Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government and COSLA published the Coming Home Action Plan in March 2026. The action plan is backed by Scottish Government funding of up to £20m to support implementation. The majority of this funding will be distributed via the Independent Living Fund (ILF) Scotland through the creation of a new Coming Home fund.

ILF Scotland are currently designing the new fund in collaboration with stakeholders with a view to formally opening to applications during Summer 2026. The fund will provide flexible, person-centred support and transitions will progress at an appropriate pace for each individual, to ensure safe and supportive care.

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water, I have asked them to respond. Their reply is as follows:

Scottish Water teams have reviewed telemetry data, pump station monitoring and operational records and have identified no operational incidents. I am told that discharge events were recorded from one of the four Portobello (Central) combined sewer overflows (CSOs), Portobello Joppa SPS CSO, and were part of normal operations related to rainfall.

CSOs are an integral part of a sewage network and are designed to discharge highly diluted wastewater during periods of heavy rainfall to avoid overloading the sewer system, which could result in flooding of homes and businesses. Such discharges do not necessarily result in pollution incidents, and any suspected environmental pollution incidents should be reported to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.

The Scottish Government is working at pace to pilot the delivery of alcohol care teams in Scotland.

We have already identified a potential location for the pilot and will look to announce this as soon as a formal agreement is reached.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving the experience of those living with long term conditions in Scotland. That is why we have committed to continue working with people with lived experience, the third sector and clinicians to develop our way forward for long term conditions.

This will build on the work undertaken by the Long Term Conditions Advisory Groups established under the previous government. We are now carefully considering the recommendations shared by various Advisory Groups, made up of key stakeholders from NHS Scotland and the third sector, to inform the best way forward. Our Programme for Government for 2026-27 will be put to the Parliament in due course.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of ensuring that our health and social care system operates as efficiently and effectively as possible. Our National Flow Plan, which we will publish within the first 100 days of government, will aim to ensure our care system works more smoothly and supports better outcomes for individuals accessing services.

The requirement for individual social work assessments is set out in legislation. Under the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968, local authorities and Health and Social Care Partnerships have a duty to assess the social care support needs of individuals and, having given due regard to the results of those assessments, decide whether those needs call for the provision of any service. These assessments are an essential part of our health and care system, ensuring that the most vulnerable people can access the care and support they need.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7O-00002 taken in chamber on 2 June 2026, which is available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/official-report/search-what-was-said-in-parliament.

We are committed to ensuring that endometriosis is recognised as a chronic condition and that women with endometriosis experience a continuum of care.

Phase Two of the Women’s Health Plan, published in January, committed to aligning the Endometriosis Care Pathway with the most recent NICE guidance so that NHS Boards in Scotland can ensure that women and girls with endometriosis and endometriosis like symptoms have access to holistic and timely care.

The Pathway has been updated and is available online on the Right Decisions platform.

Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) established a short-life working group in March 2026 to collaborate with all NHS Boards and key partners in developing robust, consistent guidance for the implementation of Martha’s Rule. The group is co-designing an implementation plan, with rollout across all Scottish NHS Boards, where work not already underway, planned throughout 2026–2027.

Initially, the work is focusing on roll out in acute paediatric and adult hospital settings, however, HIS will also support Boards to consider how they can then implement Martha’s Rule more widely in line with their local context and needs of their population.

The Scottish Government has commissioned the Centre for Sustainable Delivery to develop Isla’s Principles, a campaign to promote clinical guidance and support for clinicians to follow best practice in decision-making and communication with patients and colleagues, tailored to reflect the experience of Isla Sneddon. CfSD has planned a publication date of Autumn 2026.

The Scottish Government commissioned the Scottish School of Primary Care to undertake an independent evaluation of the Golden Hello initiative for GPs. The evaluation was published in March 2026: https://www.sspc.ac.uk/media/Media_1254907_smxx.pdf.

The Golden Hello initiative does not currently apply to dentists. Any future expansion and improvement plans for Golden Hellos will be set out in due course.