Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-42186

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 5 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the additional £500,000 allocated to enhance the support available to children and families as referenced on 1 October 2025 by the Minister for Social Care and Mental Wellbeing, whether it will provide information on how this money will directly support people diagnosed with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD).

The Scottish Government is providing an additional £500,000 funding in 2025-26 to improve access to neurodevelopmental support for children, young people and their families. In line with the National Neurodevelopmental Specification, such support is not dependent on a diagnosis of a specific neurodevelopmental condition, and is based on support needs.

Regarding FASD specifically, we have provided £216,500 of grant funding to the FASD Hub in Scotland which provides support, training and advice to families, carers and professionals supporting children affected by FASD.

We also provided the Fetal Alcohol Advisory Support and Training Team (FAASTT) with grant funding of £403,500 to allow the delivery of training to improve knowledge, attitudes and confidence in professionals working with individuals with FASD.

Both organisations have been allocated the same amount of funding in 2025-26.

Question reference: S6W-42187

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 5 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the additional £500,000 allocated to enhance the support available to children and families as referenced on 1 October 2025 by the Minister for Social Care and Mental Wellbeing, whether it will provide information on how the money has been allocated and spent in the (a) financial year 2024-25 and (b) current financial year to date.

Question reference: S6W-42185

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 4 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the £620,000 of funding that it has provided to improve the understanding of, and support for, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), whether it will provide information on how the money has been allocated and spent in the (a) financial year 2024-25 and (b) current financial year to date.

In the financial year 2024-25, we provided £216,500 of grant funding to the FASD Hub in Scotland which provides support, training and advice to families, carers and professionals supporting children affected by FASD. This hub is the first of its kind in the UK.

We also provided the Fetal Alcohol Advisory Support and Training Team (FAASTT) with grant funding of £403,500 to allow the delivery of training to improve knowledge, attitudes and confidence in professionals working with individuals with FASD.

Both organisations have been allocated the same amount of funding in 2025-26 to continue to deliver the activity outlined above.

Question reference: S6W-42272

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 December 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 16 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-41852 by Gillian Martin on 25 November 2025, what the (a) estimated cost and (b) average time taken is for the Energy Consents Unit to process a representation generated by the Object Now service in relation to the Kintore-Tealing overhead line development.

Question reference: S6W-42271

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 December 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 16 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-41852 by Gillian Martin on 25 November 2025, whether it will provide the (a) lowest, (b) highest, (c) median and (d) mean figure for the (i) cost and (ii) time taken for the Energy Consents Unit to process a representation from a member of the public in respect of an application, in 2025.

Question reference: S6W-41852

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 25 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-41171 by Gillian Martin on 27 October 2025, what the estimated cost is for the Energy Consents Unit to process a representation from a member of the public, also broken down by the time taken to do so.

Processing a public representation requires multiple members of staff in the Energy Consents Unit (ECU) to manually undertake a sequence of detailed administrative tasks. This involves logging the submission in the correct format, reviewing its contents for validation, ensuring it is compliant with data protection obligations and preparation for inclusion in the case record.

Each representation must also be checked for sensitive material and cross-referenced with other submissions, which adds further administrative time. The estimated cost and time taken to process representations is therefore highly dependent on the nature of each submission, and the total number of representations received for an application.

Question reference: S6W-41853

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 25 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-41171 by Gillian Martin on 27 October 2025, whether the Energy Consents Unit employs AI in its processes for dealing with representations by members of the public and, if not, whether it plans to do so.

The Energy Consents Unit (ECU) manages all representations through established administrative procedures and does not employ the use of AI.

The ECU is actively working to make the representations process more efficient, including enhancing its website and portal. These changes to the representations process are expected to be implemented next year, with the aim of simplifying administrative procedures and improving transparency for both the public and the ECU.

Question reference: S6W-41706

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 18 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that people with cleft lips or cleft palates are able to access appropriate dental treatment.

The National Cleft Surgical Service for Scotland (NCSSS) is hosted within NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde and provides surgical, psychological and cleft specialist nursing input for the management of children with Cleft Lip and/or Palate.

Cleft Care Scotland (CCS) is part of this, and is NHS Scotland's nationally commissioned cleft service and provides multidisciplinary assessment, surgical treatment and ongoing support via specialist teams. There are specific dental treatment pathways within this ensuring that people are seen regularly for check-ups and reviews, with this service provided by the Public Dental Service in each Health Board.

Anyone at any age affected by cleft can be referred or re-referred to CCS. People who have had corrective surgery, or are not currently under the care of the CCS, can also receive the full range of NHS treatment under the General Dental Service.

Question reference: S6W-41668

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 18 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the forthcoming expansion of the Armed Forces Covenant, which might include an expansion into criminal justice, what discussions it has had with the Scottish (a) Courts and Tribunals Service and (b) Prisons Service to embed the covenant throughout its services.

We welcome the UK Government’s announcement to expand the Armed Forces Covenant into further areas of Government activity including criminal justice. We note it is planned by the UK Government to provide for the necessary legislative detail for this approach in their next Armed Forces Bill in 2026. This Bill is not yet published and we will consider carefully the full details once they are available. This further detail will help inform engagement with justice partners including Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service and the Scottish Prison Service.

We have already engaged with criminal justice agencies on how best to meet the need of veterans within custody following the ‘Veterans and Law’ report, which was published in October 2024. This included recommendations relating to identifying and supporting veterans as they move through the criminal justice system, with a coordinated, easy to access approach to support them alongside third sector organisations to help prevent offending and support rehabilitation.

We remain committed to working with criminal justice partners to further explore opportunities to help support veterans in the future, including as part of the forthcoming expansion of the Armed Forces Covenant.

Question reference: S6W-41667

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 18 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the forthcoming expansion of the Armed Forces Covenant, which might include an expansion into social care, what discussions it has had with (a) local authorities and (b) health and social care partnerships to ensure that the covenant is embedded in social care.

Seòmar agus comataidhean