The Scottish Parliament

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)

Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

Question reference: S7W-01832

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 11 August 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of whether any delays in the adoption of medical technologies, including multigene assays for breast cancer patients, risk undermining Scotland’s ability to attract life sciences investment and maintain its reputation for clinical innovation.

The Scottish Government recognises the fragmented nature of the approval and routes to implementation for medical innovations across devices, diagnostics and new technological interventions.

Whilst the Scottish Government does not hold specific data on the time to adoption of all medical technologies, it is actively working to streamline processes within the health and care system to enable faster access to innovative products and solutions in line with our ambitions set out in our Health and Social Care Service Renewal Framework.

Growing Scotland’s life sciences sector and enhancing research, development and innovation are core Scottish Government commitments backed by the Life Sciences Strategy for Scotland and the Health and Social Care Service Renewal Framework. This is underpinned through a national innovation ecosystem designed to develop, test, adopt and scale the innovations most likely to improve the lives of people in Scotland.

Commercial multigene assays for breast cancer patients have been adopted in Scotland in line with the independent recommendations of the Scottish Health Technologies Group (SHTG). SHTG have criteria and processes in place to judge whether new evidence is sufficient to revise its existing recommendations.

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Question reference: S7W-01832

Answer