Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is not able to speak on behalf of individual members regarding their personal views on abortion. Members were chosen for their professional affiliations and expertise. No members of the Expert Group represent pro-life organisations as the Group is not considering the fundamental right to abortion.

The Expert Group is carefully considering all the evidence before it. Views from a range of perspectives, including those raised by pro-life organisations, will be considered on issues within the scope of the review. As outlined in the answer to S6W-30745 on 14 November 2024 on the work of the group is one part of the wider review and a stakeholder group has been established to represent a range of groups including pro-life organisations. The review will examine all evidence provided.

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.

A refreshed cross-government and cross-sectoral approach to population health - focused on prevention - is being progressed. Increasing healthy life expectancy and reducing health inequalities across Scotland remains a clear ambition for this Government. It is clear the reform of health and care services alone will not be enough to stem the current tide of population health decline in Scotland.

The Population Health Framework is being developed jointly by the Scottish Government & COSLA and in collaboration with Public Health Scotland, Directors of Public Health and key local, regional and national partners. The Framework will consider a broad range of population health drivers, including alcohol harm prevention. The Scottish Government continues to work with partners to identify what actions we, and they, can take to reduce inequalities and to improve the health of people in Scotland over the next decade.

The Scottish Government’s Chief Scientist Office (CSO) supports open competitive grant and fellowship schemes for applied health research in Scotland across a wide remit that is inclusive of consideration of applications for research relating to motor neuron disease (MND). Applications submitted to these schemes are assessed through independent expert peer-review with funding recommendations made by independent expert committees.

CSO have funded 4 Fellowships in MND in the last 10 years. 2 of these were funded in collaboration with MND Scotland and one was in collaboration with MND Scotland and the Motor Neurone Disease Association. The total CSO investment into these 4 fellowships was £672,000.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all people in Scotland living with Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), including Crohn's disease and colitis, are able to access the best possible care and support, and benefit from healthcare services that are safe, effective and put people at the centre of their care.

Scottish Government workforce planning guidance requires Boards to take a demand-led approach by determining future staffing requirements in line with healthcare needs within their locality.

Speciality training numbers are reviewed and considered annually by the Scottish Shape of Training Transition Group (SSoTTG), with subsequent recommendations made to Scottish Ministers around the need to increase training establishments. The most recent uplift in Gastroenterology (as the specialty which treats IBD) took place in 2022 when 10 additional posts were created. This saw the overall number of speciality training places on Scottish Gastroenterology training programmes increase to 47.

There are no diagnostic tools, such as blood tests, currently available in NHS Scotland to assess brain tumours in primary care.

However, the new Headache Referral pathway can be used as a triage tool across Scotland based on presentation at General Practice. The pathway lists red flag symptoms that indicate the need for urgent and/or emergency assessment to exclude a secondary cause, such as a brain tumour, and is suitable for use within remote and rural settings.

Further to this, the National Centre for Remote and Rural Health and Care (NCRRHC) was launched in October 2023. The Centre is working in an efficient, innovative way with health and social care providers that serve all of Scotland’s remote, rural and island populations, aiming to improve the capability and sustainability of primary and community care-based service delivery.

Whilst I understand that both cross border operators and ScotRail have no current plans to increase calls at Carstairs railway station, my officials will raise this issue at future meetings.

The Scottish Government continues to take significant steps to tackle alcohol harm as a public health priority.

The National Mission focuses on actions and initiatives to address the harms associated with drugs, but these can and do support people affected by all substances including alcohol. For example, through an increase in residential rehabilitation places; initiatives to tackle the stigma and support the workforce and an increased understanding of the co-occurring nature of problem substance use and mental health issues.

This Government’s work to continue and increase the world leading Minimum Unit Pricing policy is an example of our approach to take concrete action to reduce alcohol harms. It is estimated that our world-leading policy has saved hundreds of lives, likely averted hundreds of alcohol-attributable hospital admissions and contributed to tackling health inequalities.

However, we have been clear that Minimum Unit Pricing is not a silver bullet – but one of the ways in which we are tackling alcohol harm including our investment in treatment and work to consider alcohol marketing restrictions.

The Scottish Government remains committed to progressing work on protecting children and young people from exposure to alcohol marketing. Public Health Scotland (PHS) are being commissioned to carry out a review of the evidence for the range of options that are available to the Scottish Government under devolved powers and will bring focused proposals forward should the evidence support it.

The 2023 Scottish Health Survey shows that among those aged 16-24 vape use is 22%.

The Smoking and Vaping Among Scottish Adolescents Key findings - Vaping and smoking among Scottish adolescents - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) (2024) showed that 19% of those aged 11-17 had tried vaping even once. Amongst ever vapers, 75% of young people aged 11-17 stated that they used disposable vapes.

While we do not disaggregate data down to specific kind of vape used, high puff-count vapes are more likely to be single use.

The Environmental Protection (Single-use Vapes) (Scotland) Regulations 2024 set out that in order for a vape to be considered reusable, it must be both refillable and rechargeable.

High puff-count vapes are typically designed to include a USB charging port to allow for the battery to be recharged. Many of these devices contain an extra 10ml container of e-liquid as well as the standard 2ml already built inside the vape.

However, if they do not allow for the coil to be replaced or for the replacement or refilling of the e-liquid container by the user, they remain single-use in practice.

We will continue to work with Trading Standards to monitor developments in vape design to ensure that the definition is fit for purpose and that manufacturers comply with the ban on single-use vapes.

The Scottish Government welcomes the UK Government’s commitment in the Autumn budget to introduce a duty on vapes from 2026 and renew the tobacco duty escalator. Our Tobacco and Vaping Framework recognises that price can be a critical factor in people’s decisions on starting to smoke and vape. Increases in the price of tobacco have helped reduce the number of young children smoking, so we know this type of policy is effective. We are pleased that the UK Government have also stated that the price differential between tobacco and vapes will be maintained, this is essential as it can encourage smokers to quit smoking using vaping as a cessation tool. As of 14 November 2024 the Scottish Government has not had any engagement with the UK Government regarding the possibility of bringing forward the implementation of excise duty on vapes from 2026 to 2025.

Increases to tobacco duty and vaping duty are reserved and will apply in Scotland.

The Scottish Government remains committed to progressing work on protecting children and young people from exposure to alcohol marketing. It was clear from our earlier public consultation that there was a wide range of views on alcohol marketing proposals, including uncertainty about the existing evidence base for many proposals.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) are being commissioned to carry out a review of the evidence for the range of options that are available to the Scottish Government under devolved powers. This will ensure that our work is evidence based and will deliver clear public health outcomes. We will consider PHS’ findings, and consider where the evidence supports further action or consultation on alcohol marketing restrictions.

If the evidence supports it, the Scottish Government will return with a further consultation on a range of targeted proposals. Ensuring public health policy is based on clear evidence is vital in delivering progress on alcohol harm and ensuring that the right balance is struck between improving population health and the potential impacts and effects on the economy, business and industry.