Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government does not hold data regarding the number of incidents involving possession, misuse or adverse health consequences associated with prescription stimulants among pupils or students.

The ‘Alcohol and Drugs Strategic Plan’, published on the 10 March 2026, includes a commitment to continuing to support the healthy development of children and young people. This includes supporting the implementation of national guidance to aid education authorities in updating local policies for responding to substance use in school settings, and supporting the development of age and stage appropriate alcohol and drug education and prevention resources as part of the wider curriculum review.

We also published ‘Young people accessing support or treatment for alcohol and drugs: standards’ in December 2025 and remain committed to working with partners to implement these standards to ensure young people have access to appropriate and effective support.

Bullying of any kind is unacceptable and all children and young people have the right to learn in a safe, supportive and inclusive environment.

Responsibility for the operational management of schools, including responding to bullying incidents and safeguarding concerns, rests with local authorities and schools.

To support schools and local authorities, the Scottish Government published updated anti-bullying guidance in November 2024. We expect all local authorities, schools and organisations to develop and implement anti-bullying policies in line with Respect for All. The guidance is clear that responses to bullying should be addressed in line with a school’s relationships and behaviour policy, with a focus on prevention, early intervention and appropriate support for all children and young people involved.

In 2026-27, we are providing £310,480 to respectme, Scotland’s anti-bullying service to provide advice, resources, and training for schools, local authorities and parents to help prevent and address bullying.

The Scottish Government’s role is to provide strategic leadership for NHS Scotland to ensure a sustainable NHS workforce. Operational matters relating to staffing and the provision of specialist services, such as immunology and allergy services, are the responsibility of individual NHS Boards and will depend on service needs, taking account of national, regional and local priorities.

Boards are required to ensure that suitably qualified and competent staff are available in appropriate numbers to support safe, high-quality care and staff wellbeing, in line with the requirements of the Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019.

To support them in this regard and in pursuance of our own legal duties under the Act, we keep under regular review NHS Scotland's requirement for immunologists through annual reviews of the number of specialty training places needed to meet anticipated future service demand and consultant need across all specialties.

Since the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) opened in 2015, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has faced challenges linked to the original build quality.

The Board has a range of ongoing legal proceedings against the main contractor as a result of these significant failures, which include defects with ensuite facilities.

Where issues are identified, these are managed on a case-by-case basis. This can include precautionary closure of individual rooms or areas while investigations and remedial works are carried out. This is a dynamic position reflecting ongoing inspection, maintenance and repair activity.

Patient safety is at the heart of the Board’s work, and their Estates and contractor teams continue to repair defects on an ongoing basis as required.

The Board is working with designers and specialist contractors to develop a long-term refit design option for all ensuite rooms in due course. There is currently no confirmed timetable for completion of this programme.

As legal proceedings are ongoing, it would not be appropriate to comment on potential recovery of costs from contractors or insurers.

While statutory responsibility for managing and maintaining school estates rests with local authorities, the Scottish Government has engaged with the Highland Council on the issues at Rosebank Primary School. The Council has confirmed that no further class cancellations are expected and that remedial works to the affected toilet facilities will be completed before the start of the new school session in August. It has also committed to keeping the Parent Council updated on progress.

Through the £2 billion Learning Estate Investment Programme, the Scottish Government is providing the Council with significant funding support for its Broadford Primary School, Nairn Academy and Tain Campus projects. This funding is intended to augment, rather than replace, the Council’s own investment in its school estate.

More broadly, the latest School Estate Statistics, published in September, show that the proportion of school buildings reported as being in “good” or “satisfactory” condition has increased to a record 92%, compared with 62.7% in 2007.

Scottish Ministers will be considering options with the Scottish Ambulance Service to increase the availability of this service across Scotland, this will be informed by an evaluation of the current three sites funded by the Scottish Government in Glasgow, Inverness and Dundee. We expect the evaluation to be available by the end of summer 2026.

There are a number of public sector reform programmes currently underway in justice, including Summary Case Management (SCM) and the Digital Evidence Sharing Capability to reduce police time spent at court. The national rollout of SCM across all sheriffdoms was completed in January 2026. A report published in May 2026 estimates that, during the rollout period, over 100,000 fewer police officers were cited to give evidence. These reforms are improving efficiency across the system by reducing unnecessary trials, minimising witness citations, and helping to address court backlogs.

While statutory responsibility for managing and maintaining school estates rests with local authorities, the Scottish Government has engaged with the Highland Council on the issues at Rosebank Primary School. The Council has confirmed that no further class cancellations are expected and that remedial works to the affected toilet facilities will be completed before the start of the new school session in August. It has also committed to keeping the Parent Council updated on progress.

Through the £2 billion Learning Estate Investment Programme, the Scottish Government is providing the Council with significant funding support for its Broadford Primary School, Nairn Academy and Tain Campus projects. This funding is intended to augment, rather than replace, the Council’s own investment in its school estate.

More broadly, the latest School Estate Statistics, published in September, show that the proportion of school buildings reported as being in “good” or “satisfactory” condition has increased to a record 92%, compared with 62.7% in 2007.

Through targeted investment and service renewal, we will ensure no patient waits longer than 26 weeks for treatment by the end of this parliamentary term.

This follows a substantive and sustained period of improvement over the last year which saw waits over 52 weeks for New Outpatient decrease for 11 consecutive months and for Inpatient / Day-case by 15 months. We’re also seeing real progress in diagnostics, with activity in the latest quarter at its highest since reporting began in April 2024.

This progress was backed by more than £150 million additional funding in 2025-26, allocated to health boards to target the longest waits for planned care, and deliver on our Operational Improvement Plan commitment to provide an additional 150,000 appointments and procedures. The latest data show this target was surpassed with more than 168,000 additional appointments and procedures delivered.

We have already invested an additional £100 million this year to build on the progress made in the 2025-26 Operational Improvement Plan. We will build on this by creating additional capacity and deliver further reductions in waiting times, with a particular focus on those waiting the longest.

The Scottish Government does not intend to further delay the introduction of the muirburn licensing scheme. The postponement last year of the scheme introduction has allowed for further consideration of stakeholder concerns and amendments to the muirburn licensing scheme through the Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2026.

Our position is that muirburn policy must balance strategic wildfire prevention, including firebreaks, targeted fuel-load reduction, and a landscape-scale, risk-based approach, with the need to protect and restore Scotland’s peatlands. The licensing scheme is intended to do this by ensuring muirburn is carried out by trained people, in line with the Muirburn Code, and only where it is safe, justified and environmentally responsible.

Recent advice from NatureScot’s Scientific Advisory Committee sets out that licensing and strict compliance with the Code are the best way to reduce risks, including wildfire escapes and damage to carbon-rich peatland soils.

NHS Grampian has confirmed that arrangements are in place to support access to prescribed medication, including controlled drugs, within its current service model. Individuals are clinically assessed on entry to custody and prescribed medication is provided where clinically indicated, with processes in place to verify community prescriptions.

Arrangements are in place to provide opioid replacement therapy where required. However, at present, this is delivered from the Kittybrewster custody suite, with detainees transferred from other custody locations where necessary to ensure continuity of treatment. NHS Grampian has advised that it is continuing to work with partners to expand provision across all custody settings, including through the development of pharmacy, delivery and remote prescribing arrangements.

The delivery of healthcare services in police custody remains an operational responsibility for NHS boards. The Scottish Government will continue to support further improvement and consistent, timely access to prescribed medication.’