Chamber and committees

We are committed to tackling health inequalities and providing access to the highest quality of care for all, which is why our ambitious cancer strategy has a focus on reducing inequities in access to all cancer care, and cancer outcomes.

We continue to support improving timely access to cancer services. We committed in our Programme for Government to opening a further Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Service (RCDS) in 2024/25, bringing our national total to six.

A clinical refresh of the Scottish Referral Guidelines for Suspected Cancer is also underway via the Centre for Sustainable Delivery to help ensure the right person is on the right pathway at the right time. This is further supported by a new primary care cancer education platform Gateway C, which was launched on 30th April in NHS Scotland.

The information requested is not held centrally. Highland is one of 6 local authority areas implementing Planet Youth in Scotland. Data on the Highlands and Islands schools participating in the Planet Youth pilot is held by the Highland Alcohol and Drug Partnership and the charity Winning Scotland.

Winning Scotland has been carrying out research on the progress of the pilot in participating local authorities in Scotland, including Highland. Five communities are involved in the pilot in Highland and the data has, and continues to be, shared with the local coalitions which have formed around those communities. This includes community planning partners, schools, third sector, businesses and others.

The Scottish Government are funding a total of £1.5 million to Winning Scotland for Planet Youth. This is £750,000 per year in financial years 2023-24 and 2024-25.

The most recent Programme for Government (2024-25) sets out the Scottish Government’s intention to introduce the Natural Environment Bill in this current parliamentary year.

This analysis has not been carried out by the Scottish Government or by Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL) on our behalf, although CMAL are aware of the shipyard capabilities in the UK. There is a UK Department for Transport body called the National Shipbuilding Office which has carried out this assessment for both military and commercial shipbuilding capabilities - CMAL are well connected with them and share information and best practices for the benefit of exploring future opportunities.

New vessel and infrastructure tenders are usually let by CMAL to enhance and improve the Clyde & Hebrides Ferry Services fleet and associated infrastructure and these are procured on the open market. These tenders are international and cannot be focussed on a subset of UK only contractors or yards. So, when CMAL tender, they invite UK as well as Global yards to submit interest.

The Scottish Government, along with public sector bodies across the UK, face a very challenging environment as we manage our finances through the current financial year and set our budget for 2025-26. We are continuing to fund the charity, Health in Mind, in 2024-25, to deliver a specialist peer service to those affected by historic forced adoption. We also fund the charity Birthlink to manage the Adoption Contact Register for Scotland which helps facilitate connections between individuals and families affected by adoption. Decisions on funding other related historical forced adoption activities have not yet been made.

Planet Youth is a long term, upstream preventative approach and as such we would not yet expect to see a reduction in the substance use. The purpose of the pilot, which only started last year, is to build capacity in local communities to allow them to better use and understand data directly from their young people. There is significant evidence from Iceland that the approach works to reduce the number of young people engaging in health harming behaviours, and in increasing the age of first use. The pilot should allow us to ascertain the challenges and opportunities in transferring this model to Scotland, thanks to the 6 local areas who are pioneering the approach. There is an ongoing learning evaluation which will be published after the pilot ends in March 2025. Preliminary findings indicate there has been progress so far both in terms of taking a whole systems approach and at a community level. We are also seeing increasing interest in investing in prevention at a national and local level. It is clear from the numbers that pre-existing campaigns on substance use among teenagers are not as effective as we would like, hence the investment in a longer term, more systemic approach. There may be a misunderstanding about what Planet Youth is and colleagues from national charity Winning Scotland, who are facilitating Planet Youth in Scotland, would be happy to provide more information to interested members.

Alongside our work to reduce deer populations which should have an impact on reducing the number of deer involved in road traffic accidents, we are also taking action at ‘hotspots’ where there are higher numbers of deer vehicle collisions.

NatureScot and Transport Scotland have been recording and analysing deer vehicle collisions (DVCs) across the Scottish road network since 2008. Between 2022 to 2025 several ‘hotspots’ for DVCs were identified as part of this work, most of which were in the Central Belt. NatureScot are now running a project looking at site-specific mitigation options in three Central Belt sites. This includes site visits to liaise with landowners over deer management.

Alongside this, a ‘Deer Aware’ media campaign is being run in the Central Belt. The campaign warns drivers on trunk roads of the increased likelihood of deer on the road in the spring.

We are also investigating the practicality of incorporating wildlife crossings into the design of the proposed replacement pedestrian bridges across the M8 trunk road near to Junction 3, Livingston. Such ‘green bridges’ can service multiple users and provide a safe alternative route for wildlife across busy roads.

The Scottish Government want to ensure that changes to deer management policy are effective in achieving our climate and biodiversity aims.

We are aware that there are a range of views on changes to the female deer close seasons. That is why we undertook a full public consultation on proposals for deer legislation which included this issue. We have also ensured that animal welfare organisations have been fully consulted.

We are carefully considering all the responses, and we are in regular contact with gamekeepers and other land management stakeholders, on deer management issues. We will continue to work with them as our deer management legislation develops.

It is important to note that deer close seasons set a time period during which it is unlawful to kill a female deer, on deer welfare grounds. The timing of deer management outside these close seasons remans a decision for deer stalkers and, where appropriate, their employers.

The purpose of the Deer Working Group (DWG) was to “examine the issues over the standards of deer management in Scotland and recommend changes to help resolve these issues in ways that promote sustainable deer management”.

Therefore, the DWG was comprised of experts from both deer management and environmental backgrounds. The DWG included a number of individuals who represented those, or were themselves, directly involved in deer management. Andrew Barbour, acting Chair of the DWG from September 2018, is a farmer and forester with experience in managing deer, and Robin Callendar has had over 30 years’ experience in deer management as a land manager. Alongside DWG members, Richard Cooke then Chair of the Association for Deer Management Groups, served as an external adviser. The DWG terms of reference and member profiles are available on the Scottish Government website.