Chamber and committees

The estimated number of individuals prescribed methadone nationally in each financial year since 2020/21 is presented in the following table:

The Scottish Government’s approach to safeguarding alcohol policy from undue industry influence is set out in its Alcohol Framework published in 2018. The framework states that the Scottish Government will not work with the alcohol industry on health policy development, on health messaging campaigns or on provision of education in schools and beyond the school setting.

Regulated lobbying of members of the Scottish Government as well as MSPs must be recorded on the Scottish Parliament’s lobbying register, and minutes of meetings with Scottish Government Ministers, including by the alcohol industry, are retained as part of the Scottish Government’s corporate record.

The meeting planned to take place on the 29 April 2026, to discuss the formation of a short life working group to look at interventions for chronic pain, was cancelled to allow full consideration of the group’s remit, methodology, and membership.

NHS Scotland is required to consider the Scottish Health Technologies Group's(SHTG) recommendations. Discussions are underway to understand how those recommendations can inform sustainable, consistent and effective service delivery across Scotland.

For the purpose of this exercise we’ve included correspondence from MSPs on behalf of practices in their constituency, and one received from the RCGP representing practices from Greater Glasgow and Clyde. The results were as follow (a) 0 are direct from NHS boards (b) 6 are direct from practices (3 Greater Glasgow and Clyde, 2 Dumfries and Galloway, 1 Forth Valley). It should be noted that more than one correspondence may relate to the same practice.

The standards of care for cancer treatment are rightly developed independently of Scottish Government by those with the relevant clinical expertise.

The NHS Scotland Cancer Collaborative’s Clinical Management Pathways (CMPs) define national standards of care for cancer treatment. The CMP for breast cancer has incorporated the Scottish Health Technologies Group (SHTG) Council’s 2023 independent recommendation on the use of commercial multigene assays for breast cancer patients across Scotland. SHTG have criteria and processes in place to judge whether new evidence is sufficient to revise its existing recommendations of these commercial tests. NHS genomic testing, delivered within our laboratory service, is nationally commissioned by NHS National Services Division to ensure equitable access across Scotland.

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. Public Health Scotland advises that, while national waiting times datasets can identify treatment specialties, they cannot accurately capture procedure-level cataract waiting time information. Information on individual cataract surgery waiting times would therefore be held locally by NHS Boards.

The Scottish Government recognises the fragmented nature of the approval and routes to implementation for medical innovations across devices, diagnostics and new technological interventions.

Whilst the Scottish Government does not hold specific data on the time to adoption of all medical technologies, it is actively working to streamline processes within the health and care system to enable faster access to innovative products and solutions in line with our ambitions set out in our Health and Social Care Service Renewal Framework.

Growing Scotland’s life sciences sector and enhancing research, development and innovation are core Scottish Government commitments backed by the Life Sciences Strategy for Scotland and the Health and Social Care Service Renewal Framework. This is underpinned through a national innovation ecosystem designed to develop, test, adopt and scale the innovations most likely to improve the lives of people in Scotland.

Commercial multigene assays for breast cancer patients have been adopted in Scotland in line with the independent recommendations of the Scottish Health Technologies Group (SHTG). SHTG have criteria and processes in place to judge whether new evidence is sufficient to revise its existing recommendations.

The information requested is published by Public Health Scotland as part of it’s annual Acute Hospital Activity and NHS Beds Information publication. Information on cataract procedures, broken down by NHS Board and financial year, can be found in Table 7 of the supporting data tables available via the publication page.

Management of asbestos in the NHS estate is a matter for local Health Boards. Health boards carry out annual asbestos monitoring surveys and asbestos management plans are in place across the NHS estate.