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-03525

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scot and Lothians West, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 05 October 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 2 November 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what guidelines are in place to ensure that patients with post-mesh removal conditions receive equitable aftercare across all NHS boards.

Question reference: S7W-03197

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scot and Lothians West, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Alyn Smith on 25 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish, on an annual basis and alongside existing widening access reporting, a breakdown of funded intake targets for controlled subjects by student domicile.

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) publish a wide range of college and university statistics in various Official Statistics publications, including the Report on Widening Access (RoWA). The content of statical publications, including the RoWA, undergo reviews in order to ensure they continue to meet the core pillars of Trustworthiness, Quality and Value as outlined in the Code of Practice for Statistics and remain valued by users of SFC’s publications.

The RoWA was recently consulted on with the latest report available on the SFC website: https://www.sfc.ac.uk/publications/rowa-consultation-report/

The SFC continue to work with users of statistics and will consider all requests for new statistics in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics.

The SFC can be contacted via their website: https://www.sfc.ac.uk/about-us/contact-us/

Question reference: S7W-03195

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scot and Lothians West, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Alison Thewliss on 23 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many funded dentistry intake places at the University of Glasgow and the University of Dundee were assumed to be for Scottish-domiciled students by the Scottish Funding Council, and how many for students domiciled in the rest of the UK and the Republic of Ireland, in each of the last three academic years.

As a controlled entry subject, Scottish Ministers make a recommendation each year on the overall undergraduate intake for domestic and international students at Scottish dental schools. The domestic student intake recommendations for the University of Dundee and University of Glasgow for the last three academic years are as follows:

	2023-24	2024-25	2025-26
University of Dundee	48	48	51
University of Glasgow	67	67	72

Recommendations do not break down places between Scottish-domiciled students and students domiciled in the rest of the UK and the Republic of Ireland, however it is anticipated the majority of places are for Scottish-domiciled students. The 7% increase in domestic dental student numbers made as part of the 2025 NHS Scotland Operational Improvement Plan was explicitly directed to Scots-domiciled students. The member may wish to contact the Scottish Funding Council for further detail on the assumed domicile of students.

Question reference: S7W-03196

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scot and Lothians West, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Alison Thewliss on 23 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many students domiciled in England, Wales and Northern Ireland were admitted to dentistry at each Scottish institution, in each of the last three academic years.

Data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), set out below, provides a breakdown of the domicile of students studying dentistry at Scottish universities, rounded to the nearest 5. HESA have published Official Statistics up to 2024-25, with 2025-26 data to be published in the winter.

Full-time first degree entrants to Dentistry (100266 & 100275) at Scottish Universities by Domicile and provider, 2024-25
	University of Aberdeen	University of Glasgow	University of Dundee	Total
Scotland	15	50	35	105
England	5	15	10	30
Northern Ireland	0	5	0	5
Wales	0	0	0	0
EU	0	0	0	0
Non-EU	0	15	10	25
Total	20	85	55	165

Full-time first degree entrants to Dentistry (100266 & 100275) at Scottish Universities by Domicile and provider, 2023-24
	University of Aberdeen	University of Glasgow	University of Dundee	Total
Scotland	15	60	35	105
England	5	15	15	30
Northern Ireland	0	0	0	5
Wales	0	0	0	0
EU	0	0	0	0
Non-EU	0	20	10	35
Total	20	95	60	175

Full-time first degree entrants to Dentistry (100266 & 100275) at Scottish Universities by Domicile and provider, 2022-23
	University of Aberdeen	University of Glasgow	University of Dundee	Total
Scotland	10	55	40	105
England	5	10	10	25
Northern Ireland	0	0	5	10
Wales	0	0	5	5
EU	0	0	0	0
Non-EU	0	15	10	25
Total	20	80	70	170

Source: HESA Student Data, SG Secondary Analysis

Based on HECOS Codes 100266 (Clinical Dentistry) and 100275 (Pre-Clinical Dentistry) https://www.hesa.ac.uk/collection/coding-manual-tools/hecoscahdata/hecos

Based on Domicile as defined by HESA

Question reference: S7W-03194

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scot and Lothians West, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Alison Thewliss on 23 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the number of Scottish-domiciled applicants who (a) meet the entry requirements for dentistry but are not offered a place, and (b) subsequently study dentistry elsewhere in the UK at their own expense.

Universities are autonomous institutions that are responsible for their own admission procedures, including offer-making, and the Scottish Government therefore does not hold the information requested.

Places at Scottish dental schools are highly sought after with applications far exceeding places, and the selection process is extremely competitive. An assessment of UCAS published data suggests the numbers of Scottish-domiciled students leaving Scotland to study dentistry are very low, with UCAS data showing that in 2025, only 15 Scottish students aged 18 and under left Scotland to study either Medicine or Dentistry.

Question reference: S7O-00271

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scot and Lothians West, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 September 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding widening access policies for Scottish-funded students applying to university, what its position is on whether disability, neurodivergence and long-term health conditions should be considered.

Question reference: S7W-02335

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scot and Lothians West, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 3 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has estimated the total unmet need for housing adaptations among disabled tenants in Scotland and, if so, what that estimate is.

Since the integration of health and social care, overall responsibility for the planning and delivery of adaptations, and for developing services to improve outcomes for people who require adaptations, lies with Integration Joint Boards through powers and budgets delegated from Local Authorities.

Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) are responsible for assessing the needs of their tenants including older tenants and disabled tenants, and RSLs will submit funding requests accordingly. The Scottish Government does not independently assess the funding requirements of individual RSLs. Instead, it seeks to distribute available funding in a fair and equitable manner across RSLs, with the aim of ensuring tenants can access necessary adaptations as promptly as possible.

Question reference: S7W-02329

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scot and Lothians West, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 3 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how much of the funding allocated to the Registered Social Landlord Adaptations Programme in its Budget for 2026-27 has, so far, been (i) committed and (ii) spent, and (b) how much of this funding remains unallocated.

Question reference: S7W-02429

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scot and Lothians West, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Alison Thewliss on 1 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish a plan to deliver the commitment set out in the SNP’s 2026 election manifesto to shift the diagnosis and treatment of uncomplicated age-related hearing loss into community-based care, and what milestones and target dates have been set for the delivery of this commitment.

The Scottish Government remains committed to improving audiology services across Scotland and we continue to work closely with stakeholders to determine how best to move the provision of audiology care into community settings.

On 27 August 2026, I wrote to the Health, Care and Sport Committee to provide an update on my meeting with NHS Heads of Service, community audiology providers and other key stakeholders as part of this government’s 100 days prospectus. This meeting centred on a draft proposal for development of a Target Operating Model for audiology, and my letter sets out more detail on the Scottish Government’s immediate priorities for audiology services. It can be read in full here: 20260827 Minister for Community Care to Convener | Scottish Parliament Website

As this work is at an early stage and discussions with stakeholders are ongoing, a more detailed delivery plan will follow in due course.

Question reference: S7W-02456

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scot and Lothians West, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 1 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what criteria it uses to determine whether an applicant has been “supported” through the First Homes Fund for the purpose of measuring progress against the 2026 SNP election manifesto commitment to support at least 2,000 applicants within the first 100 days of the current Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving the lives of people in Scotland in its first 100 days. I committed to opening the First Homes Fund during a parliamentary statement on 27 May and the Fund itself launched within 4 weeks on 24 June. This is a demand led fund where the criteria is first time buyers who have not previously owned a residential property and have a mortgage in principle. It is a scheme designed to support deposit top ups for first time buyers who are able to sustain a mortgage. All applicants are supported by the scheme administering agents who process applications through to settlement. We will publish First Homes Fund data in due course.