Chamber and committees

In partnership with NHS Scotland colleagues, the Scottish Government are developing tools to support GP practices to proactively identify people on topical steroids so that their treatment can be reviewed.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde have and are continuing to take action to simplify scheduling of these complex cases. Following updates provided by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde on 19 February and 9 June, I will be meeting with members of the board and clinicians in September 2025 to seek further clarity in terms of progress made.

It is a matter for individual Health Boards to consider the implementation of any new medicine to meet the needs of their local population, and they are responsible for funding new medicines from their local medicines budgets. However, the Scottish Government has committed to investing rebates from the Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines, Pricing Access and Growth (VPAG) to fund the New Medicines Fund (NMF), which provides additional top-up funding to territorial Health Boards to support the cost of introducing new medicines. Since 2014-15, £906 million has been made available to Health Boards through this fund. In addition, a national process is in place, administered by National Services Scotland National Procurement (NP), to review early access programmes on a ‘once for Scotland’ basis on behalf of Scottish Health Boards.

The South East Scotland Cancer Network (SCAN) continue to focus on reducing waiting times and improving outcomes for people diagnosed with ovarian cancer. They have made recent innovations in both the pre-diagnosis and post-diagnosis parts of the pathway:

• Pre diagnosis: patients referred with suspected ovarian cancer automatically receive a CT scan appointment and should the scan show any suspicious features, the multi-disciplinary team will review and an action plan will be formalised. They report that this has significantly decreased waiting times.
• Post diagnosis: 10 dedicated advanced ovarian cancer surgery lists are offered each week supported by the specialist gynae-oncology team and the colorectal and hepato-biliary surgery teams, as appropriate, aiming to improve post-surgery outcomes including survival rates.

Local authorities are supported in fulfilling their duties under the 2004 Act through the statutory code of practice on additional support for learning.

In instances where parents/carers are concerned that education authorities may not be fulfilling their duties under the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004, there are a range of dispute resolution mechanisms available under the 2004 Act. These include mediation, independent adjudication, and referral to the Additional Support Needs Tribunal.

Under section 70 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 any interested party can make a reference to the Scottish Ministers that a responsible body (the managers of a school or education establishment, an education authority or other persons) has failed to discharge a duty imposed on them by or for the purposes of any enactment relating to education.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-38143 on 13 June 2025.

Following extensive stakeholder engagement and data review, we published the first optimal cancer diagnostic pathways on lung, head & neck and colorectal cancers. Prioritisation of the next optimal diagnostic pathways to be developed in the subsequent Cancer Action Plan(s) will be based on data and stakeholder engagement.

A clinical review of the Scottish Referral Guidelines for Suspected Cancer has just concluded to help ensure the right person is on the right pathway at the right time. For the first time, the review has ensured the inclusion of a nationally agreed non-specific symptoms referral guideline, as well as an update to the guidance for urgent referral for suspected brain tumours. Publication of the reviewed guidelines is expected this month.

The National Headache Pathway was published by the Centre for Sustainable Delivery, has been developed to support the assessment, diagnosis and management of primary headache disorders. This includes the red flag symptoms that indicate the need for urgent and/or emergency assessment to exclude a secondary cause, such as a brain tumours.

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

Spending on additional support for learning by local authorities reached a record high of over £1bn in 2023-24

We have continued to invest £15m per year since 2019-20 and provide over £11m of funding, to directly support pupils with complex additional support needs and services to children and families.

The 2025-26 budget sets out a further £29m of additional investment, specifically for ASN for local and national programmes to support the recruitment and retention of the ASN workforce.

We are also providing £186.5m to councils this year to restore teacher numbers to 2023 levels and maximise the number of teaching posts available.

Scottish Government and COSLA work in partnership on additional support needs through the Additional Support for Learning Project Board. The new Education and Childcare Assurance Board provides a further opportunity for jointly agreeing priorities and joint working in this context.

The Scottish Government works closely with Local Authorities on the delivery of the renewal programme and use of the funding through the annual reporting process and the quarterly network meetings referenced in S6W-38037. As agreed with COSLA at the start of the funding programme in 2021, Local Authorities are not required to report any such issues.

Local Authorities have the statutory responsibility for education therefore the Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally. Local authorities may hold this information.

As part of the Scottish Government’s commitment to invest in access to school counselling services, since 2021 local authorities have reported on key measures of their service delivery. A summary of these reports can be found at: Access to counsellors in secondary schools and children and young people’s community mental health services – summary reports - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

We have established the National Oncology Coordination Group to provide a coordinated and collaborative response to immediate and foreseeable service pressures. This group provides rapid real-time assessment of highest risk services and proactively develops risk mitigation proposals, in line with the overall strategic aim for cancer. Officials also meet with Boards’ Cancer Management Teams monthly to identify immediate challenges, explore solutions and share best practice.

The Scottish Government has mobilised an ambitious Oncology Transformation Programme and are working closely with NHS Board and regional leaders from across the country to address longer-term pressures. We have also committed to further funding for Chemotherapy and Acute Oncology services using a phased approach to ensure we build a sustainable workforce. The funding will reach up to £10 million per annum and will support increased regional working, workforce recruitment and maximise capacity across the existing workforce. £6.6 million has been provided in 2025-26 and will support NHS Boards to develop sustainable plans.