Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government believes that all women in Scotland should have access to abortion services, available free from stigma.

In the 2023 Programme for Government, the Scottish Government committed to undertake a review of the law on abortion to ensure that it is first and foremost a healthcare matter. That review is now underway.

As part of the review, the Scottish Government has convened an expert group chaired by Professor Anna Glasier, the Scottish Government’s Women’s Health Champion. The expert group is reviewing the existing law on abortion in Scotland and will produce a report for the Scottish Government this Summer.. If the group considers that the law could be changed for the better, the report will include recommendations for reform.

The Scottish Government will consider the expert group’s report and take into account views of other stakeholders and other relevant considerations too. Any proposals for changes to abortion law would be subject to a public consultation.

Details of the expert group, including minutes of their meetings are published on the Scottish Government website here: Abortion Law Review Expert Group - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

The regulations for the Emergency Early Release process conducted in June-July 2024 included an exclusion for any individual serving a sentence for a conviction for domestic abuse (or aggravation), or where a previous unspent conviction for such an offence had led to a custodial sentence.

Prison Governors also had the power to veto the emergency early release of an otherwise eligible prisoner, where their early release would have presented a risk to a specific person, or group. The Scottish Prison Service consulted with Police Scotland and Justice and Children and Families Social Work, to request any risk relevant information regarding each individual, to inform any veto decision.

The Scottish Government supports and works closely with Food Standards Scotland, who have previously run national campaigns over winter months to raise awareness of vitamin D and encourage people to take a daily vitamin D supplement to maintain bone and muscle health.

The campaign primarily focuses on online advertising and social media posts. A campaign toolkit has also been developed and shared with a wide range of stakeholders to help support efforts to raise awareness of vitamin D, with graphics, web text, and social media posts available in nine languages (https://www.foodstandards.gov.scot/publications-and-research/publications/vitamin-d-campaign-toolkit).

Information on vitamin D is also available and promoted through a range of resources. Dedicated public advice on vitamin D is available on NHS Inform, including a general information leaflet highlighting the importance of vitamin D, which is available in a range of formats and languages (https://www.nhsinform.scot/healthy-living/food-and-nutrition/eating-well/vitamin-d).

Additional information can be accessed through our Parent Club (https://www.parentclub.scot/articles/eating-well-at-home) and Ready, Steady Baby! (https://www.nhsinform.scot/ready-steady-baby) resources, Food Standards Scotland

(https://www.foodstandards.gov.scot/consumers/healthy-eating/nutrition/vitamins-minerals/vitamin-d) website and

Eat Well, Your Way (https://www.eatwellyourway.scot/what-is-a-healthy-balanced-diet/vitamin-d/).

The Scottish Government does not hold information on how many people who are resident in Scotland are registered with a GP in England or on how many people who are resident in England are registered with a GP in Scotland.

The most recent surveillance report from Public Health Scotland indicates that the number of people tested for hepatitis C (HCV) antibody in Scotland in 2023 had surpassed pre-pandemic levels in almost all settings. Nonetheless, detecting more infections is a priority and we are focused on testing and treating more people, wherever they are, as we continue to push towards elimination of the virus.

Current work includes ensuring that opt-out testing is optimised in drug services and prisons, and considering the results of a recent Scottish Government-funded prison-based Hepatitis Intense Test and Treat (HITT) initiative in NHS Lothian. We are also reviewing the outcomes of opt-out blood borne virus testing pilots in Scottish emergency departments to determine whether further roll-out of this model would be effective.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. The Scottish Targeted Enhanced Recruitment Scheme (TERS) offers a one-off payment of £20,000 to GP trainees who commit to undertaking their training in selected areas and programmes. NHS Education for Scotland (NES) are responsible for issuing the bursaries, which are paid directly to the GP trainees.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. The Scottish Targeted Enhanced Recruitment Scheme (TERS) offers a one-off payment of £20,000 to GP trainees who commit to undertaking their training in selected areas and programmes. NHS Education for Scotland (NES) are responsible for issuing the bursaries, which are paid directly to the GP trainees.

The Scottish Government intends to lay the regulations for alkaline hydrolysis in Parliament this year. A working group is currently being established.

Progress towards eliminating hepatitis C (HCV) in Scotland is monitored by Public Health Scotland (PHS). PHS’s latest HCV surveillance report, published in January 2025, described progress as “hugely encouraging”. The number of deaths and cases of severe disease reduced by over 65% between 2015 and 2022, with the vast majority of those diagnosed (89%) having cleared their infection through treatment (exceeding the World Health Organization’s target of 80%).

However, the latest report only includes data up to 2023/24, so it is too early to say conclusively whether every indictor for HCV elimination has been reached. Work continues across key sectors to ensure we achieve and sustain elimination. I will provide a further update to Parliament once we have a fuller picture of our position and next steps post-March 2025.

Work is ongoing to determine how the additional £4.5 million announced in the draft 2025-26 budget to deliver new specialist support across the country for Long Covid, ME, Chronic Fatigue, and other similar conditions will be allocated.

Cervical self-sampling is not yet recommended by the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), the independent expert advisory group which advises all four UK nations on screening policy, and therefore is not currently offered within the cervical screening programme. However, the UK NSC are currently consulting on whether cervical self-sampling should be offered to under-screened people eligible for cervical screening.

In preparation for a positive UK NSC recommendation, Screening Oversight and Assurance Scotland are re-establishing the self-sampling working group, whose remit will include assessing implementation options in light of new evidence on the effectiveness of different approaches, and ensuring that communications around a potential roll-out are inclusive and supportive.

In the meantime, the Scottish Government and its partners continue to explore alternative interventions that seek to encourage increased uptake of cervical screening, particularly among under- and never-screened populations. We published the Equity in Screening Strategy in July 2023 that outlines a strategic approach to identifying, addressing and removing barriers to participants across the screening pathway, and ensuring that professionals working within screening are knowledgeable of and use effective interventions to reduce these inequalities. To support this, the Equity in Screening Network was also launched in July 2023, allowing individuals that work across screening to share evidence, best practice and learning around screening inequalities.

Finally, as part of the Scottish Government’s work to eliminate cervical cancer, an expert group on cervical screening is exploring the effectiveness of a range of strategies to increase cervical screening uptake, and are currently considering how different media interventions could remove stigma and fear for all participants.