Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government fully recognises the pain and distress experienced by people impacted by Mr Eljamel’s practice. That is why we established the statutory public inquiry into the actions of Mr Eljamel and NHS Tayside to ensure patients obtain answers to their questions and that lessons are learned. The First Minister and former Cabinet Secretary for Health have met on several occasions with affected individuals and have been clear that the Scottish Government will continue to do all we can to ensure they get the answers they are seeking.

The work of the Inquiry is continuing. The Scottish Government accepted that the decision to postpone the hearings scheduled in April and May was one for the Chair, Lord Weir. The work with core participants continues to enable progress to be made on the Inquiry.

It is important that this process takes place, allowing core participants and members of the Inquiry to come together to fully address the issues.

Most recently, Scottish Government officials met with Lord Weir, on 16 April 2026 to discuss various operational matters including those relating to Waverley Gate. Following that meeting, regular action reporting was established, with officials providing weekly updates to the Inquiry, via the Inquiry Secretariat, on progress against actions relating to the hearing suite and impact on the inquiry timeline.

The Inquiry Chair held a virtual Procedural Hearing on 14 May 2026, during which Lord Weir and Counsel to the Inquiry, further examined issues relating to Waverley Gate as well as updating Core Participants on the Inquiry plans for the next scheduled hearings in September 2026. At that hearing, the Scottish Government committed to continue to provide detailed updates on progressing the resolution to the Waverley Gate building issues.

The Scottish Government has since then continued to progress actions arising from that hearing with urgency and have provided the most recent update to the Inquiry Chair which will allow him to consider options to ensure there is no further delay to the Inquiry hearing schedule.

£14 million was originally allocated to the Future Farming Investment Scheme (FFIS) in 2025-26, as the Scottish Government piloted delivering up-front capital funding to support farmers and crofters to deliver the Scottish Government’s Vision for Agriculture. In response to high application rates, it was announced on 23 October 2025 that £7 million additional funding would be made available and a total of £21.4 million was allocated to successful applicants in 2025-26.

In 2026-27, capital funding continues to be under significant pressure, with Scotland’s capital block grant due to reduce in real terms by 0.3% per annum by 2029-30. Despite these pressures, it has been possible to allocate £14.25 million to a second round of the FFIS, slightly exceeding the level of funding initially proposed in 2025-26. This is part of the £26 million Agricultural Modernisation Fund budget, which will also fund vital support for our food production and food processing sector, small producers and agritourism.

The Scottish government acknowledges the important role that artificial intelligence can play in supporting the diagnosis and management of stroke and the procurement of the national solution reflects the intention to include the use of artificial intelligence in the stroke pathway.

As part of a wider review of Scotland's home education arrangements that was committed to in June 2025, Scottish Government officials are working with local government to assess the information that is held by local authorities in relation to home educating children and young people. This has included official level contact and scoping meetings with COSLA, ADES and Local Authority Home Education Leads, and most recently an information request sent last month to clarify the latest information that is held by local authorities. Officials will continue to work with local government and data analysts to review that information, identify potential data gaps and work towards establishing a baseline on the number of children and young people who are home educating in Scotland.

The Scottish Government fully recognises the pain and distress experienced by people impacted by Mr Eljamel’s practice. That is why we established the statutory public inquiry into the actions of Mr Eljamel and NHS Tayside to ensure patients obtain answers to their questions and that lessons are learned.

The Scottish Government has awarded a contract for trauma-informed support for individuals involved in the public inquiry, recognising that for some individuals the process of participating in the Inquiry could cause distress. The award of this contract was published on the Public Contracts Scotland portal in line with Scottish Government policy. Please refer to the link View Notice - Public Contracts Scotland.

The Eljamel Inquiry has also established a dedicated Support Hub to provide information and assistance to individuals affected by, or participating in, the Inquiry. This includes former patients, family members, witnesses, and others who may engage with its work. The Inquiry recognises that many individuals have experienced trauma and is therefore committed to conducting its work in a trauma-informed manner, with the aim of minimising the risk of further distress.

The Support Hub outlines a range of assistance available to those involved. This includes emotional support, including during hearings; participant support for those directly engaging with the Inquiry process; legal support; assistance related to participation in the Independent Clinical Review; and signposting to external organisations offering additional support services.

Furthermore, the Independent Case Note Review (ICR) team also provides dedicated support for former patients and their families. While this service does not directly relate to the operational matters concerning delayed hearings, it represents an additional avenue through which individuals can seek assistance. Through emailing the mailbox, individuals are able to submit requests for support, which are then directed to the appropriate team best placed to provide help. For ease of reference, a link to this information is provided below.

Eljamel Independent Clinical Review: December 2025 update - gov.scot.

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.

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 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.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-00237 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 at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

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.