Chamber and committees

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service is well prepared to deal with the range of risks present on communities across Scotland including flooding. SFRS responds to every emergency incident with the appropriate level of resources.

As stated in response to S7W-02992 on 15 September 2026, Our Detect Cancer Earlier (DCE) Programme takes a whole-systems approach to early detection and encompasses primary care, diagnostics, public education, data, innovation and screening. Detect Cancer Earlier’s ‘Be The Early Bird’ campaign launched in March 2023 aiming to reduce fear of cancer and empower those with possible symptoms to act early.

It is essential that primary care professionals are supported to recognise signs and symptoms when seeing people concerned about cancer. The Scottish Referral Guidelines (SRGs) for Suspected Cancer support primary care clinicians to identify those with symptoms suspicious of cancer and identify those who require urgent assessment by a specialist, including for gynaecological cancers. A clinical review of SRGs has been completed with updated guidance published on 6 August 2025.

Our Gateway C platform provides innovative and tailored information to support earlier cancer diagnosis efforts and enable effective decision-making. This free online platform is accessible to all primary care clinicians including pharmacists, dentists, and optometrists.

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.

As advised in the chamber by MSP Tom Arthur, Minister for Business and Fair Work, on 10 September, I met with Councillor Aitken, Leader of Glasgow City Council, on 8 July. During that meeting, she highlighted the strong partnerships Glasgow and other local authorities have developed with bus operators through the Glasgow Bus Partnership, as well as plans to introduce bus priority measures on key corridors across the city.

Through our Bus Infrastructure Fund, we have provided funding to support the development of bus priority measures on Pollokshaws Road, including corridor design work and AI-enabled traffic signal improvements. The supporting business case identifies opportunities to improve connectivity, increase access to jobs and services, reduce congestion, and deliver benefits for local communities and businesses.

The SFRS annual report and Accounts are audited by Audit Scotland on an annual basis and in line with the statutory responsibilities of the Scottish Government, these are laid before Parliament by the end of December each year. In addition, His Majesty’s Fire Service Inspectorate also conducts independent reviews into various aspects of SFRS activity and these are all laid before Parliament.

The Scottish Government provides grant funding to Family Fund, some of which enables low income families raising disabled children to purchase technology. In 2025-26, they received £3.18m (including £250k additional funding via Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan). In 2026-27 they have been awarded £2.974m.

In 2025-26, this enabled families to purchase the following to support their digital access:

• 269 grants for Computers - £118k
• 74 grants for Mobile phones - £14.1k
• 622 grants for Tablets - £244k

Under the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016, every area must have a local carer information and advice service providing information on a range of issues including support available. That information and advice must be accessible to carers and proportionate to their needs. These services are normally delivered via local carer centres and accessible via phone or face to face, as well as providing online information. Unpaid carers can also approach their local authority for information and advice about support. On a national basis, Care Information Scotland provides information on carers rights to support, which is available online or by telephone.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving awareness and take-up of support for unpaid carers through implementation of Section 13 of the Care Reform (Scotland) Act 2025. Work is underway to develop the necessary regulations and engage with key stakeholders to support a more proactive, preventative and rights-based approach to carer support.

Social Security Scotland local delivery advisers can provide information and signposting including referral to the Independent Advocacy Service by a range of methods to suit people’s needs, including through client letters, emails, texts, leaflets, and online content.

The Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 also requires local authorities to prepare and publish a short breaks services statement to ensure that local carers and those that they care for can easily access information about what short breaks services and opportunities are available to them in their local area.

The Shared Care Scotland short breaks directory gives online access to short breaks and they also provide a telephone enquiry service for those that don’t have access to the internet or those who can’t find what they’re looking for online.

Our Parent Club website provides advice for parents of disabled children and young people on the organisations, benefits and services available. Included in Parent Club is the Family Support Directory which provides together all the helpful organisations, benefits and information that support parents and carers, no matter what their situation or stage their child is at.

Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC) is Scotland's approach for meeting the needs of children, young people and their families, including those with additional support needs. One of the core components of the GIRFEC approach is the offer of advice and support from the named person. The role of a named person, or equivalent role, is to provide a clear point of contact within universal services for information, advice or help. They can refer the child or young person and their families to support within their own service, or request support from other services or agencies. A named person is usually a health visitor until children start school, and a head or senior teacher thereafter.

The associated headteacher questionnaire as part of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) Results 2025 indicate that pupils in Scotland attended schools where headteachers agreed or strongly agreed that teachers had the necessary skills to integrate digital devices into teaching (64.9%) and that professional learning resources were available to support teachers in using digital devices (68.7%). Around three quarters of pupils (77.8%) attended schools where an effective online learning platform was available, while two thirds (66.9%) attended schools where headteachers agreed that the curriculum supported the effective use of digital devices.

The ongoing Curriculum Improvement Cycle, led by Education Scotland, is considering the skills, knowledge and understanding that children and young people will be required to develop, including in relation to Digital Skills and how this should be managed as a crucial element of the updated curriculum. This work has been co-created with a group of practitioners and stakeholders and will help improve learning and teaching in digital literacy.

Our schools can have a key role in ensuring children and young people are safe, resilient and equipped to respond to the challenges and opportunities that the internet brings. At the core of this learning is the values of healthy, safe and respectful relationships, including those that take place online. Education Scotland have provided guidance on digilearn.scot for teachers on what digital skills they should have and what digital skills learners should be developing in the Teacher and learner digital toolkits. They have developed a Teacher and Educator Digital Skills toolkits to help develop a baseline of digital skills. The toolkits support the GTCS professional standards which require all teachers to know how to embed digital technologies safely and effectively to enhance learning and teaching.

Aberdeen Airport will benefit from the Scottish Government’s decision to extend the Air Departure Tax (ADT)Highlands and Islands exemption to the carriage of passengers on routes from all Scottish airports to airports in the Highlands and Islands. This includes routes such as those from Aberdeen Airport to Sumburgh and Kirkwall.

The Field Readiness Hub is not a healthcare facility and does not provide clinical care or treat patients. It is a specialist facility based in Dundee that allows healthcare infrastructure to be assembled, tested and refined before deployment into complex humanitarian setting. This includes testing clinical layouts, power and water systems, biomedical equipment integration, staff workflows and maintenance arrangements, helping to identify and resolve issues before facilities are deployed overseas.

This step is critical as problems with infrastructure and equipment are exponentially harder to resolve once deployed into complex settings. Therefore, testing them in advance helps ensure teams are provided with facilities that are safe, practical and ready to save lives as soon as possible.

Therefore there are no patients treated at the Hub

However, the purpose of the Hub is to improve the safety, quality and operational readiness of healthcare facilities that will subsequently deliver care to patients elsewhere.

It may be helpful to explain that the investment is already contributing to several healthcare projects, including:

• A modular paediatric surgical facility in Jericho, West Bank.
• A modular paediatric surgical facility in Juba, South Sudan.
• Further projects at early development stages in Syria, Kenya and Bangladesh.
• The ongoing Gaza HOPES hospital programme, for which the Hub was originally established to support testing, configuration and operational planning.

The impact of the Hub should therefore be assessed through the healthcare capacity and patient care it enables in deployment settings, rather than by the number of patients treated within the Hub itself.

The Glasgow Airport Express Service 500, operated by First Glasgow, is included in the Strathclyde £2 Bus Fare Cap scheme. For eligible journeys, operators are reimbursed at 90% of the difference between £2 and the standard single fare, subject to checks and validation. This reimbursement rate applies to all participating operators, although Grant Agreements contain a comfort clause which may adjust the percentage reimbursed in exceptional circumstances.

Those eligible for free bus travel through the National Concessionary Travel Schemes may also use this bus service. The reimbursement rates for all participating operators for the current financial year are:

• Older and Disabled Persons’ Scheme – 53%
• Young Persons’ Scheme (aged 5-15) – 48.1%
• Young Persons’ Scheme (aged 16-21) – 72.5%

The Hub is an initiative developed and operated by Kids Operating Room from its Centre for Global Operations in Dundee, drawing on the charity’s existing team of specialists in areas including healthcare infrastructure, biomedical engineering, logistics and operations. This means the Hub builds on skilled jobs and specialist expertise already based in Dundee, with staff contributing to its work as part of their wider roles. No staff are employed exclusively by the Field Readiness Hub.