Chamber and committees

We want people in Scotland, regardless of their background, age, or circumstances, to have access to the right help, at the right time, when they struggle with their mental or physical health. Our Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy published jointly with COSLA sets out a clear vision of a Scotland, free from stigma and inequality, where everyone fulfils their right to achieve the best mental health and wellbeing possible.

Scotland is the only country in the UK with a Tobacco and Vapes Retail Register. All businesses, regardless of size, need to be registered to be able to sell these products in Scotland. This includes retailers which operate from moveable premises, such as market stalls or sales vans. The register exists to support the enforcement of regulation on age restricted products given the public health harms of tobacco and vaping.

We remain committed to considering how the register could be improved including possible further conditions on registration to support our public health aims of reducing the use of tobacco and vapes.

Individual business owners are responsible for registering any business selling tobacco and/or vapes, or they face a fine of up to £20k and possible imprisonment not exceeding 6 months. It is the responsibility of local authorities to enforce compliance with the register in their local areas.

Local Authorities have responsibility to ensure local budget decisions deliver local and national priorities. The 2026-27 Scottish Budget provides a further real-terms increase in the Local Government Settlement, delivering record funding of almost £15.7 billion, including a quarter of a billion pounds of unrestricted General Revenue Grant.

The Scottish Government does not collect or hold data on length of waits for accessing neurodevelopmental assessments as managing waitlists is the responsibility of health boards. However, we are working closely with boards to improve the experience of children, young people and their families in accessing support for their neurodivergence. This involves continuing to implement our Neurodevelopmental Specification, which sets clear expectations for boards and children’s services to work together to deliver timely needs-based support, in line with GIRFEC.

Boards that have closed or suspended waiting lists to new referrals continue to have a responsibility to ensure that children and young people are appropriately signposted to alternative and community-based services. I expect all boards to make sure that families are directed towards the right support at the earliest opportunity, including local authority services, school-based support, and wider community supports. As the Specification makes clear, these should be available to children, young people and their families when needs arise and should not require a formal diagnosis.

Scotland is the only country in the UK with a Tobacco and Vapes Retail Register. All businesses, regardless of size, need to be registered to be able to sell these products in Scotland. The register exists to support the enforcement of regulation on age restricted products given the public health harms of tobacco and vaping.

Individual business owners are responsible for registering any business selling tobacco and/or vapes. Failure to do so could result in a fine of up to £20k and possible imprisonment not exceeding 6 months. It is the responsibility of local authorities to enforce compliance with the register in their local areas.

We remain committed to considering how the register could be improved including possible further conditions on registration to support our public health aims of reducing the use of tobacco and vapes.

We also remain open minded to potential further regulation and legislation to ensure the safety of people and buildings, especially when it comes to the storage and disposal of combustible products.

The Scottish Budget sets out a decrease in the three non-domestic property rates for 2026-27 and offers more than £320 million of support through transitional relief schemes and retail hospitality and leisure relief over the next three years.

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. More detailed information on waiting times will be held locally by NHS boards.

NHS Scotland has separate waiting lists for planned care, including one for new outpatient (NOP) appointment and another for inpatient/day-case (IPDC) procedures.

A clock starts for a NOP appointment once the referral is received by the Health Board and only stops once the patient has had their appointment. Patients may be triaged to the optimal, evidence-based pathway, based on a review of the patient’s records, including any imaging and laboratory results, but their NOP waiting time clock will not be paused during triage.

Most patients will agree any necessary treatment at their NOP appointment and this is when the patient’s waiting time clock for their IPDC treatment should start. Health Boards cannot list a patient for IPDC treatment prior to this appointment because healthcare staff have a responsibility to ensure they obtain valid and informed consent from a patient before putting them on a waiting list for any type of care or treatment intervention. To ensure patients can give informed consent, clinicians must provide information about what the treatment involves, including the benefits and risks, whether there are alternative options, and what will happen if treatment does not go ahead. The NOP appointment provides the opportunity for these discussions to take place.

Information on the number of community paediatrician vacancies is not held centrally.

Information on the number of consultant paediatrician vacancies are available on the NHS Education for Scotland Data and reports | Turas Data Intelligence website.

Health Boards actively manage their turnover and vacancies throughout the year. Where vacancies do occur the Scottish Government expects Boards to take reasonable steps to ensure the continued delivery of services, including, when necessary, the use of supplementary staffing.

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) has recently written to the Scottish Government with its concerns around the provision of Royal Mail services and we will provide a considered response to that communication.

On 6 March, the Scottish Government wrote to the UK Minister for Small Business & Economic Transformation in relation to the Future of the Post Office Green Paper, and made clear that postal services are a vital lifeline for communities across Scotland, particularly rural and island communities, and for vulnerable or digitally excluded consumers. Post offices, for example, often act as a community hub.

Scotland has many communities and small businesses in rural and island areas, as well as an ageing population, all of whom rely on receiving mail in a timely fashion. That is why work continues to make the case for maintaining the Universal Service Obligation (USO) and ensuring that post office services are available across rural and island parts of Scotland.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-44387 on 20 March 2026. 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.