- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 24 September 2026
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Current Status:
Answer expected on 8 October 2026
To ask the Scottish Government what the total value of fraud identified by NHS Scotland Counter Fraud Services has been in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board.
Answer
Answer expected on 8 October 2026
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 24 September 2026
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Current Status:
Answer expected on 8 October 2026
To ask the Scottish Government how many individuals using the Thistle Drug Consumption facility in Glasgow have been referred to rehabilitation services to date.
Answer
Answer expected on 8 October 2026
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 17 September 2026
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 24 September 2026
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a list of the projects that have received funding through the £30 million Invest to Save Fund, and how much funding has been allocated to each project.
Answer
Decisions regarding the £30 million Invest to Save Fund for 2026-27 have been made and successful applicants have been notified. Funded organisations are currently considering and confirming acceptance of their awards, including the associated terms and conditions. As this process remains ongoing, details of individual projects and funding allocations have not yet been finalised for publication.
The Scottish Government intends to announce the successful projects and associated funding allocations once the funding award process has been fully concluded.
The funded projects for 2025-26 Invest to save fund is outlined below.
Invest to Save fund 2025-26
Scottish Canals |
Scottish Canals Transformation Programme. To establish a ‘Routemap’ for a new operating model for canal operations and service provision for all boating customers and visitors. |
£300,000 |
Scottish Government (SG) Directorate for Environment and Forestry (EnFor) |
Multi Agency Co-ordinated Fish Farm Consenting. The project will design and deliver a digital platform to support efficient, effective and transparent marine fish farm regulation, including the roll out of streamlined and integrated consenting of marine fish farm developments. |
£261,250 |
SG Directorate for Justice |
National Victim and Witness Gateway. To create a website where victims and witnesses can access information about their case which will incorporate live information from across the justice system. |
£1,050,000 |
SG Directorate for Justice |
Transcription Technology. To understand how new technology can be used across the justice system to more efficiently transcribe and translate information. Making the Scottish Criminal Justice the beacon of technology adopters and a justice system fit for now and generations to come. |
£350,000 |
Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) |
Jury Management Transformation Project. To support the transformation of how SCTS engage, communicate and encourage the Scottish public to serve as jurors and uphold the integrity of the Justice System. |
£901,000 |
SG Directorate-General (DG) Corporate |
Scaling AI Automation. Scaling of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Automation as a transformation enabler across the Scottish Public Sector to deliver higher productivity and efficiency. |
£4,929,713 |
Disclosure Scotland |
Safeguarding Reform through Automation. To develop and implement automation software that will significantly reduce administrative and manual casework requirements, increasing throughput of protection services. |
£898,458 |
Highland and Island Enterprise |
The Factory, Machrihanish. The demolition of Buildings A and C at The Factory site will allow the remediated development sites to be returned to and actively marketed for potential economic re-use and community benefit purposes. |
£246,400 |
Local Government
Aberdeen City Council |
To address the increasing demands and pressures from an ageing population with complex care needs, by developing advanced digital tools to enhance care efficiency and quality, ensuring services are flexible, comprehensive, and person centred. |
£1,238,627 |
Clackmannanshire council |
Transformation Space. Under the Fairer Futures Partnership banner, developing the approach of locally driven, targeted tests of change. |
£1,000,000 |
Glasgow City Council |
Connected care-smart care homes. A Smart & Connected Social Places Programme exploring connected digital solutions to enhance public services and deliver efficiency gains in Housing and Health & Social Care. |
£,100,000 |
Perth and Kinross Council |
Delivery of Recurring Cost Savings through Improved Energy Management. To reduce energy costs and deliver a reduction in environmental impact by generating actionable insights into where waste energy is being consumed. |
£529,125 |
Falkirk and Clackmannanshire Councils |
Work to identify and explore opportunities for financial and non-financial benefits from closer collaboration. |
Amount requested £2,000,000 |
Local Government Single Authority Model-multiple LA’s |
To ascertain the costs of delivery of integrated public services across a number of LA’s. |
Amount requested £1,400,000 (£900,000 offered) |
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 17 September 2026
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 24 September 2026
To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of potential pension shortfalls resulting from its proposed public sector reforms.
Answer
Pension liabilities and future funding requirements are subject to a range of factors, including scheme membership, actuarial assumptions and workforce changes. Any pension impacts arising from workforce changes would be considered as part of the development and implementation of specific reform proposals.
Public Service Reforms are intended to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of public services and do not in themselves alter the pension benefits available through existing public sector pension schemes therefore the Scottish Government has not made an estimate of potential pension shortfalls arising from its proposed public sector reforms.
The Scottish Government will assess the workforce implications of reform proposals as they are developed.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 September 2026
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 24 September 2026
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to questions S7W-01924 and S7W-01925 by Maree Todd on 13 August 2026, whether it accepts the Scottish Health Technologies Group recommendation that NHS Scotland continue to offer NHS specialist chronic pain relief treatments for outpatients experiencing severe chronic pain, and if so, for what reason there has been a delay since 27 February 2026 in reaching a decision on implementing this recommendation.
Answer
As outlined in the answers to questions S7W-01924, NHS Scotland is required to consider recommendations made by the Scottish Health Technologies Group (SHTG). That remains unchanged. It is not for the Scottish Government to consider or accept those recommendations made by the SHTG for NHS Scotland.
NHS Boards are responsible for designing and delivering services to meet the needs of their local populations.
We continue to support NHS Scotland partners to develop their approach to build on these recommendations to inform sustainable, consistent and effective service delivery across Scotland.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 September 2026
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 24 September 2026
To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been referred to eating disorder services in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold or collect this data centrally. While Public Health Scotland publishes the total number of patients referred to specialist mental health services, it does not hold detail on the reason for referral, such as an eating disorder. The publications on waiting times for both CAMHS and Psychological Therapies each quarter can be found at Publications - Public Health Scotland. This includes information on referral activity across services.
We are continuing to deliver the recommendations from the National Review of Eating Disorder Services published in 2021, including publishing a National Specification for the Care and Treatment of Eating Disorders in Scotland in November 2024.
The Scottish Government asked NHS Boards in May 2025 to complete a self-assessment tool, scoring their delivery and implementation of the Specification across CAMHS and adult services. The responses provided further information on data collection and reporting. Officials are working with boards to understand how best to support them in this area of work.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 September 2026
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Current Status:
Due to be taken in the Chamber on 1 October 2026
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to strengthen partnerships between Police Scotland and other public sector bodies to improve multi-agency approaches to community policing.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 1 October 2026
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 17 September 2026
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 23 September 2026
To ask the Scottish Government what savings it has (a) identified and (b) achieved through its £30 million Invest to Save Fund.
Answer
The Invest to Save Fund supports projects intended to deliver efficiencies, service improvements and financial savings across the public sector. Many projects require a period of implementation before benefits can be realised, and it may take between two and three years for projects to mature sufficiently to begin delivering their full savings potential.
As part of the application and assessment process, funded projects are required to identify anticipated benefits and savings. Projects supported through the current funding round are forecast to deliver approximately £178 million of savings over five years.
Projects supported through the first year of the Fund identified anticipated savings of approximately £167 million over the next five years. These projects are at varying stages of delivery.
The Scottish Government continues to monitor project delivery and benefits realisation, including financial savings, through its fund management and reporting arrangements. No consolidated assessment of realised savings is yet available.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 September 2026
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 23 September 2026
To ask the Scottish Government how much NHS Scotland has paid out in settlement agreements in each year since 1999.
Answer
The Scottish Government has been monitoring settlement agreement proposals since 2014-15, which is the first reporting year for which NHSS settlement records are available. The last year for which this data is available is 2025-26. The cost to NHS Scotland each year during this period is given in the following table.
Year (1 April – 31 March) | Total Cost (£) |
2014-15 | 895,134 |
2015-16 | 574,568 |
2016-17 | 780,502 |
2017-18 | 1,209,500 |
2018-19 | 727,974 |
2019-20 | 316,389 |
2020-21 | 724,161 |
2021-22 | 759,536 |
2022-23 | 501,885 |
2023-24 | 1,627,403 |
2024-25 | 886,140 |
2025-26 | 1,745,460 |
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 September 2026
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 23 September 2026
To ask the Scottish Government how much NHS Scotland has paid out in compensation settlements in each year since 1999.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-03073 on 23 September 2026, which provides both the number of NHS Scotland compensation claims managed through the Clinical Negligence and Other Risks Indemnity Scheme (CNORIS), and the amount reimbursed in relation to those claims.
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.
