Parliamentary questions
Carol Mochan
846 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
31 Oct 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the work being taken to promote fair work principles in Scotland.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: In the absence of powers over employment law, the Scottish Government is committed to using the levers we do have to embed Fair Work across the Scottish labour market.The UK Government’s Employment Rights Bill is a vindication of our Fair Work approach.…
31 Oct 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what measures are in place to support people after they leave a coercive and abusive relationship, particularly in relation to financial abuse.
Answer · Kaukab Stewart: The Scottish Government is clear that financial uncertainty should not be a barrier to women leaving an abusive partner.We are investing £1.5 million in a national Fund to Leave, which aims to help reduce the financial burden of leaving an abusive partn…
29 Oct 2025 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the progress of the Ayrshire Growth Deal.
20 Oct 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to the impact of the rising number of older people, as a result of an ageing population, in its assessment of accessibility challenges.
Answer · Kaukab Stewart: The Scottish Government’s ‘A Fairer Scotland for Older People: framework for action’ contains a dedicated strand focused on activity we are undertaking to ensure people can access public and other services as they age.We provide funding of &…
20 Oct 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of allied health professionals, including in South Scotland.
Answer · Neil Gray: The Scottish Government’s role is to set the strategic policy direction for the NHS in Scotland. Operational matters relating to the recruitment and retention of allied health professionals are the responsibility of each NHS board as the employer and wi…
20 Oct 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to review the (a) accessibility and (b) affordability of scaffolding training, including in South Scotland.
Answer · Ben Macpherson: The matter raised falls within the remit of the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB).The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally.
20 Oct 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to review the Distress Brief Intervention programme before May 2026.
Answer · Tom Arthur: The Distress Brief Intervention (DBI) Programme is now live in all 31 HSCPs across Scotland. At end August 2025, over 97,000 people had been referred to the programme. We will shortly provide an update on our progress towards the significant milestone of 100,…
20 Oct 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on introducing a flexible delivery model for roofing apprenticeships, including in South Scotland.
Answer · Ben Macpherson: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-40955 on 21 October 2025. 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-committe…
20 Oct 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to support carers who are unable to attend (a) medical appointments and (b) hospital stays due to caring responsibilities.
Answer · Tom Arthur: The Scottish Government’s National Carers Strategy published in December 2022 sets out a cross-government approach to tackling issues that affect carers, including through health and social care policies. The Strategy sets out our intentions regarding c…
20 Oct 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to encourage an uptake in construction apprenticeships, including in South Scotland.
Answer · Ben Macpherson: I refer the member to the answer to question S6O-04961 on 18 September 2025. All answers to Oral Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committee…
20 Oct 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the barriers young people face in accessing construction apprenticeships, including in South Scotland.
Answer · Ben Macpherson: The Construction Accord is a collaborative approach between the public sector and the construction industry to identify the challenges within the sector and the changes needed to improve access for young people, particularly at entry level.To address these ch…
15 Oct 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the progress is has made toward implementing the recommendations from the 2019 paper, Become Breastfeeding Friendly Scotland Report.
Answer · Jenni Minto: On 24 January 2023, Scottish Government provided a summary update on progress towards implementing the recommendations in the 2019 Becoming Breastfeeding Friendly (BBF) report to the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee. At that time, a commitment was made…
15 Oct 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the work that it is doing to promote reuse and recycle initiatives across the country.
Answer · Gillian Martin: The Circular Economy and Waste Route Map sets out the Scottish Government’s work to promote reuse and recycling initiatives.Our reuse initiatives include a variety of actions aimed at increasing the uptake of reusable packaging, taking action on single-…
15 Oct 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the comment in its recent paper, Breastfeeding and infant feeding: strategic framework 2025-2030 that "our stretch aim is to reduce drop off in breastfeeding at 6-8 weeks by 10% by 2025", what progress has been made toward achieving this, and how it plans to implement e…
Answer · Jenni Minto: We use the annual statistics published by Public Health Scotland for Infant Feeding to evidence our progress towards our stretch aim to reduce drop off in breastfeeding at 6-8 weeks by 10% by 2025. The last published statistics are for 2023-24 and show that d…
15 Oct 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the progress it has made towards (a) delivering an intervention plan to guide long-term work on household food waste reduction behaviour change and (b) implementing mandatory reporting for food waste and surplus by businesses.
Answer · Gillian Martin: Scotland’s Circular Economy and Waste Route Map, published in December 2024, includes a priority action to develop an intervention plan to guide long-term work on household food waste reduction behaviour change by 2026-27. Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS) is l…
15 Oct 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how it (a) monitors progress and (b) collects data on the Alcohol Brief Intervention programme.
Answer · Maree Todd: Public Health Scotland collects data and monitors progress on the Alcohol Brief Intervention (ABI) programme. NHS Boards have the responsibility for collecting information and data on ABIs delivered and for providing PHS with this information. PHS publishes i…
15 Oct 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what progress is it making toward meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goal 12.3, to halve food waste by 2030.
Answer · Gillian Martin: Latest available data suggests that reducing food waste remains a significant and growing challenge in Scotland. The latest Scottish food waste data estimate for 2021 suggests that over 1 million tonnes of food were wasted in Scotland during 2021. In comparis…
15 Oct 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on introducing a ban on the incineration of plastics.
Answer · Gillian Martin: The Scottish Government published its response to Dr Colin Church’s second and final report of the Independent Review on the Role of Incineration in Scotland’s Waste Hierarchy (the Review) on 5 May 2023, which focused on options to decarbonise the…
15 Oct 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what funding it provides to encourage peer support in breastfeeding.
Answer · Jenni Minto: In 2023-24 the Scottish Government permanently transferred funding to Health Boards for Maternal and Infant Nutrition as part of the Outcomes Framework funding, which covers a wider range of outcomes. The published Scottish Budget for 2025-2026 includes &poun…
15 Oct 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve breastfeeding rates across the country.
Answer · Jenni Minto: In June 2025, we published our five-year Breastfeeding and Infant feeding framework 2025-2030, which incorporates recommendations from the Becoming Breastfeeding Friendly (BBF) 2019 report, our longer term aims and sets out our detailed delivery plan over the…
15 Oct 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what mechanisms are in place to (a) monitor progress and (b) strengthen data collection on food waste reduction.
Answer · Gillian Martin: Measuring and monitoring food waste across Scotland is a complex and challenging task. Zero Waste Scotland undertakes a range of work to monitor food waste and trends across households and businesses. Details of monitoring methods and latest available data is…
14 Oct 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government which NHS boards employ maternity service staff who aretrained to deal with alcohol-related issues.
Answer · Jenni Minto: All NHS Boards employ maternity service staff who are trained to deal with alcohol-related issues.
14 Oct 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what training midwives receive to support people with alcohol addiction.
Answer · Jenni Minto: All pre-registration midwifery courses validated by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) as meeting the required proficiencies for registration as a midwife include theoretical and practice education in recognising, assessing, planning and responding to pr…
2 Oct 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce waiting times for access to psychological support for bereaved parents.
Answer · Tom Arthur: The Scottish Government recognises the importance of timely access to psychological support, including psychological therapies, for bereaved parents. One of the main ways this is provided is through Maternity and Neonatal Psychological Intervention (MNPI) ser…
2 Oct 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given in the preparation of the 2026-27 Budget to ensure adequate provision of care and support for individuals with severe and enduring mental illness.
Answer · Tom Arthur: Mental health is an absolute priority for this Government and ensuring provision of care and support for individuals with mental illness will be considered as part of the ongoing budget process. The Cabinet Secretary for Finance has confirmed that the Scottis…
2 Oct 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the action that it is taking to ensure that all NHS boards are delivering maternity and neonatal psychological intervention services.
Answer · Tom Arthur: The Scottish Government is committed to improving perinatal and infant mental health services across Scotland. Anyone with more complex grief where engagement with specialist mental health services would be particularly beneficial should be able to access sup…
2 Oct 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-10103 by Maree Todd on 16 August 2022, what budget it allocated for smoking prevention and cessation services in (a) 2022-23, (b) 2023-24 and (c) 2024-25.
Answer · Jenni Minto: In 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25 the Scottish Government provided annual funding to Health Boards for smoking cessation and prevention services as part of a wider Outcomes Framework allocation, whereby budget was provided to Health Boards to cover a range of o…
2 Oct 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure there is equal access to the support available for bereaved parents, in light of findings from the report published by Sands, Lost in the system: Bereaved parents experiences of mental health care following baby loss, which found that not all services a…
Answer · Tom Arthur: The Scottish Government recognises the importance of timely access to psychological support, including psychological therapies for bereaved parents. One of the main ways this is provided is through Maternity and Neonatal Psychological Intervention (MNPI) serv…
2 Oct 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Sands report, Lost in the system: Bereaved parents experiences of mental health care following baby loss, which found that only 8% of bereaved parents in Scotland felt they received the specialist mental health support they wanted through the NHS.
Answer · Tom Arthur: The loss of a baby, no matter at what stage of pregnancy, is a traumatic event that can have a profound impact on families. The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that families who have experienced a pregnancy or baby loss receive the right informat…
2 Oct 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much it received in Barnett consequential funding as a result of the UK Government committing £5.8 million for a smoke-free pregnancy incentive scheme in England in 2025-26.
Answer · Jenni Minto: At the UK Spending Review the Scottish Government received a Barnett share of the net changes to UK departmental budget allocations, which ultimately fed into our total block grant settlement.Any new or additional spending allocations in 2025-26 associated wi…