Chamber and committees

A refresh to the Framework for Effective Cancer Management (FECM) and supporting toolkit has now been published and supports NHS Boards to effectively manage suspected cancer patients through diagnostic and treatment pathways.

NHS Boards have been asked to complete self-evaluation of their implementation of the FECM and devise associated action plans where necessary. NHS Board Executive Teams should be fully sighted on these plans and are supporting teams to implement. This will provide oversight of areas of improvement or concerns and enable the Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) Cancer Improvement team to support board implementation.

NHS Boards are developing detailed planned care delivery plans for 2026-27 to support waiting list reductions and improve productivity. The Scottish Government and the CfSD are engaging with boards regularly and continue to scrutinise improvement plans and performance trajectories to ensure they are deliverable, whilst considering how available funding may support additional activity.

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.

In response to oncology pressures, we have committed to additional funding for chemotherapy services reaching up to £10m per annum by 2027, with £3m released in 2023-24, £4.6m released in 2024-25 and £6.6m in 2025-26.

In addition to this, we have provided 13 mobile MRI and 4 mobile CT scanners to increase activity to 7 days a week, 12 hours a day, to help people get diagnostic tests they need, reducing diagnostic waits.

We have funded additional endoscopy and cystoscopy training places via the NHS Academy to future proof the workforce and provide sustainable diagnostic capacity. There are currently seven one-stop Urology Diagnostic Hubs in NHS Scotland and we will look to establish more.

The Scottish Government condemns all forms of racially motivated harassment, intimidation and violence and is clear that communities affected should feel safe, supported and resilient.

Since 2021 we have invested £6.3 million to support race equality and anti-racism organisations. This has enabled 48 funded organisations to support over 7,713 individuals and 2,427 organisations. Furthermore, we are investing £2.83M over 3 financial years into the Anti-Racism Observatory for Scotland to help advance anti-racism, working in conjunction with communities across Scotland.

Working with communities, Police Scotland and local partners is central to the Scottish Government’s approach and we work closely with partners across the third sector and community groups to discuss measures to promote community safety and wellbeing. This engagement is central to ensuring that our approach reflects the needs and lived experiences of those most impacted.

The Scottish Government is clear that everyone should be able to go about their daily lives free from harassment and fear, and that those experiencing racially motivated harassment should feel supported to report incidents and seek assistance.

Decisions on the nature of advice provided to individuals are a matter for Police Scotland directly. However, the Scottish Government works closely with Police Scotland on issues relating to hate crime and community safety, including through regular engagement to understand emerging concerns and ensure that responses help to maintain public confidence and provide appropriate reassurance.

We will continue to work in partnership with Police Scotland and others to support those affected by hate crime and to ensure that communities feel safe.

We encourage anyone who experiences or witnesses hate crime, including racially motivated harassment. You can report hate crimes in Scotland directly to Police Scotland, through Third Party Reporting Centres, or via anonymous services such as Crimestoppers by calling 0800 555 111 or submitting information via the Crimestoppers Online Form.

Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services are a useful addition to how cancer can be diagnosed in Scotland. They provide primary care with access to a new fast-track diagnostic pathway for people with non-specific symptoms suspicious of cancer, such as weight loss and fatigue.

Scotland’s six Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services (RCDSs) – established within existing NHS infrastructure – are operational in NHS Ayrshire and Arran, NHS Dumfries and Galloway, NHS Fife, NHS Lanarkshire, NHS Borders and NHS Forth Valley. The development of RCDSs is being led through the Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD).

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 we will work with Healthcare Improvement Scotland, the Centre for Sustainable Delivery and NHS Boards to develop an appropriate plan for service expansion.

The tax sites in Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport were designated in April 2024 and those of Forth Green Freeport in June 2024. Since then, both Green Freeports have been working up their full business cases, which were signed off in autumn 2025, whilst also promoting the tax sites to investors. This has been showing early signs of success, including for example Sumitomo's £350 million new subsea cable factory at Port of Nigg and Quantum Capital Group's £300 million financing for the development of the Ardersier Energy Transition Facility.

The current, early phase of Green Freeports programme is focused on site preparation and construction of facilities, like Sumitomo's factory. This results in the creation of short-term construction job opportunities, with long term job creation expected to follow thereafter.

Job creation by companies located in the tax and customs sites is monitored through bi-annual data collections from the Green Freeports, showing 32 new direct jobs created at Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport and one new direct job at Forth Green Freeport since the designation of the tax sites and 30 September 2025. The Green Freeports also report that construction work, with associated indirect employment (not captured in the formal monitoring), is underway at tax sites in Grangemouth, Rosyth, Nigg and Inverness. At the latter two, Green Freeports advise that approximately 250 construction staff are supporting delivery of the projects on site.

It will be the defining mission of this government to support families with the cost of living and to eradicate child poverty.

Economic modelling published in March 2026 assesses the cumulative impact of our policies on child poverty. It estimates that action in ‘Bringing Hope, Building Futures’, our Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan for 2026-31, will keep 100,000 children out of relative poverty this year. The impact is proportionately greater for families on the very lowest incomes, with our policies estimated to keep 70,000 children out of deep poverty this year.

Compared to elsewhere in the UK, our Five Family Payments – inclusive of our Scottish Child Payment, three Best Start Grants, and Best Start Foods – are providing unparalleled financial support to families. Our Five Family Payments could be worth over £11,000 by the time an eligible child turns six and around £26,000 by the time an eligible child turns 16. This compares to less than £2,000 for families in England and Wales, where support ends when an eligible child turns four.?

This is part of much wider support for families, including our continued investment in the provision of 1,140 hours of high-quality funded early learning and childcare to all three and four year olds and eligible two year olds. If families paid for this offer themselves, it would cost them around £6,400 per eligible child per year.

Our action is making a real difference to families, with the Institute for Fiscal Studies estimating some of the lowest income households with children are around £2,760 per year better off compared to England as a result of our approach to income tax and benefits.

We know that we must continue to go further to tackle child poverty and support families with the cost of living. That is why we have committed to taking forward plans to ensure essential food items in supermarkets are affordable, to expand support for childcare to all children from nine-months to the end of primary school, and to introducing a £2 nationwide cap on bus fares to lower the cost of people’s commute.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that families can access the support they need, including those living in rural and deprived communities, and recognise how vital childcare and family support services are in rural and island areas, both in relation to giving children the best start in life and supporting families to work.

Through our Whole Family Support and the Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC) approaches, the Scottish Government seeks to create the conditions for partners to deliver person-centred services that interact seamlessly so that children and families across Scotland can get the right support, at the right time, in the right place, for as long as they need it, whether those needs are simple or complex.

The Scottish Government’s Third Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan, Bringing Hope, Building Futures, sets out a range of actions that we will be delivering to ensure families have access to the services and support that they require, including:

• investing £20 million in a new Whole Family Support Third Sector Delivery Fund, allowing third sector organisations to provide more support that wraps around families in their communities, with specific consideration given to the extent to which applications to the Fund include a focus on rural or island communities.
• continuing to invest £50 million through the Whole Family Wellbeing Funding Programme .
• continuing to invest over £1 billion in 2026-27 in funded ELC, providing 1140 hours of funded childcare for all three and four year olds and eligible two year olds
• delivering a national breakfast club offer for primary school aged children with provision in all primary and special schools by August 2027
• investing £15 million in a Childcare Support Fund to help address childcare cost barriers for families most at risk of living in poverty across Scotland
• investing an additional £2.5 million to increase wrap-around activity clubs for primary school age children.

Since the publication of the plan, the Scottish Government has gone further, committing to expanding childcare support to children from nine months through to the end of primary school over the course of this Parliament. As this work progresses, we will take into account the needs of families across Scotland, including the challenges of delivering childcare in rural and island settings, and the needs of priority family groups at risk of, or living in, poverty.

Section 12 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2025 came into force on 16 March 2026.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on incidents recorded by Police Scotland.