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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 856 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6W-39407

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 31 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the average wait has been for psychological services for parents who have experienced a (a) pregnancy loss, (b) stillbirth and (c) neonatal death in NHS (i) Highland, (ii) Western Isles, (iii) Orkney, (iv) Shetland, (v) Western Isles and (vi) Grampian in each year since 2021.

Information on average waiting times for psychological services specifically following (a) pregnancy loss, (b) stillbirth, and (c) neonatal death is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

Psychological services are delivered by NHS Boards. Boards report their overall performance against the 18 week referral to treatment standard, and this data, published quarterly by Public Health Scotland, does not include the reason for referral at this level of detail.

We continue to work with all NHS Boards to improve access to mental health and psychological services, including specific support for perinatal mental health and bereavement.

Question reference: S6W-39648

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 27 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the Public Service Obligation contract with Loganair on services between Glasgow and Campbeltown includes a limit on the number of flights that can operate.

Question reference: S6W-39349

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 30 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-39073 by Jamie Hepburn on 14 July 2025, how many times it has consulted non-government organisations when answering written parliamentary questions in each year since May 2021, broken down by the (a) name of the organisation and (b) date that it contacted them.

Question reference: S6W-39611

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 26 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many individual scholarships for foreign nationals it has funded in (a) higher and (b) further education in each year since 2016, broken down by each individual's country of origin.

Question reference: S6W-39612

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 26 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has allocated to fund scholarships for foreign nationals in (a) higher and (b) further education in each year since 2016.

Question reference: S6W-39347

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 29 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its announcement of additional funding for National Treatment Centre Highland on 10 April 2025, what proportion of the additional funding will be used to support ophthalmic procedures, and how many additional cataract operations it anticipates will be delivered as a result.

Question reference: S6W-39066

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 14 July 2025
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 29 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding allocated from the Fruit and Vegetables Aid Scheme went to growers based outside of Scotland in each year since it was established.

While Producer Organisations (POs) that currently receive aid through the Fruit and Vegetables Aid Scheme funded by the Scottish Government do have a number of members that are not based in Scotland, the scheme does not fund individual growers. Aid is provided to recognised POs, based on an approved operational programme, which must have the support of all PO members. Funding offers a range of opportunities which are of collective value to the PO and its members. Currently there are also a number of Scottish growers which are members of POs in other UK nations.

Information related to funding allocated to POs in other UK nations is not held by the Scottish Government. This is a matter for the Rural Payments Agency.

Question reference: S6W-39346

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 29 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its announcement of additional funding for National Treatment Centre Highland on 10 April 2025, what assessment it has made regarding the additional funding allocated to support the introduction of combined cataract and trabecular bypass procedures.

In 2025-26 all ophthalmic procedures at National Treatment Centres (NTCs) will be cataract surgery. NTCs will not provide glaucoma treatments such as trabecular bypasses.

The treatment centres are focusing on delivering higher volume surgery in cataract only lists due to the volume of surgery required. If patients require cataract surgery and an additional procedure, surgery is likely to be undertaken in their Health Board of residence with an Ophthalmologist who specialises in the particular sub-specialty outwith cataracts i.e. Glaucoma.

Question reference: S6W-39233

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 July 2025
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 29 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many sheep being moved to Scotland have so far been given a pre-movement test as a precaution for bluetongue virus.

Question reference: S6W-39287

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 25 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it has reportedly limited access to the Islands Business Resilience Fund to eight islands, and whether it will consider extending this fund to businesses in all of Scotland's island communities.

The Scottish Government has worked closely with Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) to develop and refine the eligibility criteria for the Islands Business Resilience Fund (IBRF) and identify how this targeted funding can reach those businesses which meet the criteria and have been impacted by reductions in ferry services.

HIE carried out detailed analysis of data and statistics provided by Transport Scotland and CalMac relating to ferry disruption. Based on this, the islands of South Uist, Colonsay, North Uist, Eriskay, Benbecula, Berneray, Grimsay and Arran were identified as eligible for the Fund, as they each had experienced more than 15% ferry cancellations over the last three operating seasons, with limited alternatives. For comparison, the average disruption to ferry services, across the CalMac network was around 6-7%.