The Scottish Parliament

Question reference: S7W-04083

Asked by: Martyn Day, MSP for Falkirk East and Linlithgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 4 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether NHS Scotland will develop guidance for GPs on shared-care arrangements involving the prescribing of unlicensed cannabis-based medicinal products for people with drug-resistant epilepsy.

Question reference: S7W-04080

Asked by: Martyn Day, MSP for Falkirk East and Linlithgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 4 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it will make of any potential impact on the sustainability of the college sector before determining future funding arrangements in its 2027-28 Budget.

Question reference: S7W-04084

Asked by: Martyn Day, MSP for Falkirk East and Linlithgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 4 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs since the closure in October 2025 of its call for evidence, Cannabis-based products for medicinal use.

Question reference: S7W-04082

Asked by: Martyn Day, MSP for Falkirk East and Linlithgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 4 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what interim measures can be taken regarding the prescription of Bedrolite to children with severe forms of epilepsy pending completion of the National Institute for Health and Care Research clinical trial in July 2029.

Question reference: S7W-03624

Asked by: Martyn Day, MSP for Falkirk East and Linlithgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Hannah Mary Goodlad on 7 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds regarding the number of planning and building standards officers employed by local authorities in Scotland, and what assessment it has made of that information.

Planning

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of staff employed in local authority planning services.

In 2025, the National Planning Improvement Champion (NPIC) published a workforce and capacity report, which is available at: www.improvementservice.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0029/64559/NPIF-Workforce-and-Capacity-Report.pdf. The NPIC is undertaking a survey of planning authorities in order to provide a refreshed evidence base for 2026.

The Scottish Government recognises the financial and capacity pressures facing the planning system and continues to implement a package of measures to provide planning authorities with additional support and resources, including through increased planning fees, support from the National Planning Hub and actions to grow the planning profession in Scotland.

Building Standards

Scottish Ministers appoint local authorities as verifiers to administer the building standards system in Scotland. Scottish Government carries out an annual workforce data collection to measure and monitor the building standards profession in Scotland.

Information is gathered from all 32 local authority verifiers on how the current supply of staff into job roles compares with the demand required to deliver the service. The data collection enables Scottish Government to monitor workforce at a national and local level. The workforce data is considered alongside performance data; this provides an overview of how resourcing challenges may impact the performance of building standards verification services across Scotland and informs ongoing engagement with verifiers.

The workforce data reports are available on the Scottish Government website - https://www.gov.scot/policies/building-standards/workforce-strategy/.

As with Planning, the Scottish Government recognises the pressures faced by local authorities administering the building standards system. The creation of the Scottish Building Standards Hub, increased building warrant fees and strengthened approach to competency management and learning and development, have all been introduced to help support the building standards profession in Scotland.

Question reference: S7W-03524

Asked by: Martyn Day, MSP for Falkirk East and Linlithgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 6 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S7W-02223 by Maree Todd on 31 August 2026 regarding the implementation and enforcement of the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026, what quantified assessment it has made to date of the additional staffing, training, systems and financial costs that local authority trading standards services will incur, whether it will publish this assessment, and whether it will provide dedicated funding to support the implementation before the registration offences come into force on 29 April 2027.

As set out in the answer to S7W-02223, The Scottish Government has worked closely with Trading Standards and COSLA during the development of the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026 (2026 Act) and will continue to do so during its implementation.

As part of the development of the 2026 Act, a UK wide impact assessment was published by UK Government, including an assessment of enforcement costs for Trading Standards. Scottish Government contributed to the development of this impact assessment. This can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-tobacco-and-vapes-bill-impact-assessment.

All Scottish Statutory Instruments resulting from the 2026 Act will be supported by the appropriate impact assessments as part of our usual policy development process.

The Scottish Government has published a partial Business Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) on Display, alongside the "Tobacco and Vapes - Packaging, Appearance and Display consultation", for Scotland. This can be found here:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/display-restrictions-products-prices-herbal-smoking-products-heated-tobacco-devices-vaping-nicotine-products-scotland-partial-business-regulatory-impact-assessment/.

A final BRIA was also published to inform the approach taken to the commencement of provisions relating to the extension of the retailer register. This can be found here:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/tobacco-vapes-act-2026-commencement-no-1-transitional-saving-provisions-scotland-regulations-2026-business-regulatory-impact-assessment.

The 2026-27 Scottish Budget provides a further real-terms increase in the Local Government Settlement, delivering record funding of almost £15.7 billion, including a quarter of a billion pounds of unrestricted General Revenue Grant.

Local Authorities have responsibility to ensure local budget decisions deliver local and national priorities including enforcement of existing legislation around sales, illicit tobacco and vapes, and the single use vape ban.

Question reference: S7W-03477

Asked by: Martyn Day, MSP for Falkirk East and Linlithgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 6 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on establishing a presumption that publicly funded public health education and prevention programmes should be developed without input from, or influence by, the industries whose products are the subject of those programmes.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that public health education and prevention programmes are evidence-based and developed to improve health outcomes and reduce health inequalities across Scotland.

Scotland’s Population Health Framework identifies the importance of prevention and of creating the conditions that support good health, including action to address the drivers of preventable ill health.

The Scottish Government recognises that the commercial interests of industries whose products contribute to preventable ill health may not always align with public health objectives. Public health policy and programmes are informed by the best available evidence and developed in the public interest, with appropriate arrangements in place to identify and manage actual, perceived and potential conflicts of interest.

The Scottish Government seeks to ensure that public health policy, health messaging campaigns and education programmes are developed independently of commercial interests where those interests may conflict with public health objectives. However, once policy has been agreed, engagement with businesses and retailers and other stakeholders may be necessary to support effective implementation, compliance and delivery of policy objectives.

Question reference: S7W-03478

Asked by: Martyn Day, MSP for Falkirk East and Linlithgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 6 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on developing and publishing guidance to manage conflicts of interest arising from engagement by ministers, officials and public bodies with industries whose products contribute to preventable ill health.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of identifying and managing actual, potential and perceived conflicts of interest in policymaking and engagement activities and supports the principles of transparency, accountability, independence and evidence-based decision-making in public health.

Published guidance is available through Public Health Scotland's Framework for interacting with the private sector and managing conflicts of interest, which sets out principles for engagement with the private sector and the management of conflicts of interest in a public health context. The Scottish Government approach aligns with these principles.

In addition, The Scottish Government adheres to the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC). Under Article 5.3 of the WHO FCTC, we have a legal obligation "to protect these policies from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry in accordance with national law" when setting and implementing public health policies with respect to tobacco control.

Question reference: S7W-03581

Asked by: Martyn Day, MSP for Falkirk East and Linlithgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Stephen Flynn on 6 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the potential impact on rail freight services in Scotland of proposed changes to rail network access and charging under the Railways Bill, and how it will represent the interests of Scotland's freight operators in the development of Great British Railways' Access and Use Policy.

While rail access is a reserved matter and responsibility for assessing the impact of changes proposed through the Railways Bill rests with the UK Government, the Scottish Government is closely engaged in rail reform discussions and will continue to represent Scotland’s interests throughout their development. We welcome the provisions requiring Great British Railways to have regard to Scottish Ministers’ rail freight strategies and policies, and to consult Scottish Ministers when developing its Access and Use Policy. Through our ongoing engagement with the rail freight sector, the UK Government, Network Rail and Great British Railways’ shadow arrangements, we will continue to make the case for reforms that support a competitive, sustainable and growing rail freight sector in Scotland.

Question reference: S7W-03523

Asked by: Martyn Day, MSP for Falkirk East and Linlithgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 6 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S7W-02224 by Maree Todd on 31 August 2026 regarding the introduction of Vaping Products Duty and the Vaping Duty Stamps Scheme, what specific operational arrangements have been agreed for intelligence sharing and coordinated enforcement, including the respective roles of Police Scotland and COSLA, which body will lead this work in Scotland, and what route will be available for retailers to report suspected illicit or non-compliant products.

The introduction of the vaping product duty, as with any excise duty, is a reserved matter.

Under measures supporting the Vaping Duty Stamps scheme, HMRC has new powers to share information with other public authorities with enforcement responsibilities, such as Border Force and Trading Standards, relating to vaping products.

Intelligence is also shared across the 4-nations as part of the Cross Government Vape Enforcement Committee, led by the UK Department of Business and Trade and includes representation from HMRC and Trading Standards.

The Vaping Duty Stamps scheme enables enforcement bodies and industry to quickly identify products that are non-duty paid and will enable retailers and consumers to identify illicit products.

If a retailer, or a member of the general public, suspects that a product is illicit or non-compliant, they should report this to their local Trading Standards in the first instance.

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Question reference: S7W-04083

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