Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is committed to improving perinatal and infant mental health services across Scotland. Anyone who requires Maternity and Neonatal Psychological Intervention (MNPI) services should be able to access them as part of their maternity or neonatal care.

We are providing £123.5 million funding to Boards to improve the quality and delivery of mental health and psychological services for all. This funding includes provision for access to MNPI services across all 14 Boards. Continued investment since 2019 has resulted in a substantial increase in services across Scotland, leading to all Boards having access to MNPI services, either from a local MNPI team or, for very small Board areas, via pathways to MNPI care in larger maternity hospitals where the patient may deliver.

The way in which MNPI services are provided differs across Boards, depending on population size and birth rate. However, we expect those who need the services to be able to access them in all areas of Scotland. Some Boards will have independent MNPI teams, working closely with local perinatal mental health services, and agreed referral criteria and pathways into care; while smaller Boards, such as Island Boards should provide access to psychological therapies via local primary care, adult mental health or perinatal mental health clinical psychology, with pathways into specialist MNPI support in the maternity hospital where they deliver.

We expect NatureScot’s work to progress the Scotland’s Great Trails brand to a new model will to be concluded in late 2026.

The most recently available Local Authority analysis from the Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS) is from 2017 to 2019

Table 1 shows the estimated number of dwellings that use heating oil, or LPG as their primary heating fuel, broken down by Local Authority.

Table 1: Estimated number of households using LPG and Oil as primary heating fuel 2017-19.

Established in 2014, the National Eyecare Workstream was set up to influence and embed change in the way that eyecare services are delivered in Scotland. The workstream focuses on using capacity and capabilities differently within and across Primary and Secondary Care, drawing together the different strands of work that contribute to building a sustainable service.

Throughout its duration, the National Eyecare Workstream has supported extensive data collection and analysis of hospital eyecare services, including future capacity and demand for cataract surgery. In 2018, taking into account population growth and demographic change, demand for cataract surgery was forecast to grow by up to 47% to 2035.

More recently the Royal College of Ophthalmologists has projected an increase in demand of 25% in the next 10 years and 50% over the next 20 years.

The National Eyecare Workstream has been working with Health Boards to streamline each stage in the cataract pathway to ensure maximisation of all available resources across the country.

In May 2021, the National Eyecare Workstream commissioned the Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) to deliver a Short Life Working Group (SLWG) to focus on improving efficiency and productivity within cataract only theatre sessions in line with the latest guidance from the Royal College of Ophthalmologists. This SLWG has supported several new and innovative pathway developments, including high volume cataract surgery in ring-fenced sessions and delivering one cataract every 30 mins. In parallel with this, the National Eyecare Workstream is undertaking clinically-led peer reviews which supports new and efficient ways of working and shares best practices across the country across a number of ocular sub-specialties, including cataracts.

A number of ophthalmic surgeons are now undertaking immediate sequential bilateral cataract surgery to prevent patients having to travel twice for surgical intervention enabling both cataract surgeries to be performed on the same day, one after the other. In a number of Health Board areas, non-medical staff have been upskilled to pre-assess and list patients for cataract surgery freeing-up ophthalmologists’ time to undertake duties only they are qualified to do e.g. perform cataract surgery.

The National Eyecare Workstream has also undertaken a workforce review across the entirety of NHS eye care services in Scotland. This was required to support workforce and service planning, and to ensure ongoing workforce sustainability. The final report, published in 2023, is available here: https://www.nhscfsd.co.uk/media/pjwntap4/national-ophthalmic-workforce-review-may-2023.pdf

In addition, our National Treatment Centres (NTC) programme provides additional protected elective capacity and infrastructure to meet the needs of the aging population, which is projected to grow by 25-30% between 2015 - 2035. We have allocated an additional £2.6 million to National Treatment Centre (NTC) Highland to deliver thousands of additional orthopaedic and ophthalmic operations every year, with approximately 61% of the additional funding intended to support ophthalmic procedures.

This is part of our wider investment of £110 million to address long waits for planned care, which includes over £12 million funding for ophthalmology services.

A number of Health Boards also have additional cataract slots at Golden Jubilee National Hospital.

The number of ophthalmology trainees recorded as of July 28, 2025, and from 2015 has been provided in the following table.

I have met with all NHS Boards to discuss long waits across all planned care specialities including ophthalmology.

Scottish Ministers must take into account all the views presented when considering applications for onshore wind projects. The merits of each proposal are considered on a case-by-case basis. A careful balance must be struck between the potential impacts of the development and the associated environmental, economic, renewable energy and climate change benefits.

Where new development proposals come forward, our Fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4) ensures the impacts of proposals on communities and nature, including cumulative impacts, are important considerations in the decision-making process. All applications are subject to site specific assessments.

The loss of a baby, no matter at what stage of pregnancy is a traumatic event that can have a profound impact on families. The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that women and families who have experienced a pregnancy or baby loss receive the right information, care and support tailored to their individual circumstances, this includes high quality, sensitive bereavement care and support.

For most parents who have suffered a pregnancy loss, bereavement and grief support provided by their Health Board or local third sector organisations will meet their needs and they will not require specialist mental health services.

To help ensure that this happens, we are funding the baby loss charity Sands to develop and support NHS Boards to implement the National Bereavement Care Pathway (NBCP) for pregnancy and baby loss in Scotland. Sands worked with health professionals, bereaved parents, other baby loss charities and Royal Colleges to develop the pathways, putting voices of bereaved parents at the heart of their development.

Additionally, the Delivery Framework for Miscarriage Care in Scotland was published by the Scottish Government on 6 February 2025. This highlights work we are initiating to map existing mental health services available following a pregnancy and baby loss to ensure that women can access appropriate mental health support, should they require it in addition to bereavement care. This work includes considering how counselling and psychological services (including third sector organisations) could be expanded or improved to provide appropriate support for those impacted, where they don’t require more specialised NHS support.

A small number of parents experience more complicated grief and may benefit from engagement with specialist mental health services. If a parent is identified as requiring Maternity and Neonatal Psychological Intervention (MNPI) services in Scotland after the loss of their baby, they would typically be referred by their midwife, GP or other healthcare professional.

MNPI services in Scotland can provide specialist psychological support to parents experiencing difficulties related to pregnancy or baby loss. These services are offered by multidisciplinary teams within NHS Scotland, including clinical psychologists and specialist midwives, and aim to support the emotional well-being of individuals and families during this sensitive time.

The Scottish Government engages regularly with all health boards regarding their provision of support for neurodivergent people, including those with ADHD.

We are working closely with Health Boards and local authorities towards implementing the National Neurodevelopmental Specification for Children and Young People in full. The Scottish Government is also working with the National Autism Implementation Team (NAIT) to develop national Adult Neurodevelopmental Pathways.

We acknowledge that work is needed to improve the quality of data that we have on neurodevelopmental support and services, including for ADHD. We are continuing to work with Health Boards and local authorities to improve our understanding of what data is available, and how this could be used to support improvements.

The Scottish Government has directly allocated £123.5 million to NHS Boards and IJBs for the Enhanced Mental Health Outcomes Framework in 2025-26. This provides a single, flexible funding stream to support continued improvements and better outcomes across a range of mental health and psychological services in line with the Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy. This includes funding for adult and child neurodevelopmental services, including services providing ADHD assessments.

In addition to investment through Health Boards, we will also be providing £500,000 additional funding in 2025-26 to improve access to neurodevelopmental support for children and young people, including for ADHD assessments. This is in addition to £250,000 of funding in 2024-25 to improve neurodevelopmental assessment and support for children and young people, including improving access to ADHD assessments.