Questions and answers

Chamber and committees

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 ��˿�� 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-42500

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 17 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve the information that adult patients receive regarding diabetes technology treatment options.

Responsibility for providing education and discussing treatment options lies with clinicians, who are expected to ensure that individuals receive clear, accurate information about all available diabetes technologies when considering their care. Decisions on prescribing specific devices are made by the prescribing clinician in line with clinical guidance and in discussion with the individual.

The Scottish Government supports this through a range of initiatives designed to improve access to reliable information and education. We fund digital resources such as My Diabetes My Way, Scotland’s interactive self-management platform, which provides secure access to personal health records, test results, treatment plans and NHS-accredited eLearning resources. We also invest in DigiBete, a digital tool offering age-appropriate education and practical support for people living with diabetes.

Education is central to the National Closed Loop System Onboarding Programme, hosted by NHS Golden Jubilee. This team provides virtual training and support from experienced clinicians and peer support workers, enabling people anywhere in Scotland to start using diabetes technologies without delay and with confidence.

We work closely with the third sector, including Diabetes Scotland, to promote peer support and community-based education. These partnerships help ensure that people living with diabetes have access to practical advice and lived experience alongside clinical guidance.

Finally, through the Scottish Diabetes Group and its subgroups, we continue to deliver the commitments set out in the Diabetes Improvement Plan (2021–2026). This includes work to improve knowledge and confidence in primary care teams, ensuring that clinicians across Scotland are equipped to discuss technology options effectively with their patients.

Question reference: S6W-42501

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 17 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to reduce adult patient waiting times for access to diabetes technology.

We are committed to ensuring that everyone living with diabetes can access clinically appropriate, safe, effective and person-centred care. We know that waiting times for access to diabetes technologies, such as Closed Loop Systems (CLS), remain a challenge, and we are taking action to improve this.

Since 2016, the Scottish Government has invested over £50 million to support technology access, including:

£29.6 million between 2016-2022 for diabetes technologies
£8.8 million in 2024-25 to expand CLS access
£14.6 million in 2025-26 to onboard 2,500 additional individuals and cover recurring consumables

These measures increase capacity and reduce delays by enabling virtual onboarding and freeing up local clinic resources. In addition, the National Onboarding Team, hosted by NHS Golden Jubilee, provides virtual education and training, enabling people anywhere in Scotland to start using diabetes technologies without delay. This innovative model supported almost 1,000 people last year with a 100% satisfaction rate.

The National CLS Onboarding Programme has enabled more than 4,200 people to receive CLS since May 2024. As of September 2025, 77% of under-18s with Type 1 diabetes have access to CLS, and every child or young person should have received at least a referral. This paediatric focus helps prevent complications early and reduce future backlogs.

This builds on Scotland’s strong progress in diabetes technology adoption. According to the 2024 Diabetes Survey, insulin pump use has risen to 23.2% of all people with Type 1 diabetes, up from just 6.3% in 2013. Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) adoption has increased to 85.7% in 2024, compared to 82.5% in 2023, reflecting Scotland’s commitment in digital diabetes care.

We will continue to work with boards to reduce variation and waiting times through targeted funding and performance-based delivery models that prioritise equitable access for all.

Question reference: S6W-42425

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 08 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 16 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-42190 by Neil Gray on 5 December 2025, how many NHS 24 staff it calculated were needed for staffing levels to meet the required service standards for winter 2025-26, broken down by job role.

Question reference: S6W-42410

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 15 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to increase the inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) specialist nursing workforce to meet the IBD standards, in light of the finding in Crohn's & Colitis UK's research that almost a third of services in Scotland are not meeting safe staffing levels.

The Scottish Government has overall responsibility for health and social care policy in Scotland; however, the statutory responsibility for delivering or commissioning services sits with local authorities, NHS boards and integrated health and social care partnerships. Operational decisions, including whether there is a need to increase the IBD specialist nursing workforce, are therefore matters for those public bodies.

The Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019 places duties on Health Boards to ensure that at all times suitably qualified and competent individuals are working in such numbers as are appropriate for the health, wellbeing and safety of patients, the provision of high-quality care and the wellbeing of staff.

If any IBD patient has concerns about their care, these should be taken forward with their local NHS board.

Question reference: S6W-42273

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 11 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the recent publication of the report by Carers Scotland, State of Caring, The cost of caring in Scotland 2025, which found that 62% of parent carers with a disabled child were cutting back on essentials such as heating and food to make ends meet, what action it is taking to address poverty amongst carers, and whether the upcoming Scottish Budget will consider carer poverty, including amongst parent carers of disabled children.

Social Security Scotland provides three benefits specifically for unpaid carers, including Carer’s Allowance Supplement which provides extra support only available in Scotland. Carer’s Allowance Supplement is worth £587 in 2025/26 with eligible carers receiving the most recent payment of £293.50 from the 4th of December. From March 2026 we will make further improvements to support for unpaid carers, including new extra support for carers getting Carer Support Payment and caring for more than one person – a Carer Additional Person Payment worth £520 a year for each additional person being cared for.

Parents of disabled children can also benefit from support through Child Disability Payment, Child Winter Heating Payment, and our five family payments, including Scottish Child Payment. We are committed to uprating all forms of assistance delivered under the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 so that they retain their value as costs rise.

Beyond social security, parents across Scotland can benefit from a range of support under our cost-of-living guarantee, including free school meals and funded childcare hours.

Scottish Ministers are considering the Scottish budget for 2026-27, and this will be announced on 13 January 2026.

Question reference: S6T-02794

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 08 December 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of NHS Ayrshire and Arran suspending routine hospital visits due to a sharp increase in flu cases, whether it will provide an update on the action that it is taking to support NHS boards in relation to increasing winter pressures.

Question reference: S6W-42194

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 8 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its paper, Surge and Winter Preparedness in Health and Social Care Services National Planning Priorities and Principles, which was published in November 2025, how national planning priorities and principles will address corridor care by NHS Scotland in winter 2025-26.

The National Planning Priorities and Principles require local systems to maximise system capacity and capability by improving patient flow and access, reducing delayed discharges and long waits, and minimising unmet need. This includes strengthening urgent and unscheduled care pathways and ensuring people receive the right care, in the right place at the right time.

The Scottish Government recognises this as a critical issue for patient safety and dignity. Measures include integrated planning, additional surge beds, Hospital at Home expansion to 2,000 beds, escalation frameworks an investment of £20 million to increase social care capacity and strengthen support at emergency department front doors. These measures are designed to reduce pressure on emergency departments and hospital capacity, thereby minimising the circumstances that can lead to corridor care. Health Boards are expected to use data and intelligence to support real-time decisions during periods of surge.

These actions are underpinned by the Operational Improvement Plan and overseen nationally through the Collaborative Response and Assurance Group, ensuring accountability and consistency across Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-42191

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 8 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many additional (a) paramedics and (b) ambulance care assistants have been recruited to support the Scottish Ambulance Service in winter 2025-26, and where they will be based, broken down by (i) Scottish Ambulance Service (A) station and (B) region and (ii) NHS board area.

Question reference: S6W-42190

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 5 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many additional staff have been recruited to NHS 24 for winter 2025-26, and how it determined (a) the number required and (b) their geographical placement.

NHS 24 current staffing levels are at their highest to date, enabling the strongest level of treatment capacity on record. So far this year, NHS 24 has successfully recruited 71 Call Handlers and 51 Clinical Supervisors.

Required workforce is based on detailed call forecasting and demand modelling, using historical winter data and current trends to predict patient demand, call durations, and staffing requirements. These inputs feed into an algorithm to calculate staffing levels required to meet service standards.

Geographical placement is not a primary consideration, as NHS 24’s national telephony system routes calls in real time to available staff across Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-42195

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 5 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement on 2025-26 Winter Preparedness by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care on 13 November 2025, for what reason this statement was made at a later point in the year than the similar statement for 2024-25, which was delivered on 24 September 2024.

The statement on 13 November covered both winter preparedness and the broader work we have been undertaking on national planning. The timing reflects the Scottish Government’s strategic shift toward embedding surge and winter planning as a core year-round operational priority, rather than a discrete seasonal exercise.

It is important to recognise that the statement did not mark the start of the winter planning process, but rather was an opportunity to communicate to Parliament the work being undertaken within the context of national planning. Planning for winter pressures began immediately after last winter, informed by lessons learned from last year.