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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-41046

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 October 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 4 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when it anticipates that it will publish its health and social care winter preparedness plan for 2025-26.

Question reference: S6W-41081

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 October 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 4 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Royal College of Psychiatrists' recent report, Multi-system solutions for meeting the needs of autistic people and people with ADHD in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-41054

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 October 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 4 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) average, (b) median and (c) longest processing time has been for Protecting Vulnerable Groups disclosures in each month since January 2025 to date.

Question reference: S6W-41055

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 October 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 4 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it gave to the staffing levels at Disclosure Scotland prior to the introduction of the Scottish Statutory Instruments under the Disclosure (Scotland) Act 2020, which introduced a requirement for all employees in regulated roles to obtain a new Protecting Vulnerable Groups disclosure for each new employer, and removed the previous provision that allowed supervised working while checks were pending.

Question reference: S6W-40828

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 26 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 7 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it collects data on which dental practices currently provide preventative treatment for children, and, if so, whether all dental practices currently offer such treatment.

NHS dental preventive care delivery is recorded at population level. Public Health Scotland stats for the quarter to June 2025 NHS dental data monitoring report - Quarter ending June 2025 - NHS dental data monitoring report - Publications - Public Health Scotland show that over half a million enhanced preventive care (including Childsmile) was delivered to NHS dental patients. All patients, including Children may receive preventive advice from the dentist based on the clinical need for such guidance to be provided when visiting the practice.

Question reference: S6W-40827

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 26 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 7 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on which commitments made in the Oral Health Improvement Plan (a) have been delivered to date and (b) remain outstanding.

The Oral Health Improvement Plan (OHIP) remains a relevant and important cornerstone of NHS dental services policy in Scotland. Significant progress has been made on the commitments from the OHIP since its publication, including through the introduction of payment reform in November 2023.

Our recently published Operational Improvement Plan sets out this Government’s current ambitions to further improve NHS dental services both now and into the future, supported by new funding in 2025-26. The Plan can be viewed at

https://www.gov.scot/publications/nhs-scotland-operational-improvement-plan/.

Question reference: S6W-40830

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 26 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 7 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many accredited general dental practitioners have provided routine preventative care in care homes in each of the past five years, and how many unique patients have received such care in each year.

The Scottish Government does not hold a central list of accredited general dental practitioners providing preventive advice in care homes. All such advice is included within the overall Public Health statistics, as noted in S6W-40828 on 7 October 2025. The introduction of payment reform in November 2023 precludes comparable figures for each of the last five years; information may be available in previously published Public Health Scotland releases. Public Health Statistics published to end quarter March 2025 provide NHS dental data monitoring report - Quarter ending March 2025 - NHS dental data monitoring report - Publications - Public Health Scotland an overview of the post reform performance across the 2024-25 financial year which indicate that around 12,000 Domiciliary and Recalled Attendance visits were undertaken by dentists in that year.

Question reference: S6W-40829

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 26 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 7 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many children under the age of 16 have been admitted to an NHS hospital for a tooth extraction as a result of tooth decay in each of the past five years, broken down by NHS board.

Question reference: S6W-41037

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 October 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 3 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the announcement of the launch of MyCare.scot, Scotland’s new health and social care online app, when it anticipates that NHS patients will be able to re-order prescriptions via the app.

Question reference: S6F-04374

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 October 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 October 2025

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s response is to reports that the mental health budget has been reduced in the 2025-26 Autumn Budget Revision.