Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government knows that transport plays an important role in supporting patients’ health journeys. Removing transport barriers and other barriers will help to ensure that patients across Scotland can access the right care in the right place and at the right time. I would be happy to write to NHS Forth Valley in that regard.

I thank Mark Griffin for his work in that area. I had the pleasure of meeting Sarah Brown and Professor James Boardman to learn about the work of the Theirworld Edinburgh birth cohort research project. That is a 25-year study, which is now in its seventh year, that follows the progress of babies who have received neonatal care, and its findings support our work across health, social care and education.

I am happy to come back to Mr Griffin on the detail of his question. In the meantime, as I indicated in my first answer, from my perspective, our approach should be a collaborative one that involves multidisciplinary teams.

In Scotland, babies who have been in neonatal care receive a developmental assessment at two years of corrected age, as part of a routine follow-up. Such assessment is crucial to identifying any developmental delays or potential problems early. The assessment typically happens at a face-to-face appointment and is usually conducted by a multidisciplinary team.

In the national neurodevelopmental specification, the Scottish Government has set out standards for services to support children and young people who have neurodevelopmental profiles with support needs. The specification aims to ensure that children and families receive the support and access to services that meet their needs at the earliest opportunity, based on the getting it right for every child approach.

The Scottish Government meets NHS Forth Valley regularly to discuss health services. We expect national health service boards to consider the needs of their communities, including ensuring access to healthcare. When an NHS board is subsidising a bus service, as it is in this case, I would expect it to work closely with the operator and the local authority to ensure that the service continues to meet the on-going needs of the community.

I agree that having good, reliable transport to health services helps everyone. That is why, as I indicated in my response to Mr Brown, I will write to NHS Forth Valley to underline the importance of its investing in transport in the Forth Valley royal hospital area.

I, too, thank my colleague Marie McNair for bringing the motion to the chamber, and I welcome the opportunity to close today’s debate on mesothelioma. I recognise Ms McNair’s long-standing support for her constituents and other people who are living with the impact of asbestos. I also acknowledge the valuable contributions from my colleagues today, and I recognise the strong feeling and cross-party support that there is for Ms McNair’s motion.

Richard Leonard said that this is not history and that it is happening now. It is always important to understand, as Bill Kidd and Carol Mochan took the time to explain, the underlying history of meso and its current impact on different areas of the population.

I very much agree with Pam Gosal’s comments on the lifeline support that the Clydebank Asbestos Group provides for people—and their families—who are living with meso. Its website has a simple, direct video that explains how the group can provide great help and support to families.

Jackson Carlaw raised the important point that these people built Scotland and, therefore, we have a responsibility towards them.

As I might have said before in responses to other debates on the matter, I first became aware of the issue when my husband directed a film for BBC Scotland about 30 years ago that raised knowledge about it in the wider community. From my heart, I thank the people in the gallery for the powerful work that they are doing and ask them to keep holding us to account.

On behalf of the Scottish Government, I recognise all those who are affected by this type of cancer—not just the individuals themselves but their loved ones. Adjusting to a cancer diagnosis is never easy. That must be especially true for rarer cancers that leave individuals feeling isolated and worried at an already distressing time. Therefore, the Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that people who are impacted by a cancer diagnosis receive person-centred and holistic care. We work closely with Macmillan Cancer Support to improve the service that we offer patients through the transforming cancer care programme.

Improving cancer survival is also a key aim of the Scottish Government’s cancer strategy. We know that earlier detection can improve outcomes, and we have invested in several programmes to support the earlier detection of cancers. A number of speakers noted the point that mesothelioma is diagnosed late and requires much more research, and I am pleased that there are currently four active clinical trials open to recruitment in Scotland that are related to meso.

The ASSESS-Meso trial is specifically aimed at collecting more information about people with meso. It will help researchers to know more about symptoms and their impact on daily living so that we can improve care. The Meso-ORIGINS study at the University of Glasgow aims to find out how benign inflammation develops into meso in people after exposure to asbestos. The EXTRA-Meso feasibility study is exploring how exercise therapy can improve symptom control, fitness and quality of life for patients with meso. Another trial, which addresses the point that Jackson Carlaw made, is examining the effectiveness of a drug that specifically targets the build-up of fluid around the lung that mesothelioma causes and aims to make breathing easier for people who are affected.

In addition, a core commitment in the Scottish Government’s strategy “Genomics in Scotland: Building our Future” is the development of a sustainable and more reactive funding model so that we can expand access to genomic testing equitably across Scotland and keep pace with the rapid rate of change.

As many speakers in the debate said, we are all aware that exposure to asbestos in the past is known to be a major contributing factor to developing meso. As well as aiming to ensure that we prevent exposure to asbestos, which has been banned in the UK since 1999, and that appropriate medical care is in place for people who have been affected by asbestos exposure, the Scottish Government remains committed to ensuring that individuals have appropriate rights to compensation.

As Marie McNair, Richard Leonard, Bill Kidd and others noted, the current law on limitation, which sets time limits for raising court proceedings, can cause difficulties for people with mesothelioma. Through no fault of their own, they might find themselves time barred from raising civil proceedings and, in effect, be denied a legal remedy.

The Scottish Government and Scottish Parliament have a strong record of supporting those who have been negligently exposed to asbestos. The law in relation to secondary exposure has developed over recent decades, and we are encouraged to see that those who are affected are increasingly recognised.

The Scottish Law Commission published several recommendations for reform of damages for personal injury in December last year, and I thank it for its work. Those recommendations included changes in the law of limitation regarding asymptomatic asbestos-related conditions. The Scottish Government supports those recommendations and has a proven track record of implementing Scottish Law Commission reports, having introduced four bills this session with a fifth to come.

Where asbestos remains, licences are required to work with it and strict control measures are used, including personal protective equipment such as respirators.

As has been noted, my colleague Siobhian Brown is looking forward to meeting Marie McNair and her constituents, and I note, as she will do, the comments that have been made by Richard Leonard and Bill Kidd. I am content to meet as well, but that specific element does not fit into my portfolio.

I give my sincere thanks to those who provide valuable information, help and support to anyone who is affected by meso or any other asbestos-related condition. I give my thanks to Mesothelioma UK for continuing to raise awareness each year on action mesothelioma day. The Scottish Government will support “Go Blue for Meso” by lighting up in blue St Andrew’s house and Victoria Quay in Edinburgh on 4 July.

I mention again and give my special thanks to the Clydebank Asbestos Group and the Less Survivable Cancers Taskforce. The work of the third sector, community and social care partners, alongside that of our national health service, is critical in supporting those who are affected by meso.

I thank everyone who has taken part in the debate, and I look forward to working with all of them to improve awareness, early diagnosis, treatment and clinical research, together with support for action mesothelioma day 2025.

More than 1 million patients were seen by NHS dentists in the quarter ending March 2025. As I have indicated, I recognise that we have—

Section 14 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 places a statutory duty on local authorities to make special arrangements for any child or young person who is absent from school for a prolonged period, due to ill health, to enable them to continue their education while they are away from their regular school.

I confirm that officials have discussed the matter with the City of Edinburgh Council. NHS Lothian and the City of Edinburgh Council recognise their responsibilities under the statutory duty, and they have set up the Little France teaching centre within the hospital. The centre uses teachers who are employed by the council, and that service is available for all children and young people during their stay in the hospital.

As I said in my earlier answer, I recognise that there are issues in Dumfries and Galloway, and the Government is currently working closely with the health board on them. The situation that Mr Smyth describes is occurring not just within Scotland but across the four nations of the United Kingdom. I have been working closely with my counterparts and with the directors of dentistry across each of those nations to ensure that we can reach a four-country solution. We need to improve the pipeline of dentists coming into the country and ensure that those who are in Scotland after training in other countries have the right UK training to allow them to step up to become dentists here. In line with this year’s programme for government, we have increased dentistry funding by 15 per cent, which is the highest-ever proportional increase for the sector. We are also working closely with rural boards to ensure that specific payments that are intended to encourage dentists to move to rural and island locations are more targeted.

The Scottish Government’s operational improvement plan sets out a package of actions to improve the NHS dental workforce now and into the future, in Dumfries and Galloway and across Scotland. As I have said, it is being supported by additional funding in 2025-26. Alongside that, we are working with NHS boards to refine the financial incentives that are in place to support dentists in moving to work in rural areas, thus supporting sustainable access across Scotland.