Chamber and committees

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has responsibility for the quality, safety, and efficacy of medicines through its licensing and pharmacovigilance functions, which are reserved matters.

The MHRA continues to closely monitor the safety of Depo-Provera®, as it does with all licensed medicines, and is examining recent data and seeking advice from experts on the need for any further action. Given this ongoing work, I have no plans to commission a separate evidence review.

The Scottish Government welcomes the Scottish Land Commission’s report Learning from international cadastral systems for transparency, tax, and valuation, which provides a comparative analysis of cadastral and land information systems for land taxation purposes in Scotland, the Netherlands, Finland, Estonia and Belgium.

The Scottish Government will continue to consider relevant evidence, including the findings of this report, as part of its ongoing consideration of tax policy

The Scottish Government is engaging with the Society for Chief Officers of Trading Standards Scotland (SCOTSS),Trading Standards and Police Scotland to assess the effectiveness of current enforcement mechanisms available to Trading Standards in Scotland to tackle the sale of illicit tobacco and vaping products and is considering the closure order mechanisms available to Trading Standards in England and Wales.

The Scottish Government does not hold this operational information. The member may wish to contact the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service directly, as the Service is responsible for the deployment and operation of its vehicles.

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

Operational deployment of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service’s (SFRS) vehicles is a matter for the Service. Scottish Government officials have previously engaged with the SFRS regarding these assets in order to seek assurance regarding the Service’s ability to respond to incidents. SFRS previously advised officials of the circumstances affecting the deployment of these units and provided assurance that appropriate arrangements were in place to maintain operational response capability while the vehicles were being brought into service.

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.

From 1 April 2026, shared services previously provided by National Services Scotland – including the national procurement framework – are managed and overseen by the new national body, Public Services Delivery Scotland (PSD Scotland). While PSD Scotland is sponsored by Scottish Ministers in order to ensure proper oversight and discharge of function, Scottish Government does not hold any information with respect to the particulars of individual contracts. This is instead held by PSD Scotland and its commercial partners.

The regulation and licensing of medicines is reserved to the UK Government and is a matter for the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

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 Chief Pharmaceutical Officer (CPO) for Scotland has discussed the issue with Pfizer representatives who advised that the company is continuing to assess whether it will pursue a UK marketing authorisation for its Solu-Cortef Act-O-Vial® 100 mg/2 mL injection.

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.