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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-31931

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 17 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason South of Scotland Enterprise is reportedly not able to continue funding the Langholm Alliance.

Question reference: S6O-04132

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 December 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to prevent the emergence of a franchise model of GP provision.

Question reference: S6W-31782

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 9 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-21560 by Jenni Minto on 2 October 2023, what work it has done with stakeholder groups to explore how it might further review and implement the NICE guideline on myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) in Scotland.

We are committed to driving more equitable ME/CFS care across Scotland, to ensure that people receive appropriate help whenever and wherever they need.

In May 2023 we published an analysis of survey data of health boards’ arrangements for ME/CFS care. The aims were to gauge boards’ awareness of the updated NICE guideline, understand how services are implementing the guidance and any associated barriers or opportunities, and their future plans for ME/CFS care. We have since gathered updated information from every health board in Scotland and published this on 20 November 2024.

We have continued to work with third sector organisations representing people with ME/CFS, and people with lived experience, to understand more about what changes would be most impactful in moving further forward with implementing best practice in Scotland. This includes discussions with MEAction Scotland and Action for ME.

The 2025/26 budget includes new investment of £4.5 million to deliver new specialist support across the country for Long Covid, ME/CFS, and other similar conditions.

Question reference: S6W-31467

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 2 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what recent action it has taken to address the reported continued differential in payments per child between local authority and private early learning and childcare settings.

Scottish Government publishes data each year on the rates paid by local authorities to funded providers in the private and third sector, and to childminders, to deliver funded early learning and childcare (ELC). Data for 2023-24 showed that rates increased by on average 4.1% between 2022-23 and 2023-24.

While the average rate has increased, there remains variation in the rates paid across Scotland. That is why work is being undertaken to reform the process for setting sustainable rates. This will see the delivery of the actions set out in the joint COSLA and Scottish Government Sustainable Rates Review, which was published in December 2023 and was informed by evidence from both childcare providers and local authorities.

The review recommends a wide-ranging set of actions to improve the existing sustainable rates process, including updating the Sustainable Rates Guidance with a view to greater standardisation; and working with local government and funded providers to undertake a new cost collection exercise to ensure that our long-term investment to support the setting of sustainable rates is informed by a robust and reliable evidence base.To ensure that providers can input directly into this programme of work a series of Provider Reference Groups have been held this Autumn.

Following the Review, refreshed Scottish Government and COSLA guidance was published for 2024-25 setting out a clear expectation that there should be minimum increase of 7.6%. Data for 2024-25 will be published in early 2025. These rates do not take into account the costs to local authorities of commissioning, administering and overseeing the delivery of funded ELC.

From 2024-25 onwards, funding for ELC has been distributed to local authorities by Scottish Government through the General Revenue Grant. This now includes the previously ringfenced funding for Early Learning and Childcare following the removal of the ringfence as part of the Scottish Government’s commitment under the Verity House Agreement to increase funding flexibilities to local authorities. It is then for locally elected representatives to decide how to deliver services, including ELC, to their local communities, whilst fulfilling their statutory obligations and a jointly agreed set of delivery priorities.

As local authorities have a statutory responsibility to commission services that meet the needs of their population, they may choose to run services that would not be commercially viable for other providers, such as in rural and island communities.

Question reference: S6W-31495

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 28 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what advice it can give to people impacted by the Warmer Homes Scotland Scheme reportedly being put on hold due to funding constraints.

Warmer Homes Scotland remains open for referrals and has an allocated budget of £65m in 2024-25, its highest ever budget level. Anyone that is considering applying to the scheme should contact Home Energy Scotland in the usual way.

The Scottish Government has introduced a waiting process for people who have been accepted onto the Warmer Homes Scotland programme due to the scheme’s success and high levels of demand. This is a necessary step taken to ensure that people who have been identified as eligible for the scheme can still receive assistance.

We understand that some customers will be disappointed with the waiting times. However, our managing agent Warmworks, continues to work hard to minimise the impact of this process, keeping customers informed throughout and making sure they are supported and receive regular communication every step of the way.

Warmer Homes Scotland is a demand-led scheme and it is important that we take the necessary steps to ensure the scheme remains within its allocated budget. In instances where someone has a broken boiler or no heating, Home Energy Scotland will explore with the customer if any suitable alternative crisis funding options exist.

Question reference: S6W-30961

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 13 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what recent contact its agencies have had with the owner of the former Pinneys site in Annan.

Question reference: S6O-03967

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to local residents to take forward a replacement river crossing in Annan following storm damage in 2021, in light of the findings of the recently completed feasibility study.

Question reference: S6W-30533

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 31 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what recent action it has taken to reduce the number of non-smokers, particularly young people, taking up vaping.

The Scottish Government’s Tobacco and Vaping Framework, published in November 2023, committed to taking action to reduce vaping among non-smokers and young people.

Alongside the Framework, we launched the Take Hold marketing campaign which successfully increased parents, carers and young people’s awareness of the harms and risks of nicotine addiction from vaping. New resources were also launched on Parent Club, NHS Inform and Young Scot on vaping.

The Scottish Government is committed to aligning with a four-nation approach towards banning the sale and supply of single-use vapes.

In order to align with timescales recently announced by the Welsh and UK governments and provide consistency across the four nations, the Scottish Government will lay legislation to amend the coming into force date in the Scottish regulations banning the sale and supply of these vapes recently passed by the Scottish Parliament from 1 April 2025 to 1 June 2025.

We continue to work closely across the four-nations on the development of the UK Tobacco and Vapes Bill to ensure that it reflects Scotland’s public health ambitions and remain hopeful this will be reintroduced as soon as possible.

Question reference: S6W-30558

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 24 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason Scottish Forestry is reportedly not processing grant applications for grey squirrel control, and whether it will provide an update on its position on the value of this scheme.

Scottish Forestry is reviewing its approach to assessing Forestry Grant Scheme applications for grey squirrel control. This has been necessary because the Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrel project is no longer able to provide assistance with the assessment of grant applications. This process will be concluded shortly and we hope to be able to continue the processing of grant applications. An evaluation of the effectiveness of the FGS grey squirrel control grant has been undertaken will be shared as part of an overall FGS evaluation report when finalised.

Question reference: S6W-30440

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 22 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what the current (a) average and (b) longest waiting time for an appointment is for non-emergency cardiology referral in NHS Dumfries and Galloway.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) does not hold the information requested. NHS Boards submit patient level records to the national waiting times datamart but the information provided on the clinical priority of a referral is not available for reporting as it isn’t quality assured. This is due to there being no agreed national definition on what constitutes an urgent or routine referral.

Statistics relating to the waits patients experience for a new outpatient appointment at a consultant-led clinic are published up to 30th June 2024 and can be found using the link https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/29135/newop_aug24.xlsx. The median and 90th percentile waits for cardiology in NHS Dumfries and Galloway, as well as a breakdown of the length of waits, can be found using the dropdowns in the 1.6 Table tab:

Please note, PHS does not publish the longest wait because this statistic can often reflect the wait of one of a very small number of patient records where there are inaccuracies in the information recorded at the time the data were extracted, and consequently the wait that can be derived is erroneously long.

To minimise this risk, PHS publishes the 90th percentile statistic (the length of time within which 9 out of 10 patients are seen) to provide a more reliable indication of the longest waits that are occurring, as this statistic is not susceptible to these outliers.