Chamber and committees

I am pleased to see Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), and its hard-working staff, leading on marking this significant milestone both internally and through a series of communications. HIE’s Chief Executive Stuart Black, highlighted the approaching anniversary in his recent blog: Celebrating 60 years – shaping the future of the Highlands and Islands | HIE in August.

Ministers have been invited to join an evening reception to celebrate the joint 60 anniversary of HIE and Prosper, in Inverness on 27 November. And the First Minister is delighted to have the opportunity to address HIE staff in early November as the Anniversary arrives, to reflect on the past 60 years and to thank HIE colleagues for their hard work and contribution to economic development across the Highlands and Islands.

During 2024 to 2025, HIE have supported over 600 projects and secured £81 million in external investment in the region. That, alongside £28 million flowing into community projects, and social enterprises, as HIE continues to prove its worth as a key part of our economic development landscape.

The economic potential of the region is massive, as evidenced by the publication of the Regional Transformational Opportunities research | HIE commissioned by HIE. The First Minister and I have both put on record our support for the work that HIE do, and we will continue to advocate strongly for the key contribution HIE, makes to the economy of the Highlands and Islands.

The Scottish Government is determined to improve care and support for people with chronic pain. Progress continues with our Implementation Plan which sets out the actions we will take to address the things people with chronic pain have told us matter most to them.

It is our intention that people can access safe, effective, evidence-based care and support. Decisions about the appropriateness of referral to pain specialist services, or medications for pain management, will be made by the clinician in discussion with the patient, with reference to their medical history and line with clinical best practice. Calmare therapy is not currently recommended for use in the UK.

The Scottish Government’s Chief Scientist Office (CSO) is responsible for supporting health and care research. The CSO runs a number of projects and fellowship funding schemes for Scottish-led research.

Applications on the potential (a) effectiveness and (b) cost-effectiveness of Calmare therapy are welcomed. In common with all applications, these would go through CSO's standard independent expert review process to enable funding decisions to be made.

In addition, through UK-wide funding arrangements, the majority of funding programmes administered by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) are open to applications led by researchers based in Scotland.

We have asked NHS Research Scotland Networks for Musculoskeletal and Pain that might be expected to have Calmare therapy within their portfolios whether they are supporting any studies. Neither is currently doing so.

The provision of healthcare services is the responsibility of NHS boards. We expect all boards to ensure that their services are informed by current clinical best practice. In commissioning boards’ plans for the recently announced £4.5 million a year in funding for ME/CFS, long-COVID and other similar conditions, we have stressed the importance of ensuring that services are informed by current clinical best practice, such as National Institute for Excellence in Healthcare (NICE) guidelines NG:206 and NG:188- which are available to clinicians across the UK.

Preparatory works are progressing well with the design stage completed. The tender package was issued for pricing at the end of August 2025 and the works are currently programmed to commence on site at the start of January 2026.

Unlike in the rest of the UK, there is no statutory requirement to conduct a Post Implementation Review of The Conservation (Natural Habitats) Regulations 1994 in Scotland and the Scottish Government has no current plans to undertake such a Review.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving perinatal and infant mental health services across Scotland. Anyone who requires Maternity and Neonatal Psychological Intervention (MNPI) services should be able to access them as part of their maternity or neonatal care.

We are providing £123.5 million funding to Boards to improve the quality and delivery of mental health and psychological services for all. This funding includes provision for access to MNPI services across all 14 Boards. Continued investment since 2019 has resulted in a substantial increase in services across Scotland, leading to all Boards having access to MNPI services, either from a local MNPI team or, for very small Board areas, via pathways to MNPI care in larger maternity hospitals where the patient may deliver.

The way in which MNPI services are provided differs across Boards, depending on population size and birth rate. However, we expect those who need the services to be able to access them in all areas of Scotland. Some Boards will have independent MNPI teams, working closely with local perinatal mental health services, and agreed referral criteria and pathways into care; while smaller Boards, such as Island Boards should provide access to psychological therapies via local primary care, adult mental health or perinatal mental health clinical psychology, with pathways into specialist MNPI support in the maternity hospital where they deliver.

I will launch the Bus Infrastructure Fund in the coming weeks and will publish details once they have been finalised. In the meantime, my officials are in discussion with those voluntary Bus Partnerships that have submitted proposals to the fund. They also keeping COSLA, the Association of Transport Co-ordinating Officers and the Confederation of Passenger Transport updated.

The operational guidance used to keep firefighters safe is an operational matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS). Firefighters in Scotland do not currently have wearable tracking devices to record their heart and breathing rates. SFRS is exploring whether the specification for replacement Breathing Apparatus can monitor breathing rates as part of the integrated communication capability.

The equipment used by firefighters is an operational matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. SFRS has invested over £600,000 in purchasing 300 new thermal imaging cameras and every front line appliance with breathing apparatus has a thermal imaging camera (TIC). Spare TICs are stored at SFRS Asset Resource Centres rather than in fire stations.