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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-36163

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 29 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that apprentices have equitable access to learning opportunities, and what its response is to reports that some roofing apprentices in East Ayrshire have a two-hour journey to and from college for training.

Question reference: S6W-36164

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 29 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it has engaged with the construction sector in East Ayrshire to determine the demand for roof slating and tiling apprenticeship opportunities in the area, in light of reports that the National Federation of Roofing Contractors was unable to get a course re-established at Ayrshire College because it did not meet the requirement set out in the final report of the Skills Delivery Landscape Review, Fit for the Future: developing a post-school learning system to fuel economic transformation, that “to use resources to best effect, and to ensure funding and provision can be aligned to need (not just demand), then there must be a clear articulation of the areas that are a national priority”.

Question reference: S6W-36002

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 21 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 1 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the autumn 2024 deadline not being met, when it expects to deliver the Fracture Liaison Service audit, and what steps it has taken to expediate this.

The Fracture Liaison Services (FLS) audit was commissioned by Scottish Government in July 2024. Whilst there was an initial delay regarding recruitment, this has now been completed, and progress now continues at pace.

Public Health Scotland are responsible for the delivery of the FLS audit and Scottish Government officials remain close to its development.

In line with all newly commissioned audits, we expect the audit to take several years to create high-quality, standardised data and consistency across NHS Boards in order to drive improvements and support clinical decision making.

I refer the member to the answer to questions S6W-35534 and S6W-35567 on 21 March 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Question reference: S6W-35921

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 1 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it is actively reducing stigma by raising and normalising period awareness in all sporting environments.

Since 2019, the Scottish Government has been supporting the sport sector to offer free period products; reducing stigma and addressing overarching gender equality.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-30734 on 11 November 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

In addition to the information provided in answer S6W-30734, sportscotland’s Working with Female Athletes learning platform on Brightspace has recently been updated to include additional e-learning resources. This includes Sport Wales’ e-learning module on the menstrual cycle in sport. Resources are available for all and are free of charge.

Question reference: S6W-35934

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 31 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to improve the experiences of women and girls when visiting their GP, in light of reports of some feeling dismissed or "gaslit" about their symptoms.

The Women’s Health Plan sets out that healthcare for women should be holistic, inclusive, respectful, centred around the individual and responsive to their needs and choices.

In 2023, we carried out research on ‘Women's experiences of discrimination and the impact on health ’ so that we can better understand the lived experience of women and girls in Scotland and the discrimination they have experienced when seeking healthcare.

Through the Women’s Health Platform on NHS Inform we have created resources that can be used by women and girls and healthcare professionals to support shared decision making and a patient centred approach. This includes symptom questionnaires on menopause and menstrual health and clinical tools such as the Endometriosis Care Pathway and the Heavy Menstrual Bleeding Pathway to support informed discussions and provide better understanding of the next steps on a healthcare journey.

We have also funded the development of educational resources to support health professionals to learn more about menstrual health, endometriosis and menopause, the symptoms and treatment options.

Question reference: S6W-35935

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 31 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to specifically improve and enable timely access to gynaecology services and treatment.

In 2024-25, we allocated over £450,000 to gynaecology from our £30 million targeted investment in planned care, delivering around 3,500 additional new outpatient appointments.

The 2025-26 Budget will provide a record £21.7 billion for Health & Social Care, including a commitment to provide £200 million to help reduce waiting times and improve capacity, and gynaecology is being targeted as a key priority area for additional funding.

Our Women’s Health Champion, Professor Anna Glasier, and I have been meeting with clinicians to better understand the challenges that currently exist within gynaecology services, to discuss innovative solutions, and to reiterate our commitment that timely access to gynaecology services is a key priority area for the Scottish Government and for the next phase of the Women’s Health Plan.

Furthermore, the Scottish Government commissioned Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) has developed a strong clinically-led Specialty Delivery Groups (SDG) for Gynaecology, which promotes multidisciplinary team working and supports local adoption of service improvement programmes. This group has supported several new and innovative pathway developments, many of which are now being successfully scaled up across Scotland, including Active Clinical Referral Triage (ACRT) and Patient Initiated Review (PIR).

Question reference: S6W-35924

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 31 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that all patients across Scotland who have Parkinson’s disease have equal access to all appropriate Scottish Medicines Consortium-approved therapies, taking into consideration geographical variation in access to care.

The Scottish Government is committed to increasing the availability of safe and effective medicines that people in Scotland would benefit from. The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) assesses the clinical and cost effectiveness of newly licensed medicines on a once for Scotland basis and publishes advice for Health Boards to consider. It is expected that Health Board Area & Drug and Therapeutics Committees (ADTCs) will consider making a SMC recommended medicine, or an equivalent, available on their local or regional formulary for routine prescribing within 90 days of SMC advice being published.

Health Boards are expected to apply common principles and processes in the introduction of newly licensed medicines to facilitate consistency of approach to local decision-making. The decision to prescribe a medicine, and which medicine to prescribe, is entirely for the clinician in charge of a person’s care, having considered their clinical condition, their safety, and any relevant clinical guidance.

Question reference: S6W-35926

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 31 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether all NHS boards have assessed the needs of patients with advanced or complex Parkinson’s disease in their area and ensured that services have been designed to meet patients’ needs.

While the Scottish Government sets the strategic policy for the NHS in Scotland, it is NHS Boards and healthcare professionals locally who have responsibility for both service delivery and ensuring people receive the right care for them, taking into account relevant guidance, local service needs and priorities for investment.

It is therefore for NHS Boards to determine what clinical interventions they offer, while giving regard to the considerations above.

The majority of Scottish health boards participated in the 2022 UK Parkinson’s Audit which measures the quality of Parkinson’s services against international best practice. This includes Patient Reported Experience Measure (PREM) data from people who use Parkinson’s services.

The 2022 Audit showed Scotland outperforming the UK in terms of future care planning, and access to essential professionals such as physiotherapists, occupational therapists and speech and language therapists.

Question reference: S6W-35925

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 31 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance has been given to NHS boards on the provision of Scottish Medicines Consortium-approved therapies for patients with advanced Parkinson’s disease.

Question reference: S6W-35919

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 31 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its progress on reducing endometriosis diagnosis waiting times, and when it will publish data on this.

Through the actions in our Women’s Health Plan we have taken steps to support both women and health professionals to learn more about endometriosis, the symptoms and treatment options, so that waiting times for diagnosis can improve.

This includes the development of an Endometriosis Care Pathway for NHS Scotland; funding the development of educational resources for healthcare professionals and our Women’s Health Platform on NHS Inform which aims to provide women with the information and tools they need to make informed decisions about their health.

The Women’s Health Plan highlights the need to improve the data on women’s health. That is why we published the Women’s Health Plan Data Landscape Review in November 2024. Improving data on women’s health and on endometriosis will continue to be a priority as we develop the next phase of the Women’s Health Plan.

Information about the progress to date against each of the priorities in the Women’s Health Plan can be found in the Women’s Health Plan Final Report.