Chamber and committees

The NRAC formula is an objective measure of the need for health care services in Scotland, providing a target share for Territorial Boards. The formula is refreshed by Public Health Scotland on an annual basis to ensure it reflects the most up-to-date data available.

The Scottish Government has committed to review the NRAC formula through the Technical Advisory Group for Resource Allocation (TAGRA). The review is ongoing and is being considered alongside the Programme for Government commitment to simplify NHS Board structures, which may affect its scope and timing.

The Scottish Government continues to ensure that all Boards remain within 0.6% of NRAC parity. Since 2012-13, over £4 billion of additional funding has been committed to those NHS Boards below their NRAC parity levels, including additional funding for NHS Grampian.

I wrote to the convener of the Rural Affairs Committee on 4 September setting out the Government's position on historic rights to ferry. The letter can be read at the following link: https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/committees/current-and-previous-committees/session-7/rural-affairs-committee/correspondence/2026/glenelg-and-kylerhea-ferry-service

The Scottish Government has not undertaken a specific assessment, taking account of the current composition of the fishing fleet, of the potential contribution of "static-gear reserves" as a distinct fisheries management measure to the recovery of inshore fish populations. The establishment of static-gear reserves is not current Scottish Government policy.

The Scottish Government's current approach is to improve the sustainability and management of Scotland's fisheries through a range of measures. This includes implementation of the Future Fisheries Management Strategy 2020-2030 and associated Future Catching Policy, which aim to ensure fishing activity operates sustainably while minimising environmental impacts, alongside measures to improve monitoring and selectivity.

More broadly, the Scottish Government is delivering a range of marine conservation measures to support biodiversity and ecosystem recovery. Around 37% of Scotland's seas are designated as Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), exceeding the global target to protect 30% of the world's oceans by 2030. Fisheries management measures for MPAs containing some of the most sensitive habitats in the Scottish MPA network were introduced in 2016. Work is ongoing to implement the remaining fisheries management measures across the MPA network and for the 11 most sensitive Priority Marine Features (PMFs) where further protection from bottom-contacting mobile fishing gear is considered necessary, and a consultation on proposals for additional protections for inshore MPAs and PMFs will be launched in the coming weeks.

The Scottish Government monitors NHS Boards' progress in developing specialist support services for long COVID, ME/CFS and other similar conditions through ongoing engagement with boards and by reviewing the plans they submitted as part of the allocation of the £4.5 million annual specialist support services funding.

Management of the progress of criminal cases is an independent matter for Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service and the judiciary. In individual cases, effective judicial management of the progress of a criminal case is an important element of the role of the judiciary. Where trial dates are sought to be moved by either the prosecution or the defence, the judiciary will consider carefully whether a move of date is in the interests of justice. The length of time a case waited for trial and the number of times a trial may have been moved back are relevant factors the judiciary will consider in any request to move a trial date. The judiciary must ensure the overall fairness of a trial when making decisions about moving trial dates and the Scottish Government has no direct role in such decisions.

Scotland’s emergency early release (EER) mechanism enables Scottish Ministers to release groups of short-term prisoners within 180 days of their scheduled release, where it is considered necessary and proportionate to do so in order to protect the security and good order of prisons, and/or to protect the health and well-being of prison workers and prisoners.

EER is a temporary measure designed to mitigate acute population pressures by bringing forward the release of a limited cohort of prisoners who are already approaching their scheduled release date. As such, it is not intended to produce a sustained reduction in the prison population.

The EER process that operated between November 2025 and April 2026 was used to address the critical prison population at the time. Over this period 614 individuals were released earlier than their scheduled release date.

The change in the automatic release point for certain short-term prisoners to 30% from 40% implemented from May 2026, forms part of a wider package of measures taken to manage prison population levels over the longer term.

It is estimated that the prison population today would be around 240 to 310 higher had the change in release point to 30% not been introduced.

The Lead Clinician for NHS Scotland’s Strategic Network for Long Covid has been working collaboratively with the British Society of Cardiovascular Medicine, PoTS UK and other stakeholders to support the development of UK consensus guidelines for PoTS, which are expected to be published in December 2026.

Once published, the Scottish Government will consider their relevance for NHS Scotland, including how they may support clinicians and services in providing consistent, evidence-informed care for people with PoTS.

The Scottish Government expects NHS Boards to ensure that staff are appropriately trained and developed in line with the Staff Governance Standard and relevant professional requirements.

To support this, we wrote to NHS Boards and General Practitioners in July 2022 to raise awareness of the NICE guideline on ME/CFS and highlight key changes in practice. The Scottish Government has also funded Action for ME and partners to develop and disseminate an online Continuing Professional Development (CPD) module on ME/CFS for health and social care professionals and has supported activity to promote awareness and uptake of the resource.

Through our ongoing engagement with NHS Boards on specialist support services for long COVID, ME/CFS and related conditions, we continue to emphasise the importance of services being informed by relevant clinical guidance, including the NICE guideline on ME/CFS.

Responsibility for workforce training and professional development rests with NHS Boards as employers. While the Scottish Government continues to promote awareness of relevant clinical guidance and educational resources it does not mandate specific continuing professional training requirements for individual conditions.

Social Security Scotland has established processes for notifying the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) when an award of Pension Age Disability Payment or Carer Support Payment may affect entitlement a client’s entitlement to reserved benefits, including Pension Credit.

Information is shared with DWP through agreed data-sharing arrangements and is subject to validation and quality assurance checks before transfer. Social Security Scotland also undertakes routine monitoring of data sharing activity and works with DWP to investigate and resolve any discrepancies or issues identified.

These arrangements are designed to support the timely and accurate exchange of information between the two organisations and help ensure clients receive the correct benefit entitlement.

While there is no legal mechanism to take into account the cultural significance of the guga hunt when considering licence applications, the cultural importance of this activity has been recognised both by the Scottish Government and through the continuing specific provision that exists within the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 to enable it to take place, subject to assessment by NatureScot as licensing authority. The Scottish Government has no current plans to change the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 to remove this exception.

In considering an application for a licence to take guga, NatureScot must assess any application in accordance with the existing legal framework and based on the most recent scientific evidence. Before granting a licence, NatureScot must conclude that the activity would not adversely affect the integrity of the North Rona and Sula Sgeir Special Protection Area, including the gannet population. Having considered the evidence, NatureScot decided that the licence application for 2026 should be refused due to potential population impacts. This does not prevent future applications from being made, and any such application would be considered in full.