Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-37006

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the additional £2.6 million in funding announced for National Treatment Centre Highland, how many procedures will be allocated to patients from NHS (a) Grampian and (b) Tayside as a result of the anticipated increase in capacity.

Question reference: S6W-37042

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider working jointly with the UK Government to develop a UK-wide cancer strategy, in light of reports of calls for such an approach by expert commentators in The Lancet Oncology.

Cancer remains a national priority, within the Scottish Government and across NHS Scotland. That is why we recently published our 10 year Cancer Strategy for Scotland 2023-2033 along with an initial three year Cancer Action Plan for Scotland 2023 – 2026 in June 2023.

The strategic aim and vision is to improve cancer survival and provide excellent, equitably accessible care across Scotland.

Scottish Government continues to positively engage with the UK Government, including on the development of the new UK Government National Cancer Control Plan 2025.

Question reference: S6W-36360

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 April 2025
Current Status: Holding Answer by Fiona Hyslop on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the active travel budget has been used for that purpose in each year since 2020-21.

Question reference: S6W-37066

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many hectares of new native woodland have been created under the new Forestry Grant Scheme in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-36850

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 11 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the potential impact of its current climate change plans on (a) rural jobs, (b) transport infrastructure and (c) energy costs for low-income households.

The Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 requires Scottish Ministers to have regard to just transition principles in development of Climate Plans. The upcoming Climate Change Plan will outline how this government will take action to reduce emissions in a way which supports environmentally and socially sustainable jobs and supports low carbon investment and infrastructure. It will also set out an estimate of the costs and benefits associated with the polices contained. Furthermore, the final plan will be published alongside a series of impact assessments, which will look at the impact of climate policies on areas such as equalities, island communities and children's rights.

Question reference: S6W-36239

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on when it plans to publish the independent analysis report of its consultation on restricting promotions of food and drink that is high in fat, salt and/or sugar, and what the next steps will be.

Question reference: S6W-36649

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its policy not to provide support for the manufacture of munitions through its enterprise agencies, how it defines "munitions".

Question reference: S6W-37060

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) reasoning and (b) supporting evidential basis is for its decision to split the Fisheries Management and Conservation Group (FMAC) into separate commercial fishing and Environmental Non-Governmental Organisations, also known as eNGOs, groupings, and what its position is on how this decision impacts the principle of inclusivity in fisheries management, as set out in the Scotland’s Fisheries Management Strategy 2020-2030.

Further to the answer to S6W-36304 on 9 April 2025, the decision to split the Fisheries Management and Conservation (FMAC) Group was taken following a review of the Group that was undertaken last year. The review found that the way the FMAC Group had been operating was hampering effective co-management. The review findings, which were in line with my officials’ observations from recent meetings, provided the evidential basis for the decision. The revised structure will enable co-management and help ensure that our fisheries management continues to be inclusive.

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

Question reference: S6W-36483

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has met with representatives of Scottish universities to discuss ensuring the protection of lawful speech and debate on issues of sex and gender.

Question reference: S6W-36516

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will request that Historic Environment Scotland revise its policy to not normally list buildings that are subject to development proposals at an advanced stage, in light of reports of recent cases where this has been seen as counterproductive.

As detailed in its ‘Designation Policy and Selection Guidance’, Historic Environment Scotland aims to act proportionately within the Scottish Regulators Code of Practice.

Although that means usually avoiding any unnecessary intervention in the planning process or other regulatory processes where there are development proposals by adding a new designation, the individual circumstances are fully considered, including the implications of the proposed designation and the effect development proposals would have in each case.

I have asked Historic Environment Scotland to write to the member to explain its policy further.

Speciality	Procedure	Allocation
Orthopaedics	Foot and Ankle	70
Orthopaedics	Joints	600
Ophthalmology	Cataract	1753

Speciality	Procedure	Allocation
Orthopaedics	Joints	322
Ophthalmology	Cataract	400

Year	Area of woodland created (native) Hectares
2019-20	4764
2020-21	3991
2021-22	4982
2022-23	3046
2023-24	7978

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