Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government meets with the Green Freeports and their respective accountable bodies on a regular basis to discuss a wide range of aspects of the programme, including fair work. In addition, the Green Freeports report on fair work as part of the bi-annual monitoring of the programme.

The Scottish Government recognise the particular concerns that the illegal use of quad bikes and off-road motorcycles can cause in rural areas, including road safety risks, damage to agricultural land and property, and disturbance to local communities.

All instances of illegal use should be reported to Police Scotland, which has responsibility for enforcing the law and taking action where appropriate. Reports can also be made anonymously to Crimestoppers Scotland.

The University of Strathclyde was invited by the Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD), following a competitive procurement process, to evaluate Scotland’s RCDSs in November 2021. This aimed to better understand their role in detecting cancer and ensure optimal components are embedded in future models, with an interim report published November 2022.

A final report, published February 2024, following a two year period shows that they’re achieving what they set out to do – find cancer – while delivering a high standard of quality care at speed.

As stated in the response to S7W-01350">S7W-01350 on 8 July 2026, The Scottish Government has commissioned Healthcare Improvement Scotland to undertake an independent scalability assessment of our Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Service Pilots. This project will explore what our options are to expand access to non-specific symptom pathways for cancer in the most efficient and effective way, ensuring we reach population level coverage.

This initial phase of work is due to be complete by Spring 2027 after which point the we will work with Healthcare Improvement Scotland, the Centre for Sustainable Delivery and NHS Boards to develop an appropriate plan for service expansion.

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.

‘Aggressive Cancer’ is not a term recognised or used by NHS Scotland.

As stated in the response to S7W-01350">S7W-01350 on 8 July 2026, The Scottish Government has commissioned Healthcare Improvement Scotland to undertake an independent scalability assessment of our Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Service Pilots. This project will explore what our options are to expand access to non-specific symptom pathways for cancer in the most efficient and effective way, ensuring we reach population level coverage.

This initial phase of work is due to be complete by Spring 2027 after which point the we will work with Healthcare Improvement Scotland, the Centre for Sustainable Delivery and NHS Boards to develop an appropriate plan for service expansion.

There remains a focus on reform and expansion of non-specific cancer symptom referral, both in Scottish Government policy and across NHS Scotland outside of the RCDS development programme. The updated Scottish Referral Guidelines for Suspected Cancer were published in August 2025. For the first time, these guidelines include urgent suspicion of cancer referral criteria for patients presenting with non-specific symptoms.

The Centre for Sustainable Delivery have also developed a RCDS toolkit that is available for all health boards to use to access support in setting up a service at any time.

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.

We are aware of collaborative approaches being adopted by a number of local authorities alongside Police Scotland to tackle antisocial behaviour in town centres. The Scottish Government supports local authorities and Police Scotland through record funding.

We seek to complement local action through a range of national programmes aimed at prevention and early intervention. For example, through our CashBack for Communities programme, we support diversionary activities and positive opportunities for young people who may be at risk of becoming involved in antisocial behaviour or offending.

The Scottish Government accepts that continued diagnostic pressure is affecting 62-day performance. This is seen particularly in the high-volume pathways including colorectal, urological and breast cancer pathways.

Cancer remains a national priority for the NHS and Scottish Government which is why we published our ten-year cancer strategy for Scotland in June 2023, focused on improving cancer survival and providing equitable access to treatment. We have invested over £40m over the past five years to support cancer services and improve waiting times, with a focus on urology, colorectal and breast as our most challenged pathways.

94.5% of patients are being treated within 31 days of a decision to treat, with the median wait for treatment just two days – the joint lowest on record. We are treating more patients with cancer on time, within both standards, compared to pre-pandemic and 10 years ago.

Continued diagnostic pressure and an increase in referrals is affecting the 62-day performance. We recognise that we must do more to ensure more patients are treated within the 62-day standard. NHS Boards treated around 4,200 more cancer patients in the year to March 2026 compared to the same time pre-pandemic (April 2018 to March 2019), on the 62-day pathway.

The Scottish Government does not centrally hold records of grid connection applications made to National Energy System Operator (NESO), or of the status of any such applications, or of any decisions made by NESO in relation to such applications.

Applications for consent or planning permission are administered under the relevant Electricity or Town and Country Planning Acts and applicable regulations and are considered on a case-by-case basis. Where appropriate, Scottish Ministers will consider any relevant information held which relates to a proposed development’s grid connection, alongside all other application and environmental information, any public representations received, and all consultation responses, in accordance with legislative requirements.

The Government recognise that policing is an important part of tackling antisocial behaviour. To this end, the Strategic Police Priorities set out the importance of the police maintaining relationships and engaging with local communities. Under the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012, the Chief Constable of Police Scotland is under a duty to ensure that there are adequate arrangements in place for policing within each local authority area and is required to submit a local police plan to the local authority for its approval. The plan must set out the main priorities and objectives for policing the local authority area, based on intelligence and aligned with national Police Scotland strategic objectives.

The Chief Constable has previously set out her intention for community policing to be prioritised in Police Scotland and programmes such as Policing our communities are designed to help in this regard. The Scottish Government supports this through our funding settlement whilst respecting the operational independence of the Chief Constable and Police Scotland to best allocate this funding to support these priorities.

The Scottish Government condemns all forms of racially motivated harassment, intimidation and threats and recognises the importance of ensuring that East and Southeast Asian communities feel safe, supported and resilient.

We are continuing to work closely with Police Scotland, as well as utilising our established relationships with a wide range of communities and local partners to understand the concerns being raised and to ensure that appropriate support and reassurance is in place. This includes ongoing engagement to better understand the impact of these experiences and what is needed to support community safety and wellbeing.

Alongside this, our wider work on hate crime and community safety, including the development of the next phase of Scotland’s Hate Crime Strategy, will continue to be informed by those affected and seek to address emerging issues.

We encourage anyone who experiences or witnesses hate crime, including racially motivated harassment, to report it to Police Scotland.