Chamber and committees

Both Employment law and the Employment Tribunal system are reserved to Westminster. The Scottish Government has had no discussions with the UK Government regarding the capacity of the reserved Employment Tribunal system.

An e-scooter, or an e-bike that does not meet the requirements for an electrically assisted pedal cycle, are treated as motor vehicles, and in relation to these Police Scotland can issue a fixed penalty notice for using the vehicle without insurance or without a licence, seize and remove the vehicle under road traffic law, and charge the rider with careless or dangerous driving. An e-bike that meets those requirements is treated as a pedal cycle, and the police can act against careless or dangerous cycling and against riding on a footway. Also, police can issue a warning to the driver if the vehicle is used in a manner causing alarm, distress, or annoyance. If caught repeating the antisocial behaviour within 12 months, officers can immediately seize the vehicle.

Decisions on the location of such developments are currently taken through Scotland’s plan-led planning system. This includes the National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4), which sets out national planning policies and priorities, alongside local development plans prepared by planning authorities. Together, these ensure that proposals are assessed in a consistent manner. Ministers are considering whether additional strategic coordination is required to support future investment, manage cumulative impacts on infrastructure, resources and communities. In a response to Martyn Day MSP on Thursday 25 June, I advised that the Scottish Government is urgently considering whether more formal guidance is required to help local planning authorities. In a response to Gillian MacKay MSP on Thursday 25 June, the First Minister set out that he is giving active consideration to whether the Scottish Government should provide planning guidance to balance the rapid expansion of hyperscale data centres with national energy and climate goals, which are vital to our future prosperity.

Specialty is defined as a division of medicine or dentistry covering a specific area of clinical activity and identified within one of the Royal Colleges or Faculties. A Discipline is a non-medical profession related to healthcare, for which formal training leading to a recognised professional qualification is undertaken. Examples of disciplines are physiotherapy, nursing, pharmacology. This is set out in the Public Health Scotland’s Recording Manual Waiting Times Recording Manual.

Gynaecology is the care of women with problems of the female reproductive system (ovaries, tubes, womb, cervix, vagina). Some gynaecologists specialise in urogynaecology (bladder incontinence), reproductive medicine (fertility problems and recurrent miscarriage), colposcopy (dealing with abnormal smears), gynae-oncology (cancer of the uterus, fallopian tubes and ovaries), contraception and menopause. It is worth noting that some of these services do not fall under gynaecology waiting times.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) publishes statistics on stages of treatment waiting times for gynaecology by board and length of wait. The most recent report was published on 26 May 2026 and can be found at

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

This specific data file contains historic trends for ongoing waits at each quarter-end with a breakdown of waits by NHS board.

https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/38855/newop_apr26-data-file-up-to-31-march-2026.xlsx

Table 1.1 refers to new outpatients and the drop-down menu can be used to filter by gynaecology. Table 2.2 refers to inpatients and day cases and again, can be filtered by specificality, including gynaecology. This data is based on waits covered by the new outpatient and inpatient and day case waiting times standards, and as such there may be some gynaecology services that do not fall under these criteria and are therefore not included in published statistics.

There were 38 inpatient or day case admissions during April 2026 that were completed in 12 weeks or less for NHS Tayside under the specialty of gynaecology, which equates to 50.7% admitted within the TTG. This compares to 55.1% of all gynaecology inpatient and day case waits completed in 12 weeks or less across NHS Scotland.

There were 37 inpatient or day case admissions during April 2026 that were completed over 12 weeks for NHS Tayside under the specialty of gynaecology, which equates to 49.3% of admissions exceeding the TTG. This compares to 44.9% of all gynaecology inpatient and day case waits completed in excess of 12 weeks across NHS Scotland.

NHS Lanarkshire submitted proposals in response to the initial Call for Proposals, with a site in Lanark approved for the second phase of the walk-in services pilot programme. As part of the second round of proposals, the Scottish Government requested that NHS Lanarkshire consider a service in Shotts.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) publishes statistics on stages of treatment waiting times for gynaecology by board and length of wait. The most recent report was published on 26 May 2026 and can be found at