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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-06198

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 28 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it will launch its consultation on the domestic advertising of e-cigarettes.

Question reference: S6W-06111

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 28 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Just Transition Fund will be available to eligible companies to support (a) capital and (b) operational expenditure.

Question reference: S6W-06181

Asked by: Siobhian Brown, MSP for Ayr, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 28 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding has been allocated to improve patient transport in NHS Ayrshire and Arran in (a) 2021-22 and (b) 2022-23; whether support is available for local charities that provide transport services for cancer patients, and, if so, how such charities can access available funding.

Question reference: S6W-06128

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 28 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many women aged 50 to 70 are currently waiting to be invited for breast cancer screening.

As of 31st January 2022, 54,726 women in Scotland have waited more than 36 months since their last breast screen. Data presented in relation to S6W-06127 on 28 February 2022 sets out the average length of time between screening appointments by screening centre. Historically, the Scottish Breast screening Programme has invited around 260,000 women per year. In 2019-20 just under 270,000 women were invited.

The programme continues to recover from the March 2020 Covid-19 related pause, and the National Screening Oversight, Scottish Screening Committee and Breast Screening Programme Board (BSPB) continue to work with health boards to increase the number of available appointments, including through deploying additional mobile breast screening units and providing additional appointments during evenings and at weekends.

It should be noted that the data provided is management information that has not been subject to quality checks applied on an official publication.

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-05938

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 28 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the current average length of time is between screening appointments for women aged between 50 and 70 eligible for the Breast Cancer Screening Programme, broken down by NHS board.

The data is not available in the format requested as the Scottish Breast Screening Programme (SBSP) is delivered from six screening centres, each covering a designated population. It should be noted that the data provided below is management information that has not been subject to the quality checks that are normally applied on a statistical publication.

For women aged 53-70 years who were screened between 1st April 2020 and 31st January 2021, the average interval between screening episodes was 41 months across Scotland. The average interval between screening episodes across each screening centre was as follows:

East – 46 months

North – 40 months

North East – 42 months

South East – 41 months

West – 38 months

South West – 39 months

Question reference: S6W-06126

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 28 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-02085 by Maree Todd on 23 August 2021, whether a date has been set for the resumption of over-70s breast cancer screening, and, if not, (a) for what reason and (b) whether it will commit to this service restarting in any form in 2022.

The Scottish Government is committed to resuming the pause to self-referrals for those aged 71 and over as soon as it is feasible. The Breast Screening Programme Board (BSPB) agreed that the option for women over 70 to self-refer into the breast screening programme should resume once all screening centres are able to offer those aged 53-70 their breast screening appointments within 39 months of their previous screening. However, in recognition of the anxiety the pause is causing, the screening programme is exploring whether there are other options that will accelerate the restart without unduly impacting appointment times for the eligible screening population. Any decision will be informed by clinical advice and the on-going pandemic.

In the meantime, the programme is working hard to increase capacity, including by deploying additional mobile units and offering appointments at evenings and weekends.

Regardless of their age, women should remain symptom aware and report any symptoms to their GP immediately for these to be investigated.

Question reference: S6W-05937

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 28 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many breast cancer screening centres are currently meeting the target of offering all eligible women aged 50 to 70 their breast screening appointments within 39 months of their previous screening, broken down by NHS board.

The data is not available in the format requested as the Scottish Breast Screening Programme (SBSP) is delivered from six screening centres, each covering a designated population. The SBSP should offer an appointment to women within 36 months of their previous screening episode.

On average, the West and South West screening centres are offering women aged 53-70 a screening appointment within 39 months of their last screen.

The National Screening Oversight, Scottish Screening Committee and Breast Screening Programme Board (BSPB) continue to work with health boards to increase the number of available appointments, including through deploying additional mobile breast screening units and providing additional appointments during evenings and at weekends.

It should be noted that this data is unpublished management data that has not been subject to the standard quality checks that are applied to statistical publications.

Question reference: S6W-05939

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 28 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of how many cases of breast cancer may not have been diagnosed as a result of women over 70 not being able to self-refer for routine breast cancer screening.

Question reference: S6W-06031

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 31 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 28 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-02968 by Graeme Dey on 28 September, when it anticipates it will publish provisional findings from the Ernst & Young review of the ferry network.

Question reference: S6W-06897

Current Status: Withdrawn