The Scottish Government welcomes the insight provided by the British Society for Haematology in this report and recognises the challenges facing haematology services and our overall workforce.

The Scottish Government is responsible for setting the strategic policy direction for NHS Scotland and its workforce. Operational matters, including the staffing of individual services, are the responsibility of each NHS Scotland Health Board.

At a local level, the Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019 places duties on Health Boards to ensure that at all times suitably qualified and competent individuals are working in such numbers as are appropriate for the health, wellbeing and safety of patients, the provision of high-quality care and the wellbeing of staff.

We are working with NHS Scotland to address staffing as a matter of urgency, working closely with NHS Boards and clinical leaders from across the country to address pressures in a sustainable way. This includes retaining staff in specialist roles and prioritising staff wellbeing, as evidence shows that positive wellbeing enhances staff retention and engagement, which in turn raises standards of patient safety and quality of care.

I also refer the member to the answers to questions for S6W-39724 and S6W-39726 on 14 August and S6W-39725 on 20 August. 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 introduced the Leases (Automatic Continuation etc.) (Scotland) Bill which will clarify and modernise the legal rights of commercial tenants to terminate their lease. The Bill will benefit commercial tenants, such as small businesses, who do not have the means to employ legal representation and the Government is committed to preparing and publishing guidance about the reforms to further support small business tenants. Further details and progress of the Bill is available Leases (Automatic Continuation etc.) (Scotland) Bill | Scottish Parliament Website.

The Scottish Government encourages individuals who suspect that they (or someone else) may have been spiked to call NHS 24 on 111 for advice and to seek medical help right away, but in a life-threatening emergency to always call 999. Spiking is a criminal offence. All suspected incidents should be reported to Police Scotland by calling 101.

In addition, and to address concerns that the link between health professionals and Police Scotland has in spiking cases not always been clear to victims presenting at A&E, the Scottish Government, in collaboration with NHS 24 and Police Scotland, has developed a consistent narrative for health professionals to ensure consistent guidance is provided.

As part of this multi-agency national response, Scotland’s 111 service has also been updated to include spiking-related guidance, helping to better identify and support potential cases. This approach has been endorsed by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine.

Additionally, the NHS are introducing changes to their digital system which will allow us to record those who present to A&E as potential victims of spiking. This will provide invaluable data on previous unrecorded incidents and will allow us to better understand the extent to which these lead on to formal police reporting.

The UK-wide impact assessment on the Tobacco and Vapes Bill noted that there is not sufficient evidence to be able to provide an estimate for how this policy may impact the number of incidences of violence or abuse towards retail workers or monetise the impact. Further impact assessments will be undertaken by the Scottish Government before making any Regulations under powers in the Tobacco and Vapes Bill that rest with the Scottish Ministers.

Retail workers (as well as all other workers) are protected by a wide range of criminal laws (i.e. the statutory offence of threatening or abusive behaviour; the common law offence of assault; and the common law offence of breach of the peace).

In addition, the Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-Restricted Products) (Scotland) Act 2021(“the 2021 Act”) came into force in August 2021 and created a statutory offence of threatening, abusing, or assaulting a retail worker, adding to the offences that can already be used to prosecute those who abuse retail workers.

Scottish Government partners, like the Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC) and Scottish Grocers’ Federation (SGF), share best guidance and resources, such as the free Grocery Aid helpline, and Victim Support, for victims of violence and abuse in a retail setting. We will continue to work closely with retailers to support them in preparing for and implementing the Bill.

As part of its budget for 2025-26, the Scottish Government is making an additional £3 million available for Police Scotland to work with the sector to tackle retail crime.

Repairs made under the Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004 are private matters, for individual homeowners in affected properties. As such the Scottish Government does not collect or hold this data.

The Central Legal Office is a department within NHS National Services Scotland (NSS). As a sponsored statutory body, NSS is subject to Annual Reviews from Scottish Government. This forms part of the overall monitoring of operational performance, governance and delivery of National Priorities. Since 2020-21, NSS has had ministerial-led annual reviews, with their Annual Review letters made publicly available on their website.

The Central Legal Office (CLO) within NHS National Services Scotland provides in-house legal services to NHSScotland Boards and wider public sector organisations. They provide cost effective advice by having fees that are competitive, flexible and compliant with the requirements for the proper handling and reporting of public funds as laid out in the Scottish Public Finance Manual.

Furthermore, their specialist legal advice and representation supports clients make legally informed decisions to promote cost-efficient practice in litigation matters.

The provision of ongoing professional learning opportunities and collaboration with other partners on professional development is primarily the responsibility of local authorities.

In education settings, the Scottish Government has worked closely with partners to develop resources for teachers such as the Home | Autism Toolbox Autism Toolbox. The toolbox provides a range of information and guidance to support the education of autistic learners and complements the free autism and inclusive practice professional learning resources available to all staff. We have also created resources to support universities teaching their students about autism and how best to support autistic children and young people in their classrooms.

The Teachers' Agreement (2001), which aims to enhance opportunities for professional development, made continuing professional development a condition of service while also specifying that teachers should undertake a maximum of 35 hours CPD in each working year. Within this, there is flexibility and opportunity to develop their knowledge and understanding of neurodivergence and ASN.

In 2024, the Scottish Government committed to examine options for teacher training and to analyse the number of initial teacher training hours attributed to additional support needs. The Scottish Council of Deans for Education is currently undertaking this work. We will consider next steps in this area once we have considered their findings, which are due shortly.

The Scottish Government has also commissioned NHS Education for Scotland (NES) and the National Autism Implementation Team to provide professional learning about neurodevelopmental conditions at informed, enhanced, specialist and expert levels (according to the NES framework). These can be found on the Turas page (NHS Education for Scotland’s unified training platform) and accessed by the NHS and teachers.

Children and young people - national neurodevelopmental specification: principles and standards of care - gov.scot is also available for educators to refer to and specifies the standards that all children’s services should follow to ensure access to support is effective and consistent across Scotland. We recently reviewed the implementation of this specification in partnership with COSLA, including engagement with education staff, and have identified potential areas for improvement, including further professional learning opportunities. We have recently announced the establishment of a cross-sector task force, co-chaired by health and education officials to drive forward these changes, alongside a £500,000 investment in 2025-26 to support system improvements.

Registers of Scotland is a non-Ministerial Public Body answerable to the Scottish Parliament.

As of 12 August 2025, Registers of Scotland (RoS) had 59,655 dispositions undergoing registration as compared with 68,894 a year prior, representing a c13% reduction (9,239) year on year. In financial year 2024-25 RoS dealt with over 558k applications to the Land Register , 93% of which were completed within 35 days.

The process of registration in the Land Register involves digital copies of title deeds being sent to the Keeper who then updates the Land Register (LR). The applicant retains the original deeds. The legal effect of registration stems from the date the Keeper receives the application and not from the date when the updates are completed. Further information, including the total number of inflight applications of all types, is available on the Keeper’s website.

While the condition and suitability of the NHS estate is assessed, these assessments are not typically presented as a single percentage of buildings failing "basic modern safety standards," but rather through a detailed, risk-based classification system. The data is managed by NHS Boards with buildings categorised based on their physical condition and functional suitability.

Through measures such as backlog maintenance and functional suitability, we are aware that parts of the NHS estate require additional investment, which is why this year we intend to invest an additional £100 million in funding in 2025-26 to support maintenance-only business continuity investment plans, which prioritises investment based on a risk-based assessment of NHS Boards infrastructure. This is in addition to a 5% uplift to core capital funding provided to boards to support maintenance and improvement of the NHS estate.