Chamber and committees

I wrote to the Economy and Fair Work Committee on 25 June 2024 to confirm that a market testing exercise for Glasgow Prestwick Airport was underway. Scottish Ministers’ longstanding position is that the airport should be returned to the private sector at the appropriate time and opportunity. This must be to an organisation with the commitment and capability to operate businesses directly relevant to GPA.

Any decision to sell GPA must represent value for money for taxpayers and be informed by what is right for the long-term success of the business and its contribution to the local and Scottish economy.

The process is ongoing and I will update Parliament when a significant development has been made.

The Scottish Government has plans to raise awareness about community optometry services, but is unable to take this forward at the present time due to financial constraints. In addition, the NHS Inform and Eyes. NHS.Scot websites have content relevant to the provision of NHS funded eye examinations in Scotland.

We will continue to expand NHS Pharmacy First Scotland so that a wider range of health conditions are covered. This will further transfer the care of common clinical conditions to community pharmacy, removing the need for visits to GPs, Out of Hours services or Emergency Departments for everyday self-limiting conditions. In doing so, we will consult NHS24 and health boards to identify the priority conditions the service could cover in all community pharmacies in Scotland.

Through the Pharmacy First Plus element of the service, pharmacists who are qualified independent prescribers (IPs) can already go a step further than standard Pharmacy First, going beyond the approved list of products and the Patient Group Directions (PGDs) in place, to prescribe a wider range of products in response to patients' symptoms and conditions.

Medicines reach community pharmacies, hospitals, GP practices through a supply chain that is privately operated on a UK-wide basis, from manufacturers in the UK and overseas to wholesale warehouses and distributors. The NHS itself does not have a significant logistical role in the supply chain for medicines.

The supply of medicines, including medicines shortages, is a reserved matter and therefore the responsibility of the UK Government’s Department of Health and Social Care. The Scottish Government works closely with the UK Government on all related medicines supply issues and there are well-established and robust processes in place to communicate, address and mitigate any risks to patients as result of any medicines supply issues that occur.

The Scottish Government and NHS Scotland National Procurement have regular engagement with key stakeholders including Health Boards and Community Pharmacy Scotland on any medicines supply related issues to ensure the provision of medicines for patients in both primary and secondary care settings across Scotland.

I wrote to the Economy and Fair Work Committee on 25 June 2024 to confirm that a market testing exercise for Glasgow Prestwick Airport was underway. Scottish Ministers’ longstanding position is that the airport should be returned to the private sector at the appropriate time and opportunity. This must be to an organisation with the commitment and capability to operate businesses directly relevant to GPA.

Any decision to sell GPA must represent value for money for taxpayers and be informed by what is right for the long-term success of the business and its contribution to the local and Scottish economy.

The process is ongoing and I will update Parliament when a significant development has been made.

Implementation of the Heart Disease Action Plan is overseen by the National Heart Disease Task Force, which reviews annual progress reports.

Consideration will be given to an evaluation of the delivery of this plan as it continues into 2026.

Myself and the Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity have not met formally with Scottish Environment Link whilst the fishing industry were present as part of the discussion, since we were appointed to our roles in May 2024.

Bus services in Scotland were deregulated by the then Conservative UK Government under the Transport Act of 1985 and are mostly provided by private operators.

Our commitment to bus travel includes the investment of almost £465 million to support concessionary bus travel and to help ensure our bus operators can continue to provide access to affordable transport in the de-regulated market across all of Scotland. The Network Support Grant is aimed at keeping bus networks more extensive and fares lower than would otherwise be the case. This fund is paid on a per kilometre basis which favours longer distance routes more common in rural areas.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of ensuring that women in rural areas are able to access cervical and breast screening services.

The breast screening programme operates from six centres across Scotland and is supported by 21 mobile units to allow screening to be delivered more locally to minimise travel and distance as barriers for attendance. The latest statistics released by Public Health Scotland (PHS) show that for the breast screening programme, the NHS Health Boards which include the highest level of rural areas saw above-average uptake in Scotland, and also met Healthcare Improvement Scotland’s acceptable uptake standard of 70% for the three-year period 2020-23.

The Scottish Government supports women to access the cervical screening programme by funding GPs to deliver it in their communities. As with breast screening, the latest PHS statistics for cervical screening also show a higher than average uptake in NHS Health Boards that have the highest level of rural areas.

To strengthen the delivery of comprehensive, sustainable and accessible services, the Scottish Government is developing a Route Map for Primary Care to further enhance sustainability of Primary Care, aligned to wider reform of Health and Social Care. This encompasses evaluation of both how the Primary Care system operates currently, including across rural areas, and how it will operate in the context of wider reforms. Under a shared vision for Health and Social Care, the Route Map will set the strategic direction for Primary Care as a whole.

In addition to this, the Scottish Government has annually made £1m available through our Inequalities Fund. Boards are allocated funding for use in developing local initiatives taking into consideration specific barriers for individuals. For example, NHS Highland’s partnered with the North’s Scottish Breast Screening Service to deliver telephone reminders targeted at individuals invited to take part in screening for the first time. During the initiative's second year, uptake among individuals living in 'Remote Small Towns', 'Accessible Rural Areas' & 'Remote Rural Areas' (all categories within the Scottish Urban Rural Classification), was statistically significantly higher among those who were contacted relative to those who were not contacted.

Our 2018 Diet and Healthy Weight Delivery Plan set out ambitious and wide-ranging action to deliver our vision for a Scotland where everyone eats well and has a healthy weight. We are taking forward a range of action across five key outcomes: giving children the best start in life; creating a healthier food environment; better access to weight management services; leadership and reducing health inequalities.

We continue to support convenience stores to increase the accessibility of fruit and vegetables in more deprived areas and support businesses to reformulate their products to make them healthier.

We have maintained funding to community food networks, enabling them to increase access to affordable, healthier food to their communities and to promote the health benefits of nutrition and physical activity.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting the health and wellbeing of our children and young people. All food and drink served in schools must comply with the Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink in Schools (Scotland) Regulations 2020 which are designed to provide children and young people with an appropriate amount of energy and nutrients to support their health growth and development.

In addition, food and health education is a key part of Curriculum for Excellence helping to ensure that our children and young people are provided with the skills and knowledge they need to make positive food choices that benefit their health now and in the future. To further support this holistic approach, more children than ever before are being offered balanced and nutritious free school meals as a result of our free school meal expansion programme.