Chamber and committees

Within the Scottish Government, policy responsibility for Health and Care Research sits with the Chief Scientist Office (CSO).

CSO runs a number of research project and fellowship funding programmes. These are open to applications for research across the clinical spectrum, including mesothelioma. These funding opportunities are well known among the health research community in Scotland.

Response Mode Funding Schemes – Chief Scientist Office

Fellowship Funding – Chief Scientist Office

CSO research project and fellowship funding is awarded following a rigorous independent expert review process. Applications on the diagnosis, treatment and management of mesothelioma from the University of Glasgow and Queen Elizabeth University Hospital are welcomed. Any such applications would go through CSO's standard evaluation process to enable funding decisions to be made.

The Scottish Government has not had any direct discussions with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) regarding encouraging manufacturers to submit a licensing application for the ACT-O-Vial hydrocortisone system and other similar products, as medicines regulation and licensing are reserved matters.

The decision to market a product in the UK rests with the pharmaceutical company. Neither the MHRA nor the UK or Scottish Governments can compel a pharmaceutical company to seek a marketing authorisation for, or supply, a product in the UK market.

The Solu-Cortef Act-O-Vial® 100 mg/2 mL injection is not licensed in the UK but may be supplied as an unlicensed imported medicine through specialist importers where clinically appropriate. Community pharmacists wishing to obtain this product are required to seek approval from their Health Board before ordering an unlicensed import.

The supply of medicines, and the associated legislation, is a matter reserved to the UK Government.

Since the outset of the supply disruption, the UK Medicines Shortage Response Group (MSRG)'s advice to prescribers has been to switch patients to hydrocortisone sodium succinate 100mg powder for injection, where clinically appropriate. This was communicated to Health Boards and prescribers via a Scottish Government Medicines Supply Alert Notice (MSAN) on 22 January 2025.

Patients who are concerned about the additional preparation steps required when using this powder formulation for emergency injections may wish to discuss with their clinician whether an alternative unlicensed hydrocortisone product would be appropriate for them.

The Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce have met three times this year and each of the minutes have been published on gov.scot which details the work discussed. This can be found here Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce - gov.scot.

On June 11 2026 the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Care announced the Independent Review of Maternity Services in Scotland. Professor Christine McCourt, Chair of the Independent Review will begin her work in September.

The high-level principles of the Independent Review were published on 11 June and are available to read here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/maternity-services-independent-review-principles/

We are currently considering the remit of the Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce and how it may lead on current improvement work, including the HIS Inspection findings whilst the independent review of maternity services takes place.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on average waiting times for autism assessments at either national or parliamentary region level.

We are, however, aware of challenges and significant waiting times for autism assessments in some areas of Scotland. We continue to work with NHS Boards, COSLA and wider partners to improve access to neurodevelopmental support.

The membership list for the Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce was published on gov.scot website in February 2026 and can be found here Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce - gov.scot.

In Partnership with NHS Scotland, the Scottish Government produce regularly reviewed condition focused Quality Prescribing Guides to support prescribers in their decision making.

We have recently published our updated Polypharmacy Guidance: appropriate prescribing, making medicines safe, effective and sustainable 2026 - 2029, which contains a series of recommendations for medication review for people receiving care at home and in care homes.

In addition to the recommendations, the guidance includes practical advice and options for tailoring care for specific conditions which may affect people in care homes. This includes hot topics on Parkinson’s disease and on managing dementia and cognitive enhancers, as well as case studies produced in collaboration with care home providers on addressing the use of psychoactive medication for people living with dementia through non-pharmacological techniques.

New tailored indicators for care homes have been developed within the updated suite of National Therapeutic Indicators (NTIs) accompanying this guidance. These open access NTIs support boards and practices with identifying appropriate areas to target for patient review and benchmarking at local and national level.

Scotland’s wool industry is an important part of our wider agricultural sector. I know that Scotland benefits from the work of the British Wool Board which works to maximise the value of wool on behalf of its members. Given British Wool works in Scotland, managing the collection, grading, promotion and sale of fleece wool to the global textile industry, I expect that they would lead on any wool strategy.

The recently introduced Scottish Wool Certification Logo gives brands and consumers a clear way to identify products made entirely from Scottish-sourced wool and is an example of where British Wool can take the lead.

There are already extensive permitted development rights for mobile telecommunications infrastructure. These facilitate the deployment of such infrastructure across Scotland without the need for a planning application. The permitted development rights were significantly extended in 2020 following public consultation.

There are no specific plans to further amend the existing permitted development rights at the current time. However, the Scottish Government is engaging with stakeholders to explore how the planning system can act as an enabler of economic growth and investment. This engagement will inform the scope of this Government’s planning reform programme

We do not centrally collect data on the number of appointments undertaken to assess sleep apnoea across NHS Boards. This level of information would be held by individual NHS Boards.

The commitments set out in this year’s budget, published on 4 March 2026, will deliver a record £22.5 billion funding for health and social care in 2026-27, supporting delivery of planned care for patients across Scotland to increase capacity and address backlogs of treatment as we work towards achieving the 12-week treatment time guarantee.