The Scottish Government’s universal Baby Box programme, the only one in the UK, opened for registration on 15 June 2017 and nationwide delivery of Baby Boxes began on 15 August 2017. Every baby born and resident in Scotland is eligible for a Baby Box.

To receive a Baby Box parents have to opt in to receive a Baby Box through the registration process via their midwife.

The following table details the number of births registered each year, the number of Baby Box registrations and the number of families who did not register for a Baby Box.

The Scottish Government is providing further funding of £500,000 this year to improve neurodevelopmental assessment and support for children and young people, and their families.

Further, our Autistic Adult Support Fund provides £1 million of funding per year to organisations that support autistic adults both pre- and post-diagnosis. As autism and ADHD often co-occur, adults with ADHD have benefitted and will continue to benefit from this support. A recent independent evaluation of the Fund showed that 72% of individuals and 71% of families supported via the Fund reported improved wellbeing as a result.

The Scottish Government published the Transition Care Plan (TCP) Guidance in 2018, describing the standards required in the planning of good transitions for children and young people moving to adult services. This guidance is underpinned by a rights based approach and ensures the young person is involved in discussions about their care.

The National Neurodevelopmental Specification notes that the guidance should be used to ensure that transitions between children and young people’s services and other services are robust and that, wherever possible, services work together with the young person and families/carers to plan in advance for transition.

The Scottish Government continues to support the development of our ports including the potential for new direct freight and passenger ferry services linking Scotland to Europe.

The Scottish Government does not currently have plans to establish a national framework for shared care. However, we are engaging with the Royal College of GPs (Scotland) to understand the current issues around shared care agreements for patients with ADHD.

Officials have also written to all health boards seeking clarification on what neurodevelopmental assessment and support they currently have in place for adults, this included a question on local protocol for patients with a private diagnosis. We are currently collating and considering this information.

Some NHS Boards may have shared care policies, but it remains at the clinical discretion of each individual GP to decide the best course of action for their patients. A recommendation from a private specialist for a particular medicine does not entitle the patient to NHS prescriptions for that medicine.

The National Autism Implementation Team (NAIT) published guidance on Prescribing ADHD medication to adults following private sector diagnosis in Scotland in April 2022. This guidance is available to practitioners and patients.

The Scottish Government’s expenditure on international letter postage for each year from 2021 is as follows.

The Scottish Government is currently considering its guidance on non-therapeutic male circumcision. The Scottish Government takes the safety and wellbeing of all children and young people very seriously and we are committed to ensuring that children’s rights are respected, as set out in United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).

Within the Scottish Government, the Chief Scientist Office (CSO) is responsible for supporting Health and Care research.

CSO runs a number of project and fellowship funding schemes for Scottish-led research and this role is well known across the Health and Care research community here.

Grant Funding – Chief Scientist Office

Fellowship Funding – Chief Scientist Office

Applications on the potential use of Mifepristone to prevent women at high risk of breast cancer from developing the disease are welcomed. In common with all applications, these would go through CSO's standard independent expert review process to enable funding decisions to be made.

In addition, through UK-wide funding arrangements, the majority of funding programmes administered by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) are open to applications led by researchers based in Scotland.

Scottish Researchers to be able to access further NIHR research funding – Chief Scientist Office

The Scottish Government funds the National Autism Implementation Team (NAIT), which is currently supporting NHS Boards to develop, enhance and redesign existing local adult neurodevelopmental services. We continue scope the work required to improve Adult Neurodevelopmental Pathways nationally, understanding that a stepped care model is needed to reduce waiting times for adult neurodevelopmental assessments and ensure a consistent approach to them across Scotland.

We continue to fund NHS Education for Scotland and NAIT to deliver professional learning on neurodevelopmental conditions. Training is offered at informed, enhanced, specialist, and expert levels, with strong uptake across all tiers.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-40003 on 8 September 2025. 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.