Chamber and committees

The UK Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) recommended in their ketamine review of January 2026, that work on drug treatment should be collaborative with specialist urology, pain management, hepatology and gastroenterology services.

In Health Boards throughout Scotland, Urology departments have clinical guidance in assessment and multidisciplinary management of bladder symptoms related to ketamine use. Due to an increase in admissions of young people, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary Urology department has created a specialist 'ketamine bladder' clinic.

The Scottish Government are aware of a significant spike in ketamine harms - particularly among young people, and it is an integral part of our new Strategic Plan, to create further standards to ensure services can adapt to changing drug trends. It highlights the need for responsive and adaptive services, with improvement to treatment pathways in drug services, and connections to primary, acute and specialist settings.

At this time the Scottish Government has not carried out any public health campaigns in relation to ketamine use.

The Scottish Government however provides funding to Public Health Scotland, to monitor ketamine use and related harms, through its RADAR (Rapid Action Drug Alerts and Response) program. The system acts as an early warning network to track emerging trends, local clusters of harm, and toxicology data in Scotland.

There are several Scottish Government funded organisations that are publicising the risks of taking ketamine and where to get help. These include:

• The Scottish Drugs Forum provides free targeted e-learning resources for healthcare staff and the public, helping them recognize early warning signs of ketamine dependency and understand how to reduce the risks
• Turning Point, a leading national social care charity, is running a nationwide campaign focusing on early intervention and harm reduction, to help people understand the tolerance limits and mental health impacts of ketamine
• Change, Grow, Live are a health and social care charity that is running an online campaign, to help people understand what ketamine is, detailing the side effects, risks and how to keep safe when taking it.

The Scottish Government are aware of an increase in ketamine use by young people, and published the Standards for Young People in November 2025, to ensure support in drug services meets their needs.

Several Scottish Government funded organisations are publicising the risks of taking ketamine and where to get help. These include:

• Crew, an Edinburgh based charity, provides Nightlife Harm Reduction at clubs and festivals, offering welfare, advice, harm reduction information and immediate crisis support
• Turning Point, a leading national social care charity, is running a nationwide campaign focusing on early intervention and harm reduction without using scare tactics, aimed at helping youth understand the tolerance limits and mental health impacts of ketamine
• With You, a support charity that is providing information and help to young people on their website, including peer written stories of other young people’s experience with ketamine.

For financial year 2026-27, the Scottish Government will provide Scottish Para-Football with £160,000 to deliver a range of Summer of Sport and related legacy activities and allow Scottish Para-Football to appoint a Youth Development Officer for two years.

Activities will include holding a number of “come and try’ festivals, running an 18-month Youth Training Programme, providing coach training and education and para-football referee development, purchasing new equipment and holding public exhibition matches to raise awareness and encourage wider participation.

This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

Earlier diagnosis improves outcomes, which is why we continue to invest in our Detect Cancer Earlier (DCE) Programme. The programme works closely with the Scottish Cancer Coalition, including Leukaemia Care and Blood Cancer UK, to support awareness raising efforts and joint messaging where possible.

Detect Cancer Earlier’s ‘Be The Early Bird’ campaign launched in March 2023 aims to reduce fear of cancer and empower those with possible symptoms to act early.

In addition, 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.

Further, our Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services (RCDS) provides primary care with access to a new fast-track diagnostic pathway for people with non-specific symptoms suspicious of cancer, such as weight loss and fatigue, both of which are relevant for leukaemia.

The Care Leaver Payment provides a payment of £2,000 to young people leaving care, with the intention of providing additional financial security for care leavers as they transition into adulthood and more independent living.

The Care Leaver Payment (Scotland) Regulations 2026 came into force on 1 April 2026, commencing the scheme for all of Scotland. The regulations place all local authorities in Scotland under a legal duty to make this payment to young people who are eligible on or from this date, if they also meet the other eligibility requirements.

The Scottish Government published the Allied Health Professions (AHP) Education and Workforce Policy Review on 23 February 2023. A link to the report can be found below.

Allied Health Professions - education and workforce policy review: recommendations

An advisory board with representatives from a broad range of partners is overseeing the effective implementation of these recommendations.

The information requested on how much each NHS board has spent on temporary staff engaged through staff banks in each of the last 10 years can be found on the TURAS Public Services Delivery Scotland workforce statistics site at: NHS Scotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence (Bank and agency tab).

Data held by the Scottish Government on the number of NHS apprenticeships has been provided in the following tables. While this Management Information provides an indication of apprenticeship activity within NHS Scotland, the figures across years should be treated with caution because of the changes in collection method, coverage and definitions. The data records the number of individuals who have been recruited or started on an apprenticeship programme in the reporting year, rather than the total number of apprenticeships delivered.

Data for the total number of apprenticeships recruited is not held by the Scottish Government for 2016-2017 and there is no data for 2019-2020 to 2021-2022, as no annual Staff Governance Monitoring return was undertaken during COVID. Apprenticeship data is not yet available for 2024-25 or 2025-26 but will be collected via NHS Anchors Metrics.