Chamber and committees

The Women’s Health Plan sets out the Scottish Government’s ambition for Women’s Health which is that ‘women and girls enjoy the best possible health, throughout their lives’.

Phase Two of the Women’s Health Plan, published in January 2026, commits to transforming gynaecology services and taking action to reduce diagnosis times for all menstrual health conditions, including endometriosis.

As part of the work to transform gynaecology services, a National Gynaecology Plan will be developed and implemented. This plan will initially focus on addressing waiting times challenges, moving towards sustainable change, redesign and improvement for gynaecology services across Scotland. The plan will explain how women will increasingly receive high quality and effective care closer to home. As we redesign these services, we will work to reduce inequalities in access and outcomes, particularly for women in rural and island areas.

Scotland is uniquely positioned to support delivery of the AI Hardware Plan, with globally competitive strengths in photonics, semiconductors, novel architectures, low-power and edge AI systems. These are areas specifically identified in the Scottish government’s AI Strategy (2026).

Scotland is home to a £4.4bn critical technologies supercluster, with over 160 companies, 11,500 jobs and >80% export revenue. The Scottish Government is directly supporting the industry ambition to grow to £10bn and 17,500 jobs by 2035.

The Scottish Government provides long-term core funding to Technology Scotland as the Cluster Management Organisation and industry body for these sectors, and to the Fraunhofer Centre for Applied Photonics, arguably the UK’s strongest translational assets in this field. Other assets include Glasgow’s James Watt Nanofabrication Centre, the National Advanced Semiconductor Packaging and Integration Centre, and Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre.

The Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Tourism and Transport has written to the UK Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology to urge the UK government to ensure Scotland’s strengths are recognised and that opportunities are not solely flowing to elsewhere in the UK.

Waiting to access gynaecology related treatment can cause women anxiety and delays are unacceptable. Last year we allocated £13 million of additional funding to health boards to target long waits for gynaecology. We are beginning to see the impact of that investment, with waits going down and we are determined to build on that momentum, ensuring women receive the treatment they need as soon as possible. Phase Two of the Women’s Health Plan was published in January 2026 which includes specific actions and steps to help reduce 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 can be found here:

Stage of treatment waiting times – new outpatients, inpatients and day cases 30 June 2026 - Stage of treatment waiting times - Publications - Public Health Scotland

Public Health Scotland does not hold the required information relating to waiting times for endometriosis- and adenomyosis-related care.

The Scottish Government published the annual Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2025-26 statistical bulletin on 23 June 2026. The publication provides information on crimes and offences recorded by the police across Scotland, including breakdowns by crime type and local authority area. Supporting tables published alongside the bulletin include local authority-level data for a range of crime categories, including vandalism.

While data on crimes of vandalism recorded by the police is available at local authority level, the published statistics do not include information on the ages of suspected perpetrators. Although age breakdowns are available for some crime types through other statistical publications, equivalent data is not published for vandalism. Consequently, it is not possible to identify from these statistics the number of vandalism incidents involving individuals under the age of 18.

The statistics show that vandalism has fallen substantially over the longer term. More generally, recorded crimes of damage and reckless behaviour—of which vandalism accounts for the majority—are now at their lowest level since 1976.

The member may wish to contact Police Scotland, who may be able to provide further information. They can be contacted at: [email protected].Postal requests should be addressed to: FOI - Information Management, Police Scotland, Clyde Gateway, 2 French Street, Glasgow, G40 4EH.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving outcomes for people living with dementia, their families and care partners, through delivery of Scotland’s Dementia Strategy. The Scottish Government has provided funding to the Care Inspectorate to support the development of a new toolkit for frontline staff, designed to reduce stress and distress among people receiving care. The toolkit, launched earlier this year, includes practical guidance to help staff identify and implement small changes to an individual's care approach that can prevent distress from escalating. Where appropriate, these interventions may also contribute to a reduction in the use of antipsychotics and sedatives for dementia patients.

The Scottish Government has also published updated ‘Polypharmacy Guidance: Appropriate Prescribing - Making medicines safe, effective and sustainable’. Written by a Short Life Working Group (SLWG) consisting of experts from NHS Scotland, the Care Inspectorate and experts by experience, the guidance updates the previous 2018 edition and aims to ensure appropriate prescribing of medicines to optimise treatment outcomes and achieve the best care, whilst applying the principles of value-based healthcare and realistic medicine. The updated guidance also incorporates the Care Inspectorate's work on reducing the use of antipsychotic medication.

The updated polypharmacy guidance continues to place the individual at the centre with greater emphasis on shared decision-making to actively engage them in safe and effective care.

Scotland’s food, farming, and marine sectors have been beset by a range of challenges in recent years – not least as a result of Brexit - and we know that there are increasing risks to Scotland’s food security, including from climate change and ongoing conflicts globally.

Scotland’s National Adaptation Plan sets out the actions that the Scottish Government and partners are taking to respond to the impacts of climate change, and Scotland’s National Water Scarcity Plan sets out how water resources are managed during periods of scarcity, including for users in agriculture and food production.

The Scottish Government’s Food Security Unit works closely across policy areas, with external partners and other UK nations to ensure food security concerns are reflected strategically. The unit also monitors overall food security in Scotland (including fertiliser, fuel and food supply) working closely with industry through our Food Sector Resilience Group to share intelligence, identify risks and support co-ordinated responses.

Alongside this, the Scottish Government continues to support active farming and food production through direct payments, including bringing forward payment dates to support cash flow. The 2026-27 budget allocates more than £665 million for the purpose of supporting farmers, land managers, rural communities, and rural businesses.

The Scottish Government fulfilled a Programme for Government commitment by publishing its first International Education Strategy (IES) on 7 February 2024. British Council Scotland plays an important role in supporting its implementation as a member of the International Education Strategy Governance Group, providing strategic oversight and advice on the delivery of the Strategy’s objectives.

Through its extensive global networks and expertise, British Council Scotland supports Scottish colleges and universities in a range of areas, including transnational education, international student recruitment and access to seed-funding opportunities.

British Council Scotland also collaborates with sector partners to produce evidence-based research and analysis. This includes Scotland’s Higher Education: Partnering for Global Impact, published in partnership with Universities Scotland, which showcases the global reach and impact of Scotland’s higher education sector.

The Scottish Government provides funding to the British Council (BC) to deliver their Language Assistants Programmes, supporting both the placement of Modern Language Assistants from overseas in Scottish classrooms and universities, and Scotland-based students to travel and teach English abroad as English Language Assistants.

The British Council is set to become the National Agency for Erasmus+ in the UK. This will enable Scotland to achieve its vision of becoming more active internationally, forming connections and partnerships across the globe with countries who share our ambitions to alleviate poverty, achieve net zero and be an attractive place to live, work, visit, study and do business.

The Scottish Government supports the Higher Education Scholarships for Palestinians (HESPAL), a British Council UK scholarship programme developed in partnership with Palestinian universities. The programme aims to strengthen the Palestinian higher education sector by responding to its needs and priorities.

HESPAL seeks to nurture the next generation of senior academics who can uphold international quality standards within Palestinian universities, while also fostering renewed and sustainable partnerships between institutions in Palestine and the United Kingdom.

The Scottish Government looks forward to continued collaboration with the British Council, creating a lasting legacy for scholarship students who have arrived and settled in Scottish Universities from Palestine.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-01172 on 10 July 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.

Funding for the Scottish Land Fund in 2027-28 will be determined through the annual budget process.

The responsibility for these matters rests with local authorities in their role as employers of teachers. You may wish to contact the relevant local authority. You may also wish to contact the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS), the independent regulator of teachers in Scotland.