) assess the way that Significant Adverse Event Reviews are recorded in the NHS and (b) consider whether a change in the format of recording practices is required.

Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) recently reviewed and published an updated version of A national framework for reviewing and learning from adverse events in NHS Scotland in February this year. This provides updated templates to support NHS Health Boards to consistently report and learn from Significant Adverse Event Reviews (SAER). Work is ongoing by HIS to standardise the terminology and definitions for recording SAERs.

Question reference: S6W-39313

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 28 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to increase capacity across NHS dermatology services.

In addition to the previously announced £106 million investment to address long waits for planned care, the Government has committed a further £4 million to deliver extra dermatology activity. This will help to increase capacity for dermatology services and reduce long waits, and will primarily be focused on introducing additional workforce, extra clinics in evenings and weekends.

This will support a planned:

4,100 new outpatient appointments; and

1,500 ‘see and treat’ appointments.

This funding will also provide photo-triage of up to 8,300 digital images, allowing clinicians to triage, diagnose and assess some skin conditions, leading to a better and quicker service for patients.

This builds on our investment of £1.8m for our national digital dermatology programme which helps reduce long waits for outpatient appointments in dermatology.

All Territorial Boards can now provide their GPs with access to the new Digital Dermatology Pathway. Supplier data suggests that as of Friday 18th July, 627 GP practices (71%) across 13 Territorial Boards have access to the pathway, of which 423 have used this to capture images as part of a referral to secondary care. The remaining Territorial Board has an existing pathway in place.

Question reference: S6W-39311

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 28 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration is given to dermatology services in the development of NHS workforce planning.

Whilst the Scottish Government sets the strategic policy direction for the NHS in Scotland, operational matters including staffing to dermatology services are in the first instance the responsibility of the relevant NHS board.

NHS Boards are required to undertake workforce planning to ensure a full range of services are provided, including dermatology. These plans should align with the National Workforce Strategy.

In addition, they are asked to provide findings to us with regards to particular workforce shortages, where dermatology was identified.

In response, and as part of the £200 million additional funding announced as part of the Programme for Government to deliver reductions to waiting lists and improve patient flow through hospitals, we have allocated an additional £4 million funding to Health Boards to increase capacity for dermatology services, improving access to services and helping to reduce long waits. We are also implementing digital innovations such as image-based referrals to reduce face-to-face demand.

Question reference: S6W-39330

Asked by: Edward Mountain, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 28 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that Police Scotland, NHS boards and local authorities work together to support vulnerable people.

The Scottish Government ensures that Police Scotland, NHS Boards, and local authorities work together to support our most vulnerable adults through the framework established by the Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Act 2007. This legislation sets out the criteria for identifying an adult at risk and requires public bodies to work together and share information when they believe an adult may be at risk of harm. Where action is needed to support and protect the person, the case must be referred to the local council for the area where the adult is located.

Additionally, in respect of supporting people in distress the Scottish Government has worked with the Partnership Delivery Group (PDG) to publish the Framework for Collaboration and the Collaborative Commitments Action Plan to strengthen multi-agency working between Police Scotland, NHS Boards, and local authorities. These initiatives are designed to ensure that individuals experiencing distress or crisis receive timely, appropriate, and compassionate care and support.

Question reference: S6W-39303

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 28 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it holds to account any local authorities that breach their statutory duties under the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004.

The Education (Scotland) Act 1980 places statutory responsibility for the provision of education in Scotland with individual local authorities. Under section 70 of the 1980 Act any interested party can make a reference to the Scottish Ministers that a responsible body (the managers of a school or education establishment, an education authority or other persons) has failed to discharge a duty imposed on them by or for the purposes of any enactment relating to education. This includes duties imposed by the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004.

Furthermore, where families are concerned that education authorities may not be fulfilling their duties under the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004, there is a range of dispute resolution mechanisms available to them. These mechanisms include mediation, independent adjudication, and referral to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-39384

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Independent
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 28 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether NHS Highland informed it that it could not share data on vaccinations with it prior to the board taking over responsibility for vaccinations from GPs, and whether it will publish any documentation on this matter.

Question reference: S6W-39551

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 25 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 22 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that businesses, particularly small and medium-sized businesses, are equipped and supported to implement artificial intelligence into their work.

Question reference: S6W-39554

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 25 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 22 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) agricultural, (b) forestry and (c) fishing businesses closed down in (i) 2023-24, (ii) 2024-25 and (iii) 2025-26 to date.

Question reference: S6W-39366

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 25 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what actions have been implemented as a result of its youth violence summit on 12 June 2025.

The Scottish Government is continuing to invest in violence prevention activity through our grant funded partner organisations, including the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit and Youthlink Scotland’s No Knives Better Lives.

This includes the development and delivery of two campaigns on knife crime and weapon carrying, to raise awareness to older children and the adults around them, including a campaign specifically targeting primary aged school children.

The Quit Fighting for Likes campaign will be promoted to front line professionals to encourage conversations with young people to explore the impact of filming and sharing violent images online. Resources will also target parents to help support young people away from carrying weapons.

We are considering what more we can do to strengthen support for young people and communities.

Question reference: S6W-39368

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 25 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the Independent Working Group on Antisocial Behaviour was reportedly not invited to its youth violence summit on 12 June 2025.

The First Minister convened the meeting on 12 June to focus on the views of those working in the youth work sector on violence among young people.

We recognise there are a wide range of organisations working to support young people and families across communities who are undertaking valuable prevention and early intervention work. To ensure those attending were able to put forward views in the time available, it was necessary to restrict numbers, so were unable to invite everyone with an interest in this matter.

The Scottish Government remain open to meeting with organisations wishing to contribute to this discussion to help inform the overall response to strengthen support to young people and communities.