Chamber and committees

This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

The selection of countries and sites for global clinical trials for new cancer treatments is dependent on a complex range of factors, including the wider regulatory environment.

The Scottish Government and the Chief Scientist Office work closely with NHS Research Scotland and with the UK National Institute for Health and Social Care Research to ensure that Scotland continues to offer the best environment for clinical research and cancer clinical trials.

I recognise that there has been a significant increase in adults seeking ADHD and autism assessments across Scotland. I recognise how important assessment and support through local services can be and I expect NHS Boards to deliver appropriate local services to ensure that their local population have the highest quality of care and treatment at the right time and in the right place.

The Scottish Government is working with the National Autism Implementation Team (NAIT) to develop national Adult Neurodevelopmental Pathways, building on the pilots we funded in four NHS Board areas and the subsequent learnings and recommendations. We are engaging with a wide range of interests in this work and we have also met with the Royal College of Psychiatrists to discuss their recent proposals.

We are continuing to work with NHS Health Boards and local authorities to improve services and support for children and young people, including supporting them to implement the Neurodevelopmental Service Specification for Children and Young People, underpinned by GIRFEC and encouraging multi-agency working. To support this, in addition to investment through Health Boards, we have provided over £1 million to fund five Neurodevelopmental tests of change. We have also provided further funding, totalling almost £250,000, in financial year 2024-25 to fund a range of individual projects to improve neurodevelopmental assessment and support for children and young people.

The Scottish Genomic Test Directory for Cancer is reviewed annually. The next update is expected to be in September 2025.

As part of the transformation programme, the entirety of the cancer test directory has been mapped to the SNOMED Clinical Terms disease ontology as part of a wider programme of data standardisation across the laboratory service.

The Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) publishes annual statistics on referrals. Data on referrals going back to 2003-2004 is available on the SCRA website here: Online Statistical Dashboard - SCRA.

If this is not sufficient for your purposes, and you require data going back further, requests for this information can be directed to SCRA.

This information is not held centrally. Under the Education (Scotland) Act 1980, education is the responsibility of local authorities.

The spend on contracts awarded to ‘The Lines Between’ by the Scottish Government is set out in the following table. We do not hold information on spend related to specific projects.

Whilst this information is publicly available, I can advise that 25 High Speed Trains are currently in operation on Scotland’s railway.

(a) The following 14 contracts were awarded to ‘The Lines Between’ by the Scottish Government in Fiscal Year 2024-25:

• Research on Fishers Behaviour towards Compliance & Enforcement.
• Adult Disability Payment Review.
• Options Study for Developing a Mental Health Patient Experience Survey for Scotland.
• Consultation Analysis: UEFA Euro 2028 – Commercial Rights Protection.
• Analysis of Responses to Crofting Consultation 2024.
• Analysis for Annual Procurement Reports.
• Analysis of responses to a consultation on proposed changes to energy and environmental standards of the Scottish Building Regulations.
• 'Moving On' Consultation Analysis Evaluation.
• Single-use cups charge consultation analysis.
• Review of Charity Regulation – Consultation Analysis.
• Universal Definition of 'Care Experience' Consultation Evaluation Analysis.
• Analysis of Consultation Responses to the Scottish Government Equality and Human Rights Mainstreaming Strategy.
• Future of Foster Care Consultation Analysis.
• Carer Benefits Evaluation: Case Transfer and Carer Support Payment.

Further information on the contracts can be found on Public Contracts Scotland https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/

(b) 'The Lines Between' have not yet received any funded commissions for FY 2025-26. However, they were successful in bidding for the Social Research and Analysis Framework contract and were added on 1 May 2025.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all people living in Scotland with long term conditions including Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) are able to access the best possible care and support, and benefit from healthcare services that are safe, effective and put people at the centre of their care.

The Cabinet Secretary set out in the NHS Scotland operational improvement plan published on 31 March of this year that we will work to ensure people receive the right care in the right place. There are many benefits that home dialysis can offer to both NHS Boards and patients as to whether home dialysis is appropriate for the patient. However it is a matter for NHS Boards to determine the situations when home dialysis is the best option.

This information is not routinely collected by Scottish Government. Information on patients receiving home dialysis is held by NHS Boards.