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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-43157

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 16 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 29 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will review the prescribing powers of (a) district nurses and (b) community care providers to allow for immediate adjustments to continence product absorbency or quantity without GP referral, and what assessment it has made of the impact of current administrative barriers on the dignity of palliative patients.

We want people who need continence support to receive the care that is right for them and their medical circumstances, including those with palliative care needs.

Patient assessment and the subsequent prescription of continence products are typically the responsibility of local continence teams given their specialist knowledge. GPs would not be expected to play a role in the prescription of continence products after a patient has been referred to, and assessed by, the Board’s continence team. Given this, we would expect any changes to a patient’s prescription to be agreed by the continence team to ensure that the new product is appropriate for the patient and will fully meet their needs.

It is also important to reflect that community Practitioner Nurse Prescribers (who are mainly district nurses, specialist community public health nurses (formerly health visitors), and school nurses) with prescribing qualifications known as v100 or v150 qualifications, can prescribe any appliance or reagent in the relevant Drug Tariff from the Nurse Prescribers Formulary (NPF) for Community Practitioners, including incontinence appliances to help ensure that patients are supported appropriately and their dignity is respected. As such we currently have no plans to review prescribing powers.

Question reference: S6W-43163

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 16 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 29 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will mandate that every NHS board maintains a palliative buffer stock of high-absorbency continence products to allow district nurses to provide immediate relief to patients without waiting for central supplier delivery.

Question reference: S6W-42987

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 29 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to close any (a) survival and (b) research gap for the less survivable common cancers of the lungs, liver, brain, oesophagus, pancreas and stomach, in light of reports that they collectively result in over 9,000 deaths, or around 44% of all cancer deaths, in Scotland each year.

Key to improving survival rates for less survivable cancers is ensuring timely diagnosis. The updated Scottish Referral Guidelines for Suspected Cancer, published on 6th August 2025, now include a nationally agreed non-specific symptoms referral criteria for the first time, which is a common feature of less survivable cancers.

Further, The Scottish Government committed to implementing a lung screening pilot in the Population Health Framework published in June 2025. It is anticipated this pilot will begin operation in early 2027.

Considerable work is being undertaken to standardise care pathways for those with less survivable cancers. The Scottish Government has commissioned the Scottish Hepato Pancreato Biliary (HPB) Network to develop recommended national pathways for (HPB) Cancers, working with the SCN and the Centre for Sustainable Delivery.

In addition, The Scottish Cancer Network has developed a number of Clinically Managed Pathways (CMPs), including for lung cancer and adult brain tumours, to be implemented on a national basis. The purpose of CMPs is to outline the patient with cancer journey from diagnosis onwards.

Further, Scotland’s first optimal cancer diagnostic pathway for lung was published in December 2022. The redesigned pathway for lung cancer services sets an optimal timeframe for each step to enable diagnosis by day 21 and treatment for most to start by day 42.

In terms of research funding, since 2024, the Scottish Government’s Chief Scientist Office (CSO) funded 5 projects or fellowships for Glioblastoma, Osophageal Adenocarcinoma and Pancreatic cancer. Applications with regards to less survivable cancers are welcomed by CSO. Any such applications would go through CSO’s standard independent expert review process to enable funding decisions to be made.

I met with the Less Survivable Cancer Taskforce a number of times in 2025 and am committed to continuing to engage with them on our shared aims.

Question reference: S6W-43385

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 11 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what work has been done to reduce waiting lists for the treatment of postural tachycardia syndrome (PoTS) in NHS Lanarkshire.

Question reference: S6W-43386

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 11 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what clinical pathway is currently in place for patients with suspected or confirmed postural tachycardia syndrome (PoTS) in NHS (a) Lanarkshire, (b) Greater Glasgow and Clyde and (c) Forth Valley.

Question reference: S6W-43387

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 11 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure consistent, NHS board-wide referral pathways for postural tachycardia syndrome (PoTS) patients, in light of reports that some services are declining referrals.

Question reference: S6W-43388

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 11 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what dedicated services and resources are in place for the (a) diagnosis, (b) treatment and (c) ongoing management of postural tachycardia syndrome (PoTS) in NHS (i) Lanarkshire, (ii) Greater Glasgow and Clyde and (iii) Forth Valley.

Question reference: S6W-43162

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 16 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 28 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how the actions outlined in the Palliative Care Matters for All Strategy 2025–2030 will specifically address reports of a so-called postcode lottery of equipment provision for terminally ill patients living at home.

The Palliative Care Matters for All Strategy, which was published on 10 September 2025, provides a strategic framework to help improve the delivery of palliative care support to communities across Scotland.

The Strategy is underpinned by an initial 3-year delivery plan (2025-28) which is focused on developing tools that will support frontline delivery across Scotland and the sharing of best practice.

However, it is for Integration Joint Boards to govern, plan and resource adult palliative care, including equipment provision, in their areas using the delegated budgets under their control.

Question reference: S6W-42988

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 28 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that people who require mental health support through the NHS do not feel the need to self-fund private treatment as a result of long NHS waiting times, and what provision is in place for people to be reimbursed for any consultations, treatment or support that has been clinically recommended to them in a private healthcare setting.

We are committed to improving the mental health support provided to people across Scotland, not only through the NHS and statutory services, but through our investments in community and grassroots organisations. We are seeing progress, with record numbers of staff providing more varied mental health support and services to a larger number of people than ever before. We have also seen the national performance against the 18-week CAMHS standard met for the last year, with 91.5% of children and young people starting treatment within 18 weeks of referral.

However, I recognise there is more to do to further bring down waiting times. That is why the budget for 2026-27, if agreed by Parliament, will see spending on Mental Health exceed £1.5 billion. This includes investment to improve neurodevelopmental assessments and care for children and young people.

Question reference: S6W-43161

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 16 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 27 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what the specific quality standards are for continence products supplied for home use under the national procurement framework, and what the cost-differential is per unit between products supplied in acute hospital settings compared with those provided to patients in the community.

Products listed in the current National Procurement framework meet the ISO11948-1 Rothwell Absorption Capacity for Incontinence Pads.

Products to acute settings are fulfilled via the NSS National Distribution Service as a delivered price. This is 5% higher than products supplied directly by the supplier to community and care home settings. However, the supplier charges and invoices Health Boards for delivery.

Products fulfilled via the National Distribution Service do not differentiate between patient groups as the delivery is to wards, departments and other end points. National Procurement conducts a quarterly meeting with the framework provider, Ontex Healthcare and any local KPIs are managed by individual health boards.