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: S6F-03266

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 24 June 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 June 2024

To ask the First Minister when the Cabinet will next meet.

Question reference: S6W-28308

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 21 June 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 19 July 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what reasonable adjustments Social Security Scotland is making in relation to communicating its visits to those with incapacity, such as those with Down’s syndrome, including any easy-read letters and other means of communication.

Question reference: S6W-28306

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 21 June 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 19 July 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether there is a feedback exercise in place to ensure that any required improvements to the home visits carried out by Social Security Scotland are implemented.

Question reference: S6W-28307

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 21 June 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 19 July 2024

To ask the Scottish Government which external stakeholder groups were consulted in planning the exercise and the home visits carried out by Social Security Scotland in assessing need for Adult Disability Payments.

Question reference: S6W-28309

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 21 June 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 19 July 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what training is provided to Social Security Scotland staff in relation to making reasonable adjustments in order to communicate meaningfully with the adults with incapacity that they visit at home.

Question reference: S6W-28252

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 June 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 17 July 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to review the counter fraud strategy, Protecting Public Resources in Scotland, and, if so, within what timescale.

Question reference: S6W-28253

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 June 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 17 July 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it has taken to meet the strategic objectives outlined in the 2015 publication, Protecting Public Resources in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-28030

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 14 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has had or is planning to have discussions with manufacturers of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medication in order to address any shortages.

The Scottish Government is aware that supplies of various ADHD medicines continue to be intermittent. At present, market data and information provided by the UK Government indicates that some of these supply issues will continue into Autumn 2024. Scottish Government officials continue to monitor the situation for any further developments and are maintaining a close dialogue with all Health Boards to help manage these medicine supply disruptions and provide support when needed.

The supply of medicines and associated legislation are a reserved matter for the UK Government, and we continue to engage with them on this supply issue and other medicine shortages. The Chief Pharmaceutical Officer for Scotland is a member of a UK-wide Medicines Shortage Response Group, set up to identify and co-ordinate responses to medicines shortages across the UK and provide advice to prescribers on alternative therapeutic options.

The UK Government’s Department of Health and Social Care, on behalf of all four nations, regularly meets with the manufacturers of ADHD medicines to discuss their supply chains challenges and any issues where they may require assistance, including providing an overview of current and forecasted demand to assist manufacturers with planning to increase production forecasts. T he Scottish Government has not had any separate engagement with the manufacturers of ADHD medicines.

Question reference: S6W-28022

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 14 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any impact of the reported long-term disruptions to the supply of the pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy, Creon, on the health of people with cystic fibrosis.

The Scottish Government recognises the impact of these global medicine shortages on people living with cystic fibrosis. The supply of medicines and associated legislation are a reserved matter for the UK Government, and we continue to engage with them on this supply issue and other medicine shortages. The Chief Pharmaceutical Officer (CPO) for Scotland is a member of a UK-wide Medicines Shortage Response Group (MSRG), set up to identify and co-ordinate responses to medicines shortages across the UK and provide advice to prescribers on alternative therapeutic options.

In May, the Scottish Government issued a Medicine Supply Alert Notice (MSAN) and a National Patient Safety Alert (NatPSA) which outline actions to be taken by prescribers, who are best-placed to determine the impact of this shortage on each individual person, and offer an alternative treatment, where appropriate. We also issued a Serious Shortage Protocol (SSP) for Creon ® 25000 gastro-resistant capsules which allows community pharmacists to restrict the total quantity of Creon ® supplied to one month’s supply to help conserve stocks of Creon ® .

Question reference: S6W-28021

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 14 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what plans are in place to address and minimise any disruptions to the supply of (a) Creon and (b) other medicines for people with cystic fibrosis.

The Scottish Government is aware that there are global supply issues with Pancreatic Enzyme Replacement Therapy (PERT) medicines, including Creon ® , which are licensed for the treatment of pancreatic exocrine insufficiency for those with cystic fibrosis.

While the supply of medicines and the associated legislation are a reserved matter for the UK Government, Scottish Government officials continue to engage with them on this supply issue and other medicine shortages. The Chief Pharmaceutical Officer (CPO) for Scotland is a member of a UK-wide Medicines Shortage Response Group (MSRG), set up to identify and co-ordinate responses to medicines shortages across the UK and provide advice to prescribers on alternative therapeutic options.

In May, the Scottish Government issued a Medicine Supply Alert Notice (MSAN) and National Patient Safety Alert (NatPSA) which outline actions to be taken by prescribers to ensure patients are moved onto alternative treatments and measures to help conserve stocks of PERT medicines, including Creon ® .