Chamber and committees

The planning and delivery of services sits with NHS Boards, who are responsible for ensuring appropriate pathways are in place for assessment, diagnosis and treatment based on the needs of their local populations.

The Scottish Government supports NHS Boards through wider work to improve access to specialist services and strengthen pathways across primary, community and specialist care, with a particular focus on reducing unwarranted variation and ensuring the sustainability of services.

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 Sustainability and NHS Boards to develop an appropriate plan for service expansion.

We engage in regular discussions with the Scottish FA and SPFL about the need to tackle issues of disorder in football stadia.

In terms on the cost to Glasgow City Council of the clean up operation, that is a matter for them to discuss with the club.

The Scottish Government has committed to respond directly to the concerns of rural and island communities which includes the review and refreshment of existing financial incentives available to the sector, such as Golden Hello payments, to better support patient access in rural and island areas. This work is currently underway and we hope to have revised arrangements in place later in this financial year.

The Scottish Government keeps emerging national and international evidence under review, including work from bodies such as UNESCO and the OECD, to understand how digital tools can support learning, wellbeing and positive educational outcomes. This research highlights both the opportunities offered by well-designed digital approaches and the importance of ensuring device use is purposeful and balanced. The Scottish Government will continue to consider international research and good practice.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. We would direct the member to the NHS Grampian health board to obtain this information.

In order to support the reduction of waiting times, patients may be asked to travel to appointments out with their local health board. It is expected that most patients will be seen and treated locally wherever possible and appropriate, based on clinical need and operational effectiveness. However, it may not always be possible for Health Boards to provide access locally, for all patients and for all services, where Health Boards are, for example, constrained by geography or specialist services.

The Scottish Government recognises the challenges faced for patients accessing NHS dentistry in rural and island areas, which is why we have provided an additional £437k of recurring funding from 2025-26 to support access to dental services in NHS Dumfries and Galloway.

A key strand of the 2025 Public Service Reform Strategy is to ensure that the service delivery landscape is proportionate, streamlined and designed to meet Scotland’s needs in the most efficient way by eliminating duplication. As part of this, we continue to engage and work in partnership with public bodies to bring forward specific proposals to streamline the landscape to deliver long term fiscal sustainability. A Public Service Renewal Bill will be necessary as part of this process to make any legislative changes required.

The responsibilities of all Cabinet Secretaries are published on the Scottish Government website; the detailed responsibilities for the role of Cabinet Secretary for Public Service Reform is available here: Cabinet Secretary for Public Service Reform - gov.scot.

I am responsible for the overarching policy on Public Service Reform (PSR) including implementation of the PSR strategy (published June 2025) which sets out how we will increase the scale and pace of reform through changing our system of public services to be more preventative, joined up and efficient, to deliver excellent public services that are fiscally sustainable. Further, I am responsible for public bodies and public sector productivity and efficiency, procurement and shared services, and civil service operations and efficiency.

As committed to in our Public Service Reform Strategy the Scottish Government is working in partnership with public bodies to review the public service delivery landscape.

We want public bodies and Scottish Government, working individually and collectively, to continue to pursue all reasonable opportunities to maximise value from available resources. Specific proposals for public body rationalisation resulting from this work will be brought forward and where legislative change is necessary this will be taken forward through the Public Service Renewal Bill.

The number of Scottish public bodies under our control has reduced from 199 in 2007 to 134 as at May 2026.