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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-34957

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 20 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-34287 by Neil Gray on 27 January 2025, regarding its commitment to increase access to GPs, whether this includes the commitment in the NHS Recovery Plan 2021-2026 to recruit 1,000 additional staff in primary care mental health, and whether that recruitment process has already begun.

While financial challenges have caused this programme to remain paused since 2022, we remain committed to delivering increased mental health and wellbeing workforce capacity in general practice, when budgets permit.

We have already prioritised significant investment to build mental health capacity in primary care through Action 15 of the Mental Health Strategy 2017-2027 and the Primary Care Improvement Fund (PCIF). As of March 2024, 182.5 WTE mental health workers had been recruited under PCIF and at March 2022, the action 15 commitment had seen an additional 356 WTE mental health workers recruited to general practice.

The Mental Health and Wellbeing Delivery Plan sets out a range of actions to achieve the ambition in the Strategy, including an action to work collaboratively to improve access to support, assessment and treatment in primary care mental health and wellbeing services; and to produce an initial report on progress by November 2024. The Mental Health in Primary and Community Care Report was published on 20 December 2024 detailing a range of actions to enhance access to mental health and wellbeing support in general practice and communities.

Question reference: S6W-35005

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 20 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when it will conduct its review of the package of student financial support available for nursing and midwifery studies, and whether, as part of that review, it will explore any changes to reflect those who choose rural and remote work.

The Paramedic, Nursing and Midwifery (PNM) student financial support review is currently ongoing. The review aims to ensure that all PNM students are adequately supported to complete their studies, this includes students from remote and rural locations. A key aspect of the work associated with the review is to hear directly from PNM students about their experiences and opinions on financial support during their studies.

Question reference: S6W-34907

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 20 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will update its national strategy for public CCTV, in light of the research paper, Public Space CCTV in Scotland, which was published in November 2023.

Question reference: S6W-34283

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 13 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the current bed occupancy rate is at safe level for staff and patients.

The Scottish Government acknowledge the capacity challenges currently within the system, however, we have a clear plan to reduce waiting times and delayed discharges supported by £200 million targeted investment through the 2025-26 Budget.

Through this investment we will focus on shifting the balance of care from acute, to community. We will expand the Hospital at Home service, deliver additional support for GPs, and invest in new hospitals at Belford and Monklands. These actions will release capacity in the acute system.

Hospital at Home is a key component in tackling capacity pressures as the service continues to provide care for people at, or as close to home as possible, avoiding unnecessary stays in hospital, relieving pressures on urgent care services and reducing delays in the system.

Additionally, the Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) are working with Boards to identify opportunities within the acute system for more efficient use of inpatient capacity and implement improvement actions that will support patient flow.

Question reference: S6W-34281

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 12 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what data it holds on what the current bed occupancy rate is in hospitals across NHS boards, and whether any outbreaks of (a) norovirus and (b) flu are affecting levels of bed occupancy.

Public Health Scotland publish quarterly statistics on bed occupancy figures split by Health Boards. The publication does not contain information on occupancy by reason or deadline.

Bed occupancy release: Data summary - Acute hospital activity and NHS beds information (quarterly) - Quarter ending 30 June 2024 - Acute hospital activity and NHS beds information (quarterly) - Publications - Public Health Scotland

The Scottish Government holds unvalidated weekly management information on current acute staffed bed occupancy at NHS boards. The weekly collection does not provide data on the reason for occupancy. The management information is consistent with individual local definitions rather than national definitions and is difficult to compare with published statistics.

Public Health Scotland publish information on laboratory test results of Norovirus and flu hospital admissions. The publications do not include statistics on occupancy due to norovirus or flu.

Flu seasons with high levels of flu hospital admissions do impact negatively on health and care system flow.

Norovirus release: Laboratory reports of norovirus in Scotland - Up to week ending 2 February 2025 - Laboratory reports of norovirus in Scotland - Publications - Public Health Scotland

Flu release: Viral respiratory diseases (including influenza and COVID-19) in Scotland surveillance report 6 February 2025 - Viral respiratory diseases (including influenza and COVID-19) in Scotland surveillance report - Publications - Public Health Scotland

Question reference: S6W-33604

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 17 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 28 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to improve the efficiency of EV charging points in rural areas, and ensure that maintenance of these charging points is kept to a high standard to reduce any risk of chargers not working for users.

Regulating service provision and the consumer experience of public EV charging is an area that is reserved to the UK government. The UK Public Charge Point Regulations 2023 established minimum standards in terms of reliability and functionality for all public charge points. I welcome these regulations and I encourage all public charge point owners to comply with them to ensure that drivers receive the level of service that they have every right to expect.

To date, the Scottish Government has invested over £65 million in developing Scotland’s public EV charging network, which has included providing funding to public charge point owners for warranty and maintenance packages.

Our £30 million EV Infrastructure Fund aims to ensure that continued investment in Scotland’s public EV charging network is balanced across urban, rural and island areas by focusing public funding on those parts of Scotland that are less likely to see private investment, including rural an island communities. This fund also supports a transition to a public charging network that is increasingly operated by the private sector and will require those private charge point operators to continue to invest in and maintain Scotland’s public EV charging network to a high standard.

Question reference: S6F-03751

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 27 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 January 2025

To ask the First Minister when the Cabinet will next meet.

Question reference: S6O-04254

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the National Galleries, in light of reports that some of its flagship attractions may have to close.

Question reference: S6W-32869

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 21 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what support it provides to people who move marginally into a higher income bracket that takes them over the threshold for receipt of (a) the Scottish child payment, (b) education maintenance allowance and (c) other devolved benefits that aim to help people with meeting the costs of raising a child.

Eradicating child poverty in Scotland is a national mission and the top priority for this Government.

The Scottish Government recognises the pressure on household budgets which is why the 2025-26 draft budget continues to allocate over £3 billion a year to policies which tackle both poverty and the cost of living, ensuring that families are supported with the costs of raising a child.

This includes providing a range of support such as 1,140 hours of high-quality funded early learning and childcare to all three and four year olds and eligible two year olds. If families paid for this offer themselves it would cost them more than £5,500 per eligible child per year.

We also offer free school meals to all 277,632 pupils in P1 to 5 and in special schools, saving families taking those meals around £400 per year per child, as well as providing free bus travel for 2.3 million people, including all children and young people under 22, disabled people and everyone age 60 and over – which Child Poverty Action Group estimate saves families on the median wage £2,836 by the time a child turns 18.

Further, the draft Scottish Budget for 2025-26 preserves the social contract at the heart of the Scottish Government’s approach. This includes continuing free prescriptions, compared to £9.90 per item in England from 1 May 2024, and ensuring that no Scottish student pays tuition fees which means that, unlike elsewhere in the UK, a Scottish student studying in Scotland will not incur additional debt of up to £28,605.

In total, subject to Parliamentary approval, the Scottish Budget for 2025-26 will deliver almost £64 billion of funding, focusing resource across the four priorities set out in the Programme for Government: eradicating child poverty; growing the economy; tackling the climate emergency; and ensuring high quality and sustainable public services.

Question reference: S6W-32893

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 21 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to raise the income threshold for receipt of (a) the Scottish child payment, (b) education maintenance allowance and (c) other devolved benefits that aim to help people with meeting the costs of raising a child.

Eligibility for our low-income benefits for families with children, including Scottish Child Payment, is not based on income thresholds. To qualify for these payments individuals must generally be in receipt of certain reserved benefits.

Carer Support Payment is the only devolved benefit with an earnings threshold. The Scottish Government’s 2025-26 draft budget increases the earnings threshold to £196.

There are no current plans to increase the income thresholds for the Education Maintenance Allowance. This is on the basis that the Scottish Government has faced its most challenging budgetary settlement since devolution began – a settlement which has not been inflation-proofed, and which has subsequently required difficult decisions to be made, due to the pressures on our public services. Any future changes to the EMA and corresponding budget would need to be considered in this context.