Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has engaged with local government through a range of meetings and discussions on public service reform and local governance over recent months. The recently published proposals are intended to be a starting point for discussion, and a programme of wider engagement with local authorities and other stakeholders is now underway.

Workforce planning and recruitment for local services are operational matters for individual NHS boards. The Scottish Government does not hold information on the recruitment of staff to NHS Highland's Post-Infection Recovery Service, including the number of posts that have been filled and those which remain vacant.

The member may therefore wish to contact NHS Highland directly for this information, as responsibility for staffing and the delivery of local services rests with the board.

The Scottish Government has no plans at present to undertake such an assessment. Relevant evidence needs will continue to be considered as part of ongoing work to manage Scotland's seas.

NHS Grampian has advised that work to extend opioid replacement therapy provision within its police custody estate continues, with implementation at Elgin Custody Suite now nearing completion and arrangements currently planned to go live during November 2026. Once implemented, detainees who require ORT, including methadone, will be able to receive treatment while detained at Elgin Custody Suite. A Forensic Medical Examiner remains available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to support all three custody suites across Grampian.

The Ending Destitution Together strategy Phase 2 delivery plan was published on 24 August 2026. It includes an objective to maximise access to financial support for people with NRPF, where possible, within devolved competencies.

This work builds on the existing project with FairWay Scotland which provided casework support to 890 people and emergency cash support to over 200 people during 2025-26. The casework element helps people to exercise their rights to public funds, including housing, while the emergency cash payments help to tackle food insecurity and enable access to culturally appropriate food. This project has demonstrated that cash payments can reduce hunger, material deprivation and destitution rates.

In 2026-27, Scottish Government has invested £560,000 in Fair Way Scotland to continue this work but also to test a new model of enhanced support that local authorities can lawfully provide to people subject to NRPF. Over the course of the delivery plan, learning from this will be shared with local authorities across Scotland. A new Short Life Working Group on financial inclusion will also consider new approaches to providing essential support.

On 29 September 2026, we published the final evaluation of our Cash-First Programme, which aimed to improve urgent access to emergency income and reduce the need for food banks. We are currently considering the findings to help inform future policy decisions.

The Scottish Government will continue to do everything we can within devolved competence to support people subject to NRPF which includes continuing to call on the UK Government to remove NRPF for the most vulnerable and ensuring that harmful UK Government policies do not force people into destitution.

There are currently 26 patients awaiting a first outpatient appointment with the National Complex Mesh Surgical Service (CMSS) operating in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

Due to the small numbers involved, a full breakdown by NHS Board cannot be provided to protect patient confidentiality. NHS Lothian has six patients awaiting an appointment. NHS Ayrshire & Arran, NHS Borders, NHS Fife, NHS Forth Valley, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, NHS Highland, NHS Lanarkshire and NHS Tayside each have fewer than five patients waiting.

The current average waiting time for a first outpatient appointment is 15 weeks. This represents a significant reduction from 54 weeks in April 2023.

Patients who are referred to the CMSS receive a letter informing them of their referral and advising them of the expected waiting time. This letter also includes a QR code which takes patients to the CMSS website where they can access information about what to expect during their visit. In addition, patients are contacted by telephone prior to their arrival, giving an opportunity to better understand what will happen during their visit, and to discuss any questions or concerns.

An assessment will be made as part of the Scottish Government publishing the annual Innovation Scorecard later this month.

Management measures in protected areas are listed in the current UK Marine Strategy Part 3: 2025 UK Programme of Measures. The programme of measures was developed through collaboration amongst the UK government and devolved administrations with input from scientific experts and policy makers and drawing on the information set out in other parts of UKMS. A copy of the current programme of measures can be found at Marine Strategy part three: 2025 UK programme of measures.

A Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) has been published as part of the consultation process. Whilst it does not quantify the contribution of individual management options towards achieving Good Environmental Status (GES) for benthic habitats or seafloor integrity, or any residual gap that may remain within the UK marine strategy area, it provides a high-level assessment of the likely environmental effects of the management options.

Responsibility for asbestos legislation and the related regulations is reserved to the UK Government. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is responsible for asbestos management issues and it would be for the HSE to consider the need for training for workers, on a UK-wide basis, if this is considered to be required.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-03629 on 6 October 2026. 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.

Scottish Government does not collect this data.

Asbestos-related diseases include a range of cancers (including mesothelioma and lung cancer), asbestosis and other chronic lung conditions. The majority (85-95%) of mesothelioma cancers are attributable to asbestos exposure.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) operates the Scottish Cancer Registry, which collects cancer incidence data for all cancers in Scotland.

PHS annually publishes incidence for all cancers associated with asbestos exposure (PHS Cancer Incidence publication). However, the Scottish Cancer Registry does not routinely record whether an individual cancer was caused by occupational or environmental asbestos exposure. It is therefore not possible to provide a direct count of asbestos-attributable cancers and other diseases from cancer registration data alone.

Data on hospital care for cancers and other lung conditions associated with asbestos are also available from PHS.