Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government does not hold the data requested.

We are scoping options for heart and lung MOTs in community settings like general practice, pharmacies and other community settings.

This is about ensuring that we can identify those most at risk of lung and heart disease earlier, and provide the support that people need as a result.

Further information on heart and lung MOTs will be set out in due course.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-00214 on 1 June 2026. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found athttps://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

The safety of our maternity services is a priority to this government, which is why we have committed to undertake an independent review of maternity services in Scotland. I will shortly be setting out a statement to Parliament detailing what the review will consider, when it will be delivered, how it will engage with stakeholders, how it will be led and the timeframe it will operate in.

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.

There are currently two Project Gigabit in Scotland contracts that are in their delivery phase which intersect with the Highlands and Islands Parliamentary Region – the regional contract awarded to GoFibre which covers the North East of Scotland and the nationwide contract awarded to Openreach. While there is currently a live regional procurement underway for Orkney and Shetland, until a contract is awarded, it is not possible to provide a breakdown of the premises to be connected.

a) The following table provides the number of premises that have received a connection through Project Gigabit in Scotland so far in the Highlands and Island Parliamentary Region, broken down by local authority area.

The Scottish Government, along with the other nations of the UK, follows the advice of the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), an independent expert advisory group, when setting screening policy.

The UK NSC does not currently recommend a universal screening programme for prostate cancer. However, on 28 May, the Committee recommended two yearly screening for men aged 45-61 who have both a BRCA2 gene variant and a family history of breast, ovarian, pancreatic or prostate cancer. The Committee concluded that there is sufficient evidence in this group to determine that the benefits of screening outweigh potential harms. The Scottish Government will set out how we will implement this recommendation in due course.

The UK NSC did not recommend screening more widely because they have concluded that there is not yet sufficient evidence to show that the benefits for other men would outweigh the risks. Evidence shows that current methods of screening can miss some cancers and are not accurate enough at identifying which men with prostate cancer will require treatment. This can lead to the detection of cancers that would not have caused harm in a person’s lifetime, resulting in unnecessary tests and treatments with potentially serious, long term side effects.

Research into alternative screening methods is ongoing, including the use of MRI and blood tests. Of particular note is the TRANSFORM study, funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research and Prostate Cancer UK, which will run over ten years and recruit hundreds of thousands of men. Early findings will be shared with the UK NSC to inform future decisions, and the Scottish Government will monitor progress of the trial closely.

The Island Business Resilience Fund issued awards to a total of 444 businesses across four island local authority areas. The local authority breakdown is as follows:

• Argyll and Bute – 206
• Comhairle nan Eilean Siar – 98
• Highland – 15
• North Ayrshire - 125

The First Minister’s 100 days programme commits to developing outline plans that will facilitate delivery of public service renewal. This includes working in partnership with stakeholders, such as public bodies, and trade unions to scope plans for additional legislation to deliver this commitment.