Current status: Answered by Maree Todd on 16 June 2026
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to expand access to clinical trials for patients.
Within the Scottish Government policy responsibility for Health and Care Research sits with the Chief Scientist Office (CSO)
NHS Research Scotland (NRS) is a partnership between the NHS Boards and CSO. NRS works to ensure that the NHS in Scotland provides the best environment to support clinical trials. The Scottish Government provides annual NRS Infrastructure support funding. The 2025/26 figure for this funding was £46.16 million.
The VPAG Commercial Clinical Trials Investment Programme was agreed as part of the 2024 Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing, Access and Growth (VPAG). It aims to strengthen the UK’s global competitiveness in life sciences and support innovation led growth. The programme is supported by approximately £400 million of funding from the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry members
The clinical trials component of VPAG is intended to enhance capacity and delivery of commercial clinical research across the UK. Approximately £40 million from this element of the VPAG investment programme is expected to be invested in Scotland over the five year scheme. CSO has worked with NRS to configure this investment to maximise the opportunities for patients to participate in commercial clinical trials. This includes the setting up of 4 Commercial Research Delivery Centres (CRDC's) - based in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow - to accelerate and strengthen commercial clinical research delivery.
The Scottish Government funds the Scottish Health Research Register (SHARE). This allows people, aged 11 and over, to register their interest in being contacted about relevant Clinical Trials based on the coded data in their various NHS computer records. As of 10th June 2026, SHARE had recruited 312,835 participants SHARE | RegisterforSHARE