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 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: S7W-01677

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 13 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 20 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the funding of private specialist assessment or treatment in circumstances where an NHS board is unable to provide the required service and is unable to secure an onward NHS referral within a clinically appropriate timescale.

Service delivery and patient care are the responsibility of NHS Boards and healthcare professionals locally. Clinical decisions on the care and treatment of individual patients are always matters of professional judgement for the responsible practitioner.

In certain circumstances, NHS Boards may make limited use of alternative providers, including independent sector providers, in response to capacity constraints and to improve access to patient care.

Question reference: S7W-01679

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 13 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 20 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of whether current cross-board referral arrangements provide equitable access to specialist services across NHS Scotland, particularly in specialties where service provision is limited by workforce shortages.

The Health and Social Care Service Renewal Framework and Population Health Framework, published in 2025, set out an ambitious vision for transforming Scotland’s public services.

To support this vision, NHS Boards are introducing a new collaborative, sub-national planning approach through Subnational Planning and Delivery Committees (SPDCs) East and West, which will drive a renewed focus on population-based planning across NHS Scotland.

This approach will shift health service planning beyond organisational boundaries and strengthen accountability for meeting the needs of local populations.

SPDCs East and West will work collaboratively to optimise capacity and ensure equitable access to services based on population need. By doing so, they will place the health and wellbeing of Scotland’s population at the heart of service design and delivery.

Question reference: S7W-01443

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 17 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide information on the funding it has provided to support the provision of a landing slot for flights from Dundee Airport at (a) London Heathrow Airport and (b) London City Airport, including in which financial years such funding was provided.

Question reference: S7W-01442

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 17 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what public funding has been provided to Dundee Airport, broken down by (a) amount and (b) purpose, in each of the last seven years.

Funding from Transport Scotland to Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL) for Dundee Airport in each of the last seven years is:

Year	Resource (£)	Capital (£)
2019-20	2,183,000	184,317
2020-21	2,557,000	1,394,047
2021-22	2,505,000	965,680
2022-23	2,185,000	55,610
2023-24	2,512,000	377,729
2024-25	2,696,000	479,530
2025-26	2,853,000	148,371

Transport Scotland provides subsidy to HIAL as a whole and it’s for HIAL to split this amongst individual airports and its Head Office as needed. The resource figures are calculated by taking the income from the airport and deducting the costs of the airport. HIAL provides corporate functions for all its airports from its Head Office which enables economies of scale for the Group as a whole. No allowance is made here for Head Office costs relating to Dundee Airport.

Question reference: S7W-01313

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 June 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 17 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide the names of each special adviser it currently employs, broken down by (a) responsibility and (b) pay band.

Question reference: S7W-01312

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 June 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 17 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what the total cost of employing special advisers was in 2025-26.

In line with the requirements of Section 16 of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010, the Scottish Government discloses to the Scottish Parliament the number and total cost of employing special advisers on an annual basis. The latest report, pertaining to the financial year 2025-26, was published on 7 July 2026. I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-01557 on 7 July 2026. 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: S7W-01243

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 June 2026
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 16 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish the correspondence that was referenced in the Member’s debate, Sustaining Jobs and Securing the Future of Scotland's Universities, on 18 June 2026, which was sent from the Minister for Innovation, Technology and Tertiary Education to the University of Dundee.

Question reference: S7W-01240

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 June 2026
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 10 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding its planned consultation on the use of smartphones in schools, (a) when it will be launched, (b) how long it will run for, and (c) when it will publish its response and any resulting guidance.

Question reference: S7W-01444

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 July 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 29 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the changes in the slots at London airports for flights from Dundee Airport, (a) what its response is, (b) whether it was consulted and (c) whether any revenue has been generated as a result of those changes.

Question reference: S7W-01131

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 June 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 15 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S7O-00051 by Angela Constance on 11 June 2026, what time period it references when it refers to a reduction in the number of people waiting for gynaecology services.