Chamber and committees

Scottish Government is aware of the impact that travel for health can have on an individual diagnosed with cancer and their family. Scottish Government has a number of schemes in place to support children and young people with cancer with costs incurred for travelling for treatment. Scottish Government has not assessed, nor holds data on the impact of travel distances on access to cancer treatment for children and young people living in rural and remote areas.

Financial support for travel to hospital appointments, regardless of distance travelled to access cancer treatment for children and young people, or for specific Health Boards, including NHS Dumfries and Galloway, is available through the patient travel expenses reimbursement schemes.

Under these schemes, patients and authorised escorts may reclaim reasonable travel costs associated with attending hospital appointments, subject to eligibility criteria and clinical requirements. These arrangements apply across Scotland and provide support to eligible young people and their families irrespective of condition.

Additionally, Scotland is the only UK-nation that currently has an active Young Patient Family Fund (YPFF). The fund provides support to the families of all babies, children and young people from birth to age 18 who require inpatient care, regardless of their health diagnosis.

The Intelligent Liver Function Testing (iLFT) pathway was developed in NHS Tayside and has been identified as best practice for the early detection and management of liver disease. A consortium of 12 NHS boards has procured a Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) for Scotland and iLFT functionality is available within that system. NHS Fife was the first board to make use of this functionality through the National LIMS programme in summer 2023.

The National LIMS system is being rolled out across participating NHS boards. However, some NHS boards already have the capability to use iLFT through their existing laboratory information systems and are therefore not dependent on implementation of National LIMS to adopt the pathway.

The Scottish Government does not hold information centrally on the date that iLFT became, or is expected to become, available in each NHS board area. Implementation is dependent on local laboratory infrastructure, digital systems and service arrangements and decisions on deployment are a matter for individual NHS boards.

Scotland is the only UK-nation that currently has an active Young Patient Family Fund (YPFF). The fund provides support to the families of all babies, children and young people from birth to age 18 who require inpatient care, regardless of their health diagnosis.

Eligible patients and authorised escorts can also claim reasonable travel costs for hospital appointments through the Patient Travel Expenses Reimbursement Scheme. Young people aged 18 to 24 are not eligible for the YPFF but may still receive support with travel costs through the Patient Travel Expenses Reimbursement Scheme, subject to local NHS Board eligibility criteria and assessment.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number or value of travel cost payments made to children and young people with cancer receiving treatment. While the Scottish Government sets the national framework for patient travel reimbursement, eligibility decisions and funding are managed locally by individual NHS Boards.

Scotland is the only UK-nation to have a dedicated cancer for children and young people.

The children and young people’s cancer strategy – The Collaborative and Compassionate Cancer Care: Cancer Strategy for Children and Young People 2021-2026 sets clear expectations and priorities for the treatment and care of children and young people with cancer.

Scottish Government works closely with the Managed Clinical Network for Children and Young People with Cancer (MCN CYPC) who are a national network of healthcare specialists from different NHS boards across Scotland, responsible for overseeing and driving improvements in cancer care. They ensure that all children and young people’s cancer centres work together as one single, cohesive service in NHS Scotland and their work is ongoing.

Public Services Delivery Scotland are obtaining the requisite clinical, planning, financial and staffing information from NHS Boards to understand what would be required to make 24/7 thrombectomy available across Scotland.

We expect this financial case for expansion to be produced by the end of October. We will then work at pace to produce a delivery plan with timescales for service expansion.

Scottish Government Officials have met with colleagues in the UK Government Department for Health and Social Care once since May 2026, to discuss progress on their proposals for a travel fund for children and young people with cancer. It will be for the UK Government to determine the eligibility criteria for this fund.

Scottish Government officials have not had any direct conversations with the Welsh Government regarding the Welsh travel and accommodation fund for children and young people with cancer.

Families continue to successfully claim for the Young Patients Family Fund (YPFF) and the Scottish Government is not aware of any evidence to suggest that the application form acts as a barrier to eligible families accessing this support.

To help make the fund as accessible as possible, the YPFF claim form and Terms and Conditions have been translated into a range of languages to support families who may find it challenging to read information in English.

Information leaflets are available across all Health Boards, and staff are encouraged to ensure that eligible families are made aware of the support available.

The Scottish Government does not collect data on the employment status of newly qualified educational psychologists. Local Authorities are responsible for the employment of educational psychologists and any data about their employment status is held locally. However, we continue to work closely with the National Scottish Steering Group for Educational Psychologists (NSSGEP) on workforce planning to ensure a sustainable supply of educational psychologists to meet future demand.

Educational Psychology Services sitting within Local Authority Education Services are responsible for carrying out workforce planning in conjunction with NSSGEP and will provide information regarding the number of Educational Psychologists (EPs) within their service. This data is used by the Steering Group to inform further planning and to assess availability of placements for EP trainees.

The Scottish Government recognises the important role Educational Psychologists play in supporting learners, raising attainment, promoting inclusion and equality, and helping those who are most vulnerable. That is why we continue to invest in the training of educational psychologists, in partnership with COSLA.

The statutory review of the impact joint and several liability for council tax arrears has on victim-survivors of domestic abuse is currently underway.

The Scottish Government recognises that joint and several liability for council tax can create very difficult circumstances for victim-survivors of domestic abuse.

The review is taking a twin-track approach involving analysis of the available evidence base together with stakeholder engagement with groups such as domestic abuse support organisations, money advice and debt charities and local authorities.

On completing the review, we will lay a report on it before the Scottish Parliament by 6 November this year, which will include a statement of action we intend to take as a result. This is in line with the timescales established by section 76(2) of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2025.