The Scottish Government does not hold information on payments to consultants for (a) the introduction and development of AI across the public sector or (b) staff training on the use of AI.

However, the Scottish Government has prioritised building internal capability and expertise to ensure sustainable and responsible adoption of AI technologies.

Work to support the development and implementation of AI has been led by civil servants, supported by specialist input from The Data Lab, in line with the Scottish Government’s AI Strategy which promotes inclusive, ethical, and trustworthy use of AI. Staff training and upskilling in AI have also been delivered internally including by the Scottish Digital Academy.

Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that anyone diagnosed with cancer has access to a range of services throughout their cancer pathway. We are aware that individuals’ support needs change and evolve during this time.

The Scottish Cancer Network (SCN) has developed National Clinical Management Pathway (CMP) for adult neuro-oncology. This sets out an optimal treatment and support pathway for adults diagnosed with a brain tumour from diagnosis to end of life care.

The CMP outlines a consensus of clinical best practice, and includes information on a range of treatment and supportive care support following a diagnosis. This, ensures that everyone diagnosed with and living with a brain tumour have access the best possible care and support.

Scottish Audiology Heads of Service have recently initiated an in house peer review process and are continuing to see positive results from this. As part of Improving Quality in Physiological Services (IQIPS) benchmarking, a mapping exercise is currently underway which includes the consideration of national peer review for audiology services.

An executive lead group for audiology has been reestablished, with representation from each NHS Territorial Health Board to consider the outputs and next steps of this work, which will conclude within the current financial year.

A programme of work to address recommendations of the Independent Review of Audiology Services in Scotland has now concluded and each of the 55 recommendations updated.

In line with agreed governance structures processes, all NHS Territorial Health Boards have established Local Improvement Plans for 2023-24 and were instructed by Scottish Government to outline their governance, reporting and management processes through a Local Assurance Framework in 2024, as well as, requiring the inclusion of audiology in their 2025-26 Annual Delivery Plans.

It would be for NHS Lanarkshire to make the decision to publish these plans.

The Scottish Government has commissioned NHS Education for Scotland (NES) to undertake work which maps the skills and competencies required at each level of practice for all disciplines within the healthcare science profession, including audiology as a clinical priority area.

This sits hand in hand with activity which will enable us to be able to map our scientific workforce in across all NHS Territorial Health Boards, including NHS Lanarkshire, more accurately, strengthening capacity, training and recruitment pipelines for audiologists, and supporting better workforce planning for the future.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-39986 on 4 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.

The Scottish Government welcomes the findings from the General Medical Council Report, and we will ensure any concerns raised are fully considered and addressed.

The Scottish Government meets regularly with Boards and Healthcare Improvement Scotland to discuss what actions can be taken to continue to build on the programmes of work already in place to improve the quality and safety of care delivered to patients in Scotland and to ensure a co-ordinated and holistic approach. These programmes and legislation include;

• The Scottish Patient Safety Programme, underpinned by the Essentials of Safe Care, which is currently being refreshed for re-launch in October 2025.
• Safe Delivery of Care Inspections, which were expanded in January 2025 to include inspection of maternity services.
• A National Framework for Reviewing and Learning from Adverse Events in NHS Scotland, updated in February 2025, which provides a system-wide approach for identifying, reviewing, and learning from events.
• The Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland), which came into force on 1 April 2024, puts systems and processes in place to enable real-time assessment of staffing.
• The Scottish National Audit Programme recently commissioned new audits which aim to improve service provision and patient outcomes

In addition, the Scottish Government introduced legislation for a Patient Safety Commissioner for Scotland. Scotland’s first Patient Safety Commissioner, Karen Titchener, took up her post on 1 September.

A Quality and Safety Sub-group of the NHS Scotland Executive Group, chaired by Dr John Harden, Scottish Government National Clinical Lead for Quality and Safety, meets regularly to review data and reports from across the system, including the above programmes, to support improvement in the quality, safety and outcomes of care provided by NHS Scotland.

The Scottish Government instructed NHS Territorial Health Boards to outline their governance, reporting and management processes through a Local Assurance Framework in 2024, as well as, requiring the inclusion of audiology in their 2025-26 Annual Delivery Plans.

Decisions regarding accessibility policy and planning of this nature are made by individual Health Boards based on local priorities and needs. Boards are expected to assess the impact of their policies and functions on people with protected characteristics and equality groups in line with statutory requirements.

As part of Improving Quality in Physiological Services (IQIPS) benchmarking, a mapping exercise is currently underway which includes the consideration of national KPI reporting for audiology services.

An executive lead group for audiology has been reestablished, with representation from each NHS Territorial Health Board to consider the outputs and next steps of this work, which will conclude within the current financial year.

The Scottish Government does not hold the information you have requested as Public Health Scotland does not collect this data.