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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-42935

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 20 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recommendation in the Audit Scotland report, Delayed discharges: A symptom of the challenges facing health and social care, which was published on 8 January 2026, that "the Scottish Government, NHS Scotland, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA), Healthcare Improvement Scotland, integration authorities and their partner NHS boards and councils, should...over the next 12 months, provide guidance on, and better promote public awareness of the benefits of, establishing a power of attorney or a guardianship order".

The Scottish Government welcomes Audit Scotland’s report and has asked the Collaborative Response and Assurance group, which is co-chaired by the Scottish Government and CoSLA to come together to consider these recommendations as a whole and develop a partnership approach to addressing them. The Scottish Government remains committed to reforming the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) 2000 Act will which will play a critical role in embedding this recommendation in future.

Question reference: S6W-42936

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 20 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Audit Scotland report, Delayed discharges: A symptom of the challenges facing health and social care, which was published on 8 January 2026, what plans it has to carry out a workforce evaluation to understand the implications of the anticipated rise in demand for power of attorney or a guardianship orders associated with the recommendation in the report for "the Scottish Government, NHS Scotland, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA), Healthcare Improvement Scotland, integration authorities and their partner NHS boards and councils [to] provide guidance on, and better promote public awareness of the benefits of, establishing a power of attorney or a guardianship order".

The Scottish Government welcomes Audit Scotland’s report and has asked the Collaborative Response and Assurance group, which is co-chaired by the Scottish Government and CoSLA to come together to consider these recommendations as a whole and develop a partnership approach to addressing them. The Scottish Government has begun this work and is engaged with key partners to discuss the delivery of Powers of Attorney and Guardianship processes.

Question reference: S6W-42986

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 20 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-42576 by Jenni Minto on 29 December 2025, what the timescale is for the introduction of enhanced service practitioners.

As noted in response to question S6W-42576, as part of the strategic work to implement the Health and Social Care Service Renewal Framework, the Scottish Government are considering how best to shift the balance of care by reducing referrals to hospital dental services and retain patients within their local community for a wider range of care and treatment. Officials are appraising various options as part of this work, including the potential further roll-out of enhanced skills dentists in primary care, therefore there is currently no timeline for further roll-out at this stage.

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-43145

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 16 January 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 30 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the recent announcement by the Minister for Public Finance of a new public portal for submitting representations to energy consents applications, what level of weight will be given to representations made by individual community members through this new portal when evaluating planning applications referred to the Energy Consents Unit.

Question reference: S6W-42983

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 16 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-42569 by Jenni Minto on 29 December 2025, what the total number of individual respondents from Scotland was to the (a) 2024 and (b) 2025 Action on Smoking and Health Smokefree GB Youth Survey, and whether it considers the number to be sufficiently robust and representative of young people living across the entire spectrum of the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) in comparison to the 21,559 S2 and S4 pupils who responded to the Scottish School Adolescent Lifestyle and Substance Use Survey (SALSUS) in 2018 and 25,411 S2 and S4 pupils who replied to the 2021-22 Health and Wellbeing Census.

The total number of Scottish participants in the ASH SmokeFree GB Youth survey was:

(a) 760 (677 aged 11-17) in 2024

(b) 856 (755 aged 11-17) in 2025

Information on the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) is not available for this sample. Data are collected on social grade and grouped into ABC1 and C2DE categories, which are not directly comparable with SIMD. The sample is unlikely to be representative in terms of deprivation as it leans towards higher social grades. The data are not weighted to account for this, and this limitation should be considered when interpreting the results.

The aim of the booster sample is to enable monitoring of progress against key indicators 4(i) and 4(ii) of the Tobacco and Vaping Framework (i.e. smoking and vaping behaviours in children and young people), while balancing cost, analytical value, and timeliness.

Information on the methodology (including sample size) and results for 2024 and 2025 are available on the Scottish Government website (https://www.gov.scot/publications/vaping-smoking-scottish-adolescents/pages/1/;https://www.gov.scot/publications/vaping-smoking-scottish-adolescents-results-ash-smokefree-gb-youth-survey-2025/).

Question reference: S6W-43009

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 January 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 27 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what training has been made available to civil servants to ensure compliance with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Question reference: S6W-42937

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 January 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 27 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recommendation in the Audit Scotland report, Delayed discharges: A symptom of the challenges facing health and social care, which was published on 8 January 2026, that "the Scottish Government, NHS Scotland, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA), Healthcare Improvement Scotland, integration authorities and their partner NHS boards and councils, should...over the next 12 months, work together to develop and action an implementation plan to share learning and practice from digital solutions used for tackling delayed discharges, early intervention and prevention".

Question reference: S6W-42933

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 January 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 27 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Audit Scotland report, Delayed discharges: A symptom of the challenges facing health and social care, which was published on 8 January 2026, what governance arrangements are in place with the population health framework, the health and social care service renewal framework and the NHS operational improvement plan to promote shared accountability and joint decision-making between it, local authorities, NHS boards, health and social care partnerships and integrated joint boards.

Question reference: S6W-42982

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 January 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 27 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-42573 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 6 January 2026, what action it is taking to encourage households with a disabled parent to take part in sport or physical activity with their children.

Question reference: S6W-42934

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 January 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 27 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recommendation in the Audit Scotland report, Delayed discharges: A symptom of the challenges facing health and social care, which was published on 8 January 2026, that "the Scottish Government, NHS Scotland, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA), Healthcare Improvement Scotland, integration authorities and their partner NHS boards and councils, should...in the next six months, publish guidance to clarify and strengthen the role of integration joint boards and health and social care partnerships in the governance and delivery of the health and social care service renewal framework".