Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is aware that the national programme to implement an NHS Scotland Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) framework is underway and is intended to connect all NHS laboratory medicine labs and hospitals across Scotland to improve the experience of patients.

A common and fit-for-purpose LIMS is vital to support Scotland’s digital strategies and is a key enabler for the delivery of consistent and connected clinical laboratory services across Scotland.

Procurement and the award of the tender to Magentus was managed by the former NHS National Services Scotland on behalf of a consortium of NHS Boards.

The consortium of twelve NHS Boards has been progressing the programme. They have chosen three NHS Boards in Fife, Shetland and Orkney as accelerator sites and these are now live. A second tranche of NHS Lothian and NHS Grampian are on course to go live in Summer 2027, with the remaining Boards scheduled to go live in a third tranche in Summer 2028 and a fourth tranche in Summer 2029.

Scottish Government engages with a range of stakeholders on matters relating to children and young people with cancer, These stakeholders include third sector organisations, the Managed Clinical Network for Children and Young People (MCN CYPC) and other clinical specialists as well as lived experience groups, who support and deliver cancer services for children and young people with cancer.

Understanding the unique support needs of children and young people with cancer is a priority for both the Scottish Government and the Managed Clinical Network for Children and Young People with Cancer (MCN CYPC).

The number of children and young people diagnosed with cancer in Scotland is small compared to adult cancers, and due to small patient numbers, it is challenging to produce detailed, anonymised data. Special consideration is required for children who are under 16, because they require tailored resources to capture their unique treatment and care needs, while recognising the additional sensitivities involved for those under 16, relating to information governance requirements for children.

The MCN CYPC are continuing to work with NHS Scotland Health Boards to establish consistent national approaches for information governance and approval processes across Scotland, relating to data collection for children under the age of 16.

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) has advised that it is not possible to identify the number of Scottish-domiciled medical student places funded in each year prior to Academic Year (AY) 2013-14. Up to and including AY 2012-13, students from the rest of the UK (rUK) were eligible for funded places and the data cannot be disaggregated between Scottish-domiciled and rUK students.

The following figures therefore represent the total number of funded undergraduate medical student places available to student eligible for funding in each year. SFC advise that, following the removal of funded rUK places, the vast majority of funded places are held by Scottish-domiciled students, although eligibility is not solely restricted to Scottish-domiciled students.

The Managed Clinical Network for Children and Young People with Cancer (MCN CYPC) will be one of several stakeholders Scottish Government will engage with to consider priorities and approaches that best support improved outcomes for children and young people with cancer. I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-02402 on 31 August 2026.

As a national network of healthcare specialists in children and young people’s cancer services, and the organisation responsible for the delivery of the current children and young people’s cancer strategy – The Collaborative and Compassionate Cancer Care: cancer strategy for children and young people 2021–2026, their input into these discussions is valuable.

Scottish Government has invested in the MCN CYPC since it was first established in 2011 to deliver on its remit of supporting NHS Boards to deliver high-quality cancer services for children and young people, whilst supporting the holistic needs of patients.

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.

Scottish Government worked with the Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CSfD) to explore the potential benefit of applying our existing Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services (RCDSs) model for adults to children and young people. This exploratory work deduced that including children in the RCDS model would be unlikely to significantly improve earlier diagnoses beyond existing practice.

The Scottish Referral Guidelines (SRGs) for Suspected Cancer were revised in 2025 and included specific updates on supporting a diagnosis of cancer in children and young people specifically. This includes considerations for non-specific symptoms of cancer for under-18s, like those considered for Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services (RCDSs).

Public Health Scotland (PHS) releases statistics, as part of the monthly Stage of Treatment (SoT) publication. This covers waits for new outpatient appointments under the 12-week standard, and for inpatient and day case admissions covered by the 12-week Treatment Time Guarantee (TTG). The latest statistics are published up to 30th June 2026 and can be found using the link below:

https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/stage-of-treatment-waiting-times/

The Scottish Government recognises the impact that delays in diagnosis and treatment can have on people with obstructive sleep apnoea, as well as the wider consequences for health services and the economy.

NHS boards are responsible for the planning and delivery of sleep services to meet the needs of their local populations. The Scottish Government is supporting boards through investment to increase NHS capacity and reduce waiting times across services, including diagnostic and treatment pathways.

The 2026-27 Scottish Budget provides a record £22.5 billion for health and social care, alongside an additional £100 million to build on progress made through the Operational Improvement Plan. This investment will support the creation of additional NHS capacity and further reductions in waiting times, particularly for those who have been waiting the longest.

Through this investment and ongoing engagement with NHS boards, we are supporting improvements to referral, diagnostic and treatment pathways, including for patients referred to sleep services, with the aim of reducing waits and improving timely access to assessment and treatment for conditions such as obstructive sleep apnoea.

Prior to 2021, international recruitment was not widely utilised across NHS Scotland, and no direct funding was available to health boards to support these activities. Between 2021 and 2026, the Scottish Government invested more than £21.5 million to develop international recruitment capacity across NHS Scotland. This included funding for dedicated international recruitment leads and support for overseas recruitment costs, such as visa and sponsorship fees. This investment enabled the recruitment of more than 1,200 overseas professionals into roles across NHS Scotland.

Although no direct funding has been provided since 2024 to meet international recruitment costs, the infrastructure established through this investment remains in place. With the continued funding of an international recruitment lead in each health board, international recruitment can continue to be considered as a means of filling hard-to-recruit vacancies where appropriate.

The Scottish Government has no current plans to extend kinship care allowances to age 21.

We recognise, however, the importance of supporting young people in kinship care as they move into adulthood. Existing legislation allows local authorities, where they consider it appropriate, to provide an allowance to certain eligible young people in kinship care after they reach 16 and until age 18.

A range of other support is available to eligible care-experienced young people as they move into adulthood, including Continuing Care and Aftercare, depending on their individual circumstances and care history.