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-39424

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 30 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address any shortage of prescribers of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medication and treatment in Scotland.

The regulation of medicines is reserved to the UK Parliament and the eligibility of individuals to prescribe, supply or administer medicines relies upon both profession and medicine-specific amendments to the Human Medicines Regulations 2012. The Scottish Parliament and Scottish Ministers have no statutory role in this matter.

Scottish Government sets the strategic policy direction for the NHS in Scotland, operational matters – including staffing for prescribing medication and treatment – are in the first instance the responsibility of the relevant NHS Board.

We continue to work closely with health boards and clinical professionals across Scotland to understand challenges regarding the recruitment and retention of professionals trained to prescribe ADHD medication.

To address specific challenges in the recruitment and retention of psychiatrists in Scotland we established a Working Group which has recently reported to Ministers (23 June 2025). Funding also continues to be provided to Boards for the additional roles to help mental health pharmacy services including within community mental health pharmacy support to improve medication use and prescribing practices.

Question reference: S6W-39430

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 29 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its proposed timeline is for bringing forward legislation on the slaughter of farmed salmon, following the publication of official guidance and in line with the recommendations of the Animal Welfare Committee and the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission.

The Scottish Government’s guidance on Welfare at the time of Killing in Salmon Farming, published on 17 July 2025, is based on the recommendations made by the UK Government's Animal Welfare Committee and developed in conjunction with the Scottish farmed salmon industry, Animal Plant and Health Agency (APHA) and animal welfare organisations.

The Scottish Government takes the welfare of farmed fish very seriously and the welfare of farmed fish at the time of killing is assured by the requirement at Article 3.1 of retained Council Regulation (EC) 1099/2009 that ‘animals shall be spared any avoidable pain, distress or suffering during their killing and related operations’. We have no current plans to introduce further legislation.

Question reference: S6W-39423

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 28 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many clinicians in Scotland are currently qualified to prescribe attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medication, broken down by (a) profession and (b) NHS board.

Question reference: S6W-39431

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 24 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to align the legal protections for aquatic farmed animals with those for terrestrial farmed animals, in line with the recommendations of the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission in May 2025.

Question reference: S6W-38761

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 23 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 21 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S6W-30076, S6W-30077 and S6W-30078 by Mairi Gougeon on 7 October 2024, whether it can provide an update on its consideration of the issues regarding any funding that it provided to TN Trawlers or associated companies over the periods of time covered in the BBC’s reporting.

Scottish Government officials have now looked further into this matter, and in relation to the member's previous questions S6W-30076, S6W-30077 and S6W-30078, we can provide the following further information.

On question S6W-30076 (To ask the Scottish Government what due diligence was carried our prior to it providing funding to the group of companies referred to in the BBC's recent reporting on modern slavery within the Scottish fishing sector):

As part of the due diligence process for the historical schemes in question, grantees were required to ensure that they and anyone acting on their behalf comply with the relevant law. The scheme rules and eligibility criteria included, where appropriate, assessment of any previous relevant offences and convictions.

On questions S6W-30077 and S6W-30078 (To ask the Scottish Government whether it was aware that there were ongoing police investigations into the companies referred to in the BBC's recent reporting on slavery in the Scottish fishing sector when it awarded any funding to those companies: and to ask the Scottish Government whether it was aware that workers at the companies referred to in the BBC's recent reporting on slavery in the Scottish fishing sector had been recognised by the Home Office as victims of human trafficking when it awarded any funding to those companies):

Any form of human trafficking or exploitation is of course totally unacceptable. Whilst Scottish Government officials may from time-to-time be aware of the existence or generalities of specific Police Scotland investigations, or be informed of relevant outcomes following their conclusion, they are not privy to detailed investigatory or procedural information. A live police investigation or sub-judice proceedings are not automatically grounds for refusing funding unless and until those proceedings had concluded and resulted in a conviction for a relevant offence, with decisions taken on a case-by-case basis. Historic funding schemes were subject to the relevant scheme rules and eligibility criteria which included, where appropriate, assessment of any previous relevant offences and convictions. That continues to be the case for the current Marine Fund Scotland funding scheme.

Question reference: S6W-39422

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 14 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to publish national minimum standards for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) post-diagnostic support.

Question reference: S6W-39416

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 14 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what communication and engagement plans it has in place to ensure that families, individuals and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) support groups are regularly updated on the development of the national ADHD strategy.

Question reference: S6W-39419

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 14 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what specific actions it is taking to reduce waiting times for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) assessments (a) across Scotland and (b) in the NHS Ayrshire and Arran area.

Question reference: S6W-39412

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 14 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what accountability mechanisms are in place to ensure that people are not being denied timely access to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) assessment or treatment by their local NHS board.

Question reference: S6W-39420

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 14 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to allocate additional funding or resources to NHS boards to reduce waiting times for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) assessments.