Chamber and committees

Understanding the unique support needs of children and young people with cancer is a priority for both the Scottish Government and the Managed Clinical Network for Children and Young People with Cancer (MCN CYPC).

The number of children and young people diagnosed with cancer in Scotland is small compared to adult cancers, and due to small patient numbers, it is challenging to produce detailed, anonymised data. Special consideration is required for children who are under 16, because they require tailored resources to capture their unique treatment and care needs, while recognising the additional sensitivities involved for those under 16, relating to information governance requirements for children.

The MCN CYPC are continuing to work with NHS Scotland Health Boards to establish consistent national approaches for information governance and approval processes across Scotland, relating to data collection for children under the age of 16.

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) has advised that it is not possible to identify the number of Scottish-domiciled medical student places funded in each year prior to Academic Year (AY) 2013-14. Up to and including AY 2012-13, students from the rest of the UK (rUK) were eligible for funded places and the data cannot be disaggregated between Scottish-domiciled and rUK students.

The following figures therefore represent the total number of funded undergraduate medical student places available to student eligible for funding in each year. SFC advise that, following the removal of funded rUK places, the vast majority of funded places are held by Scottish-domiciled students, although eligibility is not solely restricted to Scottish-domiciled students.

The Managed Clinical Network for Children and Young People with Cancer (MCN CYPC) will be one of several stakeholders Scottish Government will engage with to consider priorities and approaches that best support improved outcomes for children and young people with cancer. I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-02402 on 31 August 2026.

As a national network of healthcare specialists in children and young people’s cancer services, and the organisation responsible for the delivery of the current children and young people’s cancer strategy – The Collaborative and Compassionate Cancer Care: cancer strategy for children and young people 2021–2026, their input into these discussions is valuable.

Scottish Government has invested in the MCN CYPC since it was first established in 2011 to deliver on its remit of supporting NHS Boards to deliver high-quality cancer services for children and young people, whilst supporting the holistic needs of patients.

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.

In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the number of people seeking a neurodevelopmental diagnosis and support, resulting in increased pressure across a range of services.

Recognising these pressures, last year the Scottish Government and COSLA undertook a review of the implementation of the National Neurodevelopmental Specification for Children and Young People. The Specification is clear that support should be put in place at the earliest opportunity on the basis of need, and should not wait for, or be dependent on, a formal diagnosis.

The review identified areas of good practice and areas where further action is required. It highlighted the significant pressures facing services and the need for clearer national direction and practical support to help deliver timely, neuro-affirming care across Scotland.

In response to these findings, the Scottish Government committed to a programme of work to support health boards and local authorities in delivering the aims of the Specification. This work is being supported by the cross-sector Children and Young People’s Neurodevelopment Taskforce, which brings together expertise from health, education, local government and the third sector to ensure a collaborative, whole-system approach to improving support and services for children and young people.

Scottish Government is committed to and has a strong record of working with a range of third sector organisations to help shape cancer services and support people affected by cancer.

The Cancer Strategy for Scotland 2023-2033 and Cancer Plan for Scotland 2023 – 2026 set out a number of ambitions premised on third sector partnership working and delivery.

We recognise and value the important contribution of organisations such as Mesothelioma UK, the Scottish Mesothelioma Network, Action on Asbestos, the Clydebank Asbestos Group and the Less Survivable Cancers Taskforce in supporting people affected by mesothelioma and other asbestos-related conditions.

The Scottish Government supports Mesothelioma UK's Action Mesothelioma Day campaign, which plays an important role in raising awareness of mesothelioma and asbestos-related disease. In recent years, we have supported this through a parliamentary debate on mesothelioma, and by lighting up blue St Andrew's House and Victoria Quay buildings to join the campaign to 'Go Blue for Meso'.

Scottish Government worked with the Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CSfD) to explore the potential benefit of applying our existing Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services (RCDSs) model for adults to children and young people. This exploratory work deduced that including children in the RCDS model would be unlikely to significantly improve earlier diagnoses beyond existing practice.

The Scottish Referral Guidelines (SRGs) for Suspected Cancer were revised in 2025 and included specific updates on supporting a diagnosis of cancer in children and young people specifically. This includes considerations for non-specific symptoms of cancer for under-18s, like those considered for Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services (RCDSs).

Public Health Scotland (PHS) releases statistics, as part of the monthly Stage of Treatment (SoT) publication. This covers waits for new outpatient appointments under the 12-week standard, and for inpatient and day case admissions covered by the 12-week Treatment Time Guarantee (TTG). The latest statistics are published up to 30th June 2026 and can be found using the link below:

https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/stage-of-treatment-waiting-times/

The Scottish Government's Central Communications Division works with Media Planning and Buying Framework agencies to plan and buy media that delivers reach, frequency and engagement for each campaign's target audience.

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 funds, the Scottish Government has announced funding of £7.9 million to a wide range of public sector, third sector and academic organisations in 2026-27. 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's approach to media buying is to ensure that channel selection is driven by evidence of what most effectively reaches and engages target audiences, rather than by specifying particular media channels within contracts.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-02200 on 31 August 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.