Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-36362

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 10 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking with NHS boards to support staff networks that provide support in relation to the protected characteristic of sex.

As part of our Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED), the Scottish Government encourages NHS employers to support the development of staff networks for all nine protected characteristics.
However, as individual employers, Boards are responsible for upholding their obligations under the PSED. Staff networks are just one way in which staff under the protected characteristic of sex are supported, including through the development of equality policy, training, and guidance.

Question reference: S6O-04516

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has made an assessment of the potential loss of agricultural land in the North East Scotland region as the result of development.

Question reference: S6T-02422

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will review public sector guidance on single-sex spaces, in light of reported concerns about the Care Inspectorate and the Scottish Prison Service.

Question reference: S6T-02370

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 February 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its role in ensuring that public bodies are meeting their legal obligations under the Equality Act 2010, following recent correspondence from the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

Question reference: S6W-34496

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 21 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-31037 by Jenny Gilruth on 15 November 2024, whether it will provide an update on what progress it is making in taking forward its work to update the School Premises (General Requirements and Standards) (Scotland) Regulations 1967, and by what date it plans to re-consult on the regulations.

The Scottish Government intends to refresh and modernise the School Premises Regulations (General Requirements and Standards) (Scotland) to ensure that they meet the needs of pupils and schools in Scotland. The Scottish Government still intends to re-consult this year on the Regulations.

Scottish Government officials are taking steps to engage with relevant stakeholders and will be reaching out to further interested parties.

Question reference: S6W-34495

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 20 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason no financial provision was made in its draft Budget 2025-26 for the new national treatment centre in Aberdeen, in light of the increase in capital funding and the Finance and Public Administration Committee's call on it to "ensure it’s in the best possible position to ‘hit the ground running’ with infrastructure projects from the start of the next financial year."

As had been made clear, there remains challenge and uncertainty in the capital funding position.

All due consideration will be given as to which projects are affordable and deliverable and can be included within our revised infrastructure investment plan pipeline, following the outcome of the UK Government’s spending review and clarity on our longer-term capital funding position.

To this end, we are working with all health boards to develop a whole-system NHS infrastructure plan which will reflect needs across Scotland and support continued safe operation of existing facilities, as well as determination of longer term investment priorities.

Question reference: S6W-34954

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 February 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 13 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking with NHS Grampian to support the improved delivery of dermatology services, in light of reports that waiting times for urgent referrals for suspected cancer are more than five months, and waiting times for routine referrals are more than two years.

Question reference: S6W-34319

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 January 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 28 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many local authority planning decisions the Scottish Ministers have overturned in each year since 2021, broken down by local authority.

Question reference: S6T-02222

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 December 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of capacity in the NHS, in light of the critical incident declared by NHS Grampian on 28 November 2024.

Question reference: S6O-04057

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects its preparatory work to conclude and the review into Creative Scotland, which was announced in September 2024, to get underway.

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