Asked by: McArthur, Liam (Scottish Liberal Democrats - Orkney Islands)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-41814 by Gillian Martin on 25 November 2025, how it is investing in Scotland’s water and sewage network to ensure it is fully able to cope with expected increases of heavy rainfall events in the future.
Answered by Martin, Gillian - Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy
The Scottish Government is investing £1.03bn to support Scottish Water's £6bn investment programme for the period 2021-27. The Strategic Review of Charges process is underway to establish the maximum level of charges for the period 2027-33. As part of that process, the Scottish Government will confirm the amount it will lend to Scottish Water during that period.
Asked by: Ewing, Fergus (Independent - Inverness and Nairn)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the current level of uptake of the winter influenza vaccine is in each NHS board area, and how this year compares with the same period in 2024.
Answered by Minto, Jenni - Minister for Public Health and Women's Health
Weekly comparative data for 2024 and 2025 broken down by Health Board can be found at: https://www.opendata.nhs.scot/dataset/flu-covid-vaccinations/resource/ae1cd4fd-5658-47b5-8e0a-2274627682d5
Asked by: Cole-Hamilton, Alex (Scottish Liberal Democrats - Edinburgh Western)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to introducing publicly accessible bleed control kits in high-footfall locations, as is done with defibrillators, to help save the lives of victims of knife crime or other traumatic injuries.
Answered by Brown, Siobhian - Minister for Victims and Community Safety
We do not currently have a plan to make bleed kits available nationally across Scotland but we encourage the public to focus on calling the emergency services for assistance in the case of an emergency and encourage members of the public, including young people themselves, to learn the basic first aid skills which could be vital in saving a life.
Whilst our approach to tackling knife crime is to prevent young people from picking up a knife in the first instance, it is important that bystanders are given the best advice on how to provide direct pressure to a bleeding wound using readily available items such as dry towels or clothing. Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) call handlers are well trained to provide first aid advice to bystanders before an ambulance arrives.
SAS is following the position of the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives, which is supported by a number of UK organisations such as the London Ambulance Service and the NHS England London Violence Reduction Programme, in promoting bystander first aid but not the general role out of commercially available bleed kits. The SAS major trauma team regularly reviews how best to treat patients experiencing significant bleeding, which includes reviewing and taking part in guidance and research.
Asked by: Balfour, Jeremy (Independent - Lothian)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action is being taken to expand access to specialist migraine care through community and primary care services.
Answered by Minto, Jenni - Minister for Public Health and Women's Health
We recognise the distress and pain that migraines cause and we take the issue of migraine seriously.
The Scottish Government funded £221,176 to the Migraine Trust across 2022-2024 to work upskilling community, primary and secondary care pharmacists across NHS Grampian to help people with migraine manage their condition more effectively. This included funding to partner other health boards to extend the reach of this model and increase care and support for people living with migraine.
An eLearning programme for NHS Education for Scotland’s (NES) platform TURAS was developed through the project, comprising a suite of training materials available for all pharmacists and pharmacy teams in Scotland to access.
Asked by: Baillie, Jackie (Scottish Labour - Dumbarton)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to investigate any disparity between NHS boards in thrombolysis rates.
Answered by Minto, Jenni - Minister for Public Health and Women's Health
The Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme plays an important role in driving forward improvements in Stroke care, including thrombolysis, throughout Scotland. Regular reviews are held with the stroke services in every NHS Board, and improvements in thrombolysis and reasons for variations in performance are discussed at these meetings. We continue to expect Health Boards to work to improve their standards of care locally.
A dedicated thrombolysis improvement event has been arranged for 8 October. This will allow medical and nursing representatives from all NHS Boards to share good practice, assess reasons for disparities in thrombolysis performance and agree approaches to clinical improvement.
Asked by: Lennon, Monica (Scottish Labour - Central Scotland)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of the recent changes to Lanarkshire sexual health services on accessibility for people across the region, including centralising the repeat prescription service for contraception to Coathill Hospital.
Answered by Minto, Jenni - Minister for Public Health and Women's Health
Following a review of services and in order to prioritise access to specialist sexual health services for those in greatest need, NHS Lanarkshire have made a decision to centralise non-Long Acting Reversible Contraception (LARC) prescription appointments to Coathill Hospital. Patients are still able to access non-LARC contraception (such as the pill) at Coathill Hospital or through their GP, which may be more convenient for them. Appointments for LARC continue to be available throughout the wider sexual health service in Lanarkshire.
Asked by: Baker, Claire (Scottish Labour - Mid Scotland and Fife)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Serco NorthLink Ferries regarding (a) capacity and (b) crewing levels of the Northern Isles Ferry Services fleet, ahead of expected increased volumes of livestock transport from the Northern Isles to the mainland in October 2025.
Answered by Fairlie, Jim - Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity
As part of ongoing Contract Management, Transport Scotland officials discuss regularly capacity, including during the Peak Livestock Season.
Officials have not held any discussions specifically about crewing levels as this is a matter for the operator.
Asked by: Baillie, Jackie (Scottish Labour - Dumbarton)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has a plan to monitor the number of patients who receive thrombectomy, and, if so, whether this data will be published.
Answered by Minto, Jenni - Minister for Public Health and Women's Health
The Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme report provides information on thrombectomy procedure numbers, and the latest report can be found at: Scottish stroke improvement programme annual report 2025 - Scottish stroke improvement programme - Publications - Public Health Scotland.
Asked by: Baillie, Jackie (Scottish Labour - Dumbarton)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government which NHS boards are providing thrombectomy to eligible stroke patients through one of the thrombectomy hub centres.
Answered by Minto, Jenni - Minister for Public Health and Women's Health
All NHS Boards, apart from NHS Orkney and NHS Shetland, have the ability to refer patients for thrombectomy procedures at hub hospitals.
Scottish Government officials and NHS planners have been asked to work at pace on developing a plan for the next steps for thrombectomy service expansion.
Asked by: Leonard, Richard (Scottish Labour - Central Scotland)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-39984 by Fiona Hyslop on 16 September 2025, in relation to the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services 3 (CHFS3) contract, what discussions of the detailed specifications of the contract Transport Scotland officials have had with the (a) the Chair of the Ferries Community Board, (b) local authorities and (c) CMAL since 8 March 2025, and what the outcome was.
Answered by Hyslop, Fiona - Cabinet Secretary for Transport
Since 8 March 2025, Transport Scotland have continued to engage with the Ferries Community Board, both in relation to performance management of the new contract, and also the nature of their ongoing role post-award. This was invaluable to inform the suite of performance indicators, and the role of the Ferries Community Board has been formally embedded within the new arrangements, ensuring that the Ferries Community Board will continue to be engaged on strategic matters throughout the life of the contract.
Since 8 March 2025 officials have engaged with local authorities, including at the Roundtable event on 19 March 2025, and through the Islands Transport Forum, local area ferry groups such as the Argyll Ferry Infrastructure Group and Western Isles Ferry Group, and vessel and infrastructure project working groups, but have not discussed the detailed specification with them; whilst CMAL, as owners of the fleet, have been engaged on a number of technical matters relating to the specification.