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-03993

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 2 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update regarding the latest assessment it has made of the continuity of care in the Community Treatment and Care Services (CTACS) system, particularly for older and vulnerable people, given reports that many patients are being sent to several different CTACS services with different nurses, sometimes several miles from home, for one ongoing health care issue.

Question reference: S7W-03995

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 2 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what controls NHS Scotland has in place to prevent clinicians from using otherwise legitimate NHS credentials to inappropriately access patient information.

Question reference: S7W-03996

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 2 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether NHS Scotland systems record or verify the professional capacity and purpose for which a clinician accesses patient information, particularly where a clinician undertakes both NHS and private practice.

Question reference: S7W-03879

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 29 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on the prevalence of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) among patients registered with GP practices, broken down by NHS board and by (a) sex, (b) five-year age group and (c) deprivation decile, showing (i) number of patients and (ii) rate per 100 population, for the year 1 April 2025 to 1 April 2026.

Question reference: S7W-03420

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 1 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the findings in Beat's recent report, Not Designed for Me: Transforming Eating Disorder Support for Autistic People with Eating Disorders, what assessment it has made of the implementation of the National Specification for the Care and Treatment of Eating Disorders in relation to autistic people, including what evidence it holds regarding changes in the care and treatment experienced by autistic people as a result.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring everyone with an eating disorder, including autistic people, has equitable, consistent, and timely access to appropriate treatment and support.

We recognise that autistic people can experience particular barriers when accessing eating disorder services. We welcome Beat’s recent report published on 9 September 2026, and note that many of the recommendations are reflected in the Scottish Government’s National Specification for the Care and Treatment of Eating Disorders, published in November 2024.

The Scottish Government asked NHS Boards in May 2025 to complete a self-assessment tool, scoring their delivery and implementation of the Specification across CAMHS and adult services. Officials are working with boards to understand how best to support them in this area of work.

This includes support provided through our National Eating Disorders Network, and we are continuing to work with stakeholders, including Beat, to develop training resources, webinars, and online information to support autistic people with eating disorders.

Question reference: S7W-03409

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 1 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many babies were delivered in neonatal wards in Scotland since 1999, broken down by ward and year.

Question reference: S7W-03421

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 1 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S7W-02939 by Maree Todd on 15 September 2026, what the total number of individual respondents from Scotland was to the ASH Smokefree GB Youth Survey in (a) 2024, (b) 2025 and (c) 2026, and whether it considers these numbers to be sufficiently robust and representative of young people living across the full range of deprivation levels of the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD), including in comparison with the 25,411 S2 and S4 pupils who responded to the 2021-22 Health and Wellbeing Census.

The total number of Scottish participants aged 11 to 17 in the ASH SmokeFree GB Youth survey was:

(a) 677 in 2024

(b) 755 in 2025

The survey collects data on social grade and the Office for National Statistics Indices of Multiple Deprivation (ONS IMD), which are not directly comparable with the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD). The samples are skewed towards higher social grades and less deprived areas and are therefore unlikely to be representative of young people across all levels of deprivation.

This limitation has been taken into account in commissioning the Scottish booster sample in the survey, the primary purpose of which is to support monitoring of progress against key indicators 4(i) and 4(ii) of the Tobacco and Vaping Framework (i.e. smoking and vaping behaviours in children and young people). For this purpose, the sample sizes allow analysis of age- and gender-related differences in prevalence and patterns of use. The data are weighted to be representative of the 11–17-year-old population in Scotland by age and gender.

Although the 2021-22 Health and Wellbeing Census included substantially more respondents than the ASH survey, the results were not weighted to population totals and were not nationally representative. While respondents broadly reflected the deprivation profile of pupils within the participating local authorities, the Census findings related only to those local authorities that took part (16 out of 32). Respondent numbers alone should not be used as a measure of representativeness.

The Scottish Government continues to keep its evidence needs under review, balancing analytical value, cost and timeliness. Efforts are also made to minimise the burden of data collection on young people and schools through a combination of national surveys and locally driven data collection.

Information on the methodology and results for the ASH survey can be found at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/vaping-smoking-scottish-adolescents/pages/1/;https://www.gov.scot/publications/vaping-smoking-scottish-adolescents-results-ash-smokefree-gb-youth-survey-2025/; https://www.gov.scot/publications/vaping-smoking-scottish-adolescents-results-ash-smokefree-gb-youth-survey-2026/pages/2/. Information on the methodology and results of the Health and Wellbeing Census is available at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/health-and-wellbeing-census-scotland-2021-22/pages/substance-use/.

Question reference: S7W-03411

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 1 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what review it has undertaken of the regulations governing the purchase of alcohol through rapid alcohol delivery services, particularly in relation to the potential impact on people with alcohol dependency.

Alcohol sales and deliveries are already subject to a range of controls under the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005. This includes requirements for age verification, restrictions on late-night deliveries between midnight and 6am, and obligations on those delivering alcohol to maintain appropriate records. For full details, I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-01927 on 4 August 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.

The Scottish Government is responsible for the overall legislative framework, while Licensing Boards have responsibility for local licensing decisions and can take account of local needs and circumstances.

We are taking decisive action to strengthen alcohol treatment, recovery and prevention services across Scotland. Backed by sustained investment of over £160 million in 2026-27 for alcohol and drug support, we are ensuring that people affected by alcohol harm can access the right support, at the right time, in the right place. We are aware of the growing use of online delivery platforms for the purchase of alcohol, and, as part of deliberations on our future Alcohol Harm Prevention framework will consider the potential risks to people who are dependent on alcohol.

Question reference: S7W-03780

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 September 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 28 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on how many occasions medical records have been inappropriately accessed in each year since 2016, broken down by (a) NHS board and (b) the setting where records were accessed, for example, hospitals or GP practices.

Question reference: S7W-03779

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 September 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 28 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many endoscopies have been undertaken in each year since 2016, broken down by NHS board.