Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has committed a further £700k to the National Performing Companies this financial year and will provide an additional £1m as part of the £34m increase to culture sector funding next financial year. This will take them to the highest level of funding since 2010-11. This will enable the National Performing Companies to maintain and develop their productions across Scotland.

Since January 2021 the Scottish Chamber Orchestra has undertaken the following number of engagements in Scotland and in the Highlands and Islands:

Since April 2021 the Royal Scottish National Orchestra has undertaken the following number of productions in Scotland and in the Highlands and Islands region:

We made clear commitments to tackling the inequalities faced by women with heart disease in our Women’s Health Plan, published in August 2021. Actions taken and progress are outlined in the Women's health plan 2021 to 2024: final report - gov.scot.

Our ambition is that women and girls enjoy the best possible health, throughout their lives. This remains the ambition of the Scottish Government, and will continue to be our guiding principle as we develop the next phase of the Women’s Health Plan.

Any future priorities will be determined in partnership with our stakeholders.

We thank researchers at the University of Aberdeen and the Keele Cardiovascular Research Group for their important contribution to understanding sex disparities in care and outcomes across Scotland amongst men and women admitted for heart attacks. 

We will continue to engage with women and girls, clinicians, academics and the third sector to explore the drivers and solutions to disparities in care for women with heart disease as we develop the next phase of the Women’s Health Plan.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-32827 on 16 January 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 following table shows the number of pre-registration training places available and filled on each of the requested dates.

The number of community pharmacies in each Health Board requested are shown in the following table.

The Women’s Health Plan set out actions which aim to address women’s health inequalities by raising awareness around women’s health, improving access to health care for women across their lives, and reducing inequalities in health outcomes for women and girls.

We have taken specific action through the Plan to support practitioners providing care to women accessing their service including commissioning NHS Education for Scotland to create bespoke training packages on menstrual health and menopause for general practice and others working in Primary Care.

In addition, our ‘Women's experiences of discrimination and the impact on health’ report was published on 27 June 2023. The report examines the current evidence base on women's health inequalities and reports on a two-phase research project. The findings in this project contribute to the evidence base on women's health inequalities, discrimination and young women through in-depth exploration of women in Scotland's intersectional experiences. The findings from this report will inform the next phase of the Women’s Health Plan.

Our ambition is that ‘women and girls enjoy the best possible health, throughout their lives’. This remains the ambition of the Scottish Government, and will continue to be our guiding principle as we consider the next phase of the Women’s Health Plan.

Our Women’s Health Plan 2021 - 2024 Final Report on progress provides further details of our work to date.

The Scottish Government works closely with the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC), which provides leadership and advice to Scottish Ministers, local authorities, and the wider libraries sector.

In 2024-2025 we have provided the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC) with £665K from the Culture Budget, as recognition of the importance of our public libraries, and to support the excellent services they provide. In the 2025-26 budget the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC) have been allocated £935K from the culture budget.

Public library policy is devolved to local authorities, they have a statutory duty to ensure there is adequate provision of library services for their residents.

The Scottish Government provided block grant funding of over £14 billion to Local Authorities in 2024-25, a real terms increase of 2.5 per cent. The 2025-26 Scottish Budget, published on 4 December 2024 provides local government in Scotland with record funding of over £15 billion, an increase of over £1 billion or a real terms increase of 4.7% compared to 2024-25.

Any decision around public libraries and other local services must be considered extremely carefully. We strongly encourage local authorities to work in partnership with communities to explore ways of delivering services, based on need.