Chamber and committees

We welcome the important work of the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease in raising awareness of COPD and welcome the findings in their annual report. We are committed to ensuring that people living with COPD receive the best possible care and treatment to enable them to live longer, healthier, and more independent lives.

Our Respiratory Care Action Plan and new Prescribing Guide set out our ambitions for better access to COPD care in Scotland. The Centre for Sustainable Delivery are also developing a national clinical pathway for COPD through their Respiratory Specialist Delivery Group.

We recognise there is more work to be done on respiratory care in Scotland and are continuing to focus on preventative approaches such as warm homes, clean air and our commitment to be a tobacco-free Scotland by 2034.

Social Security Scotland has an established process for requesting information from GPs. The initial request will always be sent through the Scottish Care Information Gateway system, unless we are informed otherwise. If no response is received Social Security Scotland will contact the GP by telephone and send the request via letter if required.

Social Security Scotland recognise the complexity of using that system, and the challenges GPs and the wider health and social care sector face in responding to information requests. They are actively working on engagement to increase awareness of Social Security Scotland and to identify potential improvements in how they can gather supporting information to ensure applications are processed as quickly and effectively as possible.

This engagement activity has started, utilising in-house Health and Social Care Practitioners to offer discussions at the GP practice when they are in contact about one of their patients.

Social Security Scotland will continue to work with senior leaders in Health & Social Care Partnerships and Health Boards in 2025 to offer similar meetings to raise awareness and understand how we can improve communication.

As emphasised during the Parliamentary debate on Changing Places Toilets (CPTs) on 11 December, there has been no reversal of the decision to provide funding for CPTs. I expect to be in a position to provide details of the amount of funding we propose to provide in the New Year. Funding will rely on Parliamentary approval of the Scottish Government’s Budget Bill.

Applicants for the scheme already have to agree to specific terms and conditions when signing up for the scheme, however we are working to strengthen these through changes to application forms to specify expected standards of behaviour when travelling and development of a behaviour code linked to operator’s conditions of carriage and existing legal protections.

We are exploring the legal means to suspend access to concessionary travel for perpetrators of persistent antisocial behaviour of any age. While this is being progressed as a priority, the National Concessionary Travel Schemes in Scotland are provided on a universal statutory basis therefore detailed and thorough consideration of any process and penalty must be undertaken to ensure consistency and fairness.

In some areas access to processing facilities, including larders is a barrier to increased deer control. That is why as set out in S6W-32094 on 6 January 2025, we have provided financial support for some larders already and are working with NatureScot, FLS and other public sector partners to assess what further support is required.

Mobile deer larders may be a good option in some parts of Scotland, and we will consider those alongside other options in future decisions on support for venison and deer management.

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

A total of 28 projects have been funded through the Scottish Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (SIETF). Refer to the Scottish Government website which includes a list of projects that have received SIETF grant offers from 2021 to 2024, along with case studies.

The total size of the Scottish Industrial Energy Transformation Fund is £34 million. The UK government budget committed funding from which Barnett consequentials will be received, however, these are accrued to the Scottish Government as a whole and it is for Scottish Ministers to decide how they should be allocated based on their priorities.

Initial views were sought on the criteria for the Changing Places Toilets (CPT) Fund at the CPT Cross Party Group on 14 November. We will not be undertaking a formal consultation on the draft criteria, but we will share them with key interests, including the Cross Party Group, in the New Year.

In addition to funding to support the expansion of access to diabetes technology already announced in the financial year 2024-2025, the draft Budget for 2025-2026 contains funding to support continued policy development for long term conditions including diabetes, respiratory conditions, chronic pain, neurological conditions, heart disease and out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

NHS Boards across Scotland are expected to provide maternity services that are delivered as close to home as practicable; however, this must be balanced with ensuring the safety of all mothers and babies. All decisions about care throughout pregnancy, including around place of birth, should be made by women in discussion with their midwife and obstetrician. These decisions will take account of their individual needs and circumstances.

In support of this, and recognising the importance of the relationship between women and their midwives during the pregnancy, birth and postnatal journey, we continue to implement continuity of carer within maternity services, a key recommendation of The Best Start. The Scottish Government’s Programme for Government 2024-25 reaffirms our commitment to ensuring that more women receive care and support from the same midwife from pregnancy through birth, prioritising those most likely to benefit, including women with additional social needs.

More broadly, our ambition is for a Scotland where health outcomes are equitable across the population so that all women enjoy the best possible health – throughout their lives. This remains the ambition of the Scottish Government, and will continue to be our guiding principle as we consider the next phase of the Women’s Health Plan.