Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government recognise the harms that can be caused by gambling. As set out in our Population Health Framework, we are taking a Public Health approach to tackle these harms and improve the treatment services.

Through the Gambling Levy, the Scottish Government has committed to providing £7.9 million in funding to a wide range of organisations in 2026-27. This includes over £3.9 million of funding to third sector organisations. The funding is being used to increase access to prevention and treatment services to support individuals and families affected by gambling related harms across all of Scotland.

We are working closely with our delivery partners to support them to progress this work.

The Scottish Government is providing £4.5 million annually to NHS boards supporting the development and delivery of specialist services for people with long COVID, ME/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) and related conditions. The funding, provided on a recurring basis, is distributed using the NHS Scotland Resource Allocation Committee (NRAC) formula, which takes account of factors associated with variations in healthcare need across populations.

The Scottish Government will work with NHS boards to monitor progress.

The Scottish Government has committed to a review of the Patient Travel Reimbursement Schemes guidance. However, as the scope, timing, and governance of the review have not yet been agreed and no start date has been confirmed, it is not currently possible to provide details of any wider reform programme that the review may inform or support, or when the work is expected to conclude.

The Scottish Government will provide further information on the review, including its remit and timescales, once these have been established.

No financial penalties, contractual remedies or performance improvement notices have been issued to OneAdvanced in relation to the performance of the Vision GP IT system.

The Scottish Government is today publishing the Health and Care Improving Flow Plan 2026-2031, delivering our commitment to publish a National Flow Plan within the first 100 days of this administration.

The Plan sets out our ambition for one connected system, simple routes to care, ensuring every person receives the most appropriate response as quickly as possible. It outlines action to improve navigation into care, expand home and community-based services, strengthen discharge arrangements, improve acute hospital flow, and tackle overcrowding and corridor care.

The Plan has been developed jointly with Scotland East and Scotland West Sub-National Planning Committees and informed through engagement with NHS Boards, Health and Social Care Partnerships, clinicians, national agencies, care providers and other partners. Detailed operational implementation arrangements an collaboration with partners will continue to be developed following publication.

The Plan can be accessed here: Health and Care Improving Flow Plan 2026-2031.

Through delivery of this Plan we will improve access to care, support more care closer to home, reduce delays and improve outcomes for people across Scotland.

The Scottish Government remains committed to improving audiology services across Scotland and we continue to work closely with partners to determine how best to move the provision of audiology care into community settings.

On 27 August 2026, I wrote to the Health, Care and Sport Committee to provide an update on my meeting with NHS Heads of Service, community audiology providers and other key stakeholders as part of this government’s 100 days prospectus. This meeting centred on a draft proposal for development of a Target Operating Model for audiology, and my letter sets out more detail on the Scottish Government’s immediate priorities for audiology services. It can be read in full here:

20260827 Minister for Community Care to Convener | Scottish Parliament Website

As this work is at an early stage and discussions with stakeholders are ongoing, a timetable for implementation will follow in due course.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on GP Practices implementing short term reductions in clinical activity, appointment availability or service provision. The Scottish Government has agreed with Public Service Delivery Scotland to increase the post migration support to help practices familiarise themselves with the new system and reduce any short-term disruption.

In March 2022, Vision successfully met all Tranche 1 accreditation requirements. Functional and non-functional testing was undertaken covering security, hosting arrangements, clinical safety, support arrangements and training provision, with Health Board subject matter experts contributing to the assessment process.

User feedback from GPs, practice managers and other primary care staff who have migrated to the new Vision system has been collected by Public Services Delivery Scotland through an ongoing lessons learned exercise. There is also continued engagement with stakeholders including GP representative groups including the Royal College of GPs and the Scottish GP Council.

We recognise that there have been some short-term disruption to services in practices that have transitioned to the new Vision system and in response, Public Service Delivery Scotland has increased post migration support to practices.