Chamber and committees

Scottish Government only holds information on meetings between Dr Hilary Cass and Scottish Government officials that are attended by Scottish Government.

Scottish Government has met with Dr Hilary Cass and members of the Cass Review team on a number of occasions. Several of these meetings included clinicians from Health Boards in Scotland. Scottish Government understands separate meetings between clinicians and/or NHS Health Boards and Dr Hiliary Cass and the Cass Review team may have taken place, but does not hold information regarding frequency or dates of such contact.

b) Available information indicates that Scottish Government officials have met with Dr Hilary Cass in her capacity as Chair of NHS England’s independent review of gender identity services for children and young people in either direct meetings, or meetings where Dr Cass was also an attendee, on:

21-09-2022

21-11-2022

17-01-2023

20-09-2023

16-11-2023

22-11-2023

19-12-2023

Dr Cass also updated MSPs on the ongoing work of her review on 29-09-2022. Officials attended that MSP-chaired meeting as observers.

Established in 2022, the National Gender Identity Healthcare Reference Group advises on the ongoing implementation of actions outlined in our 2021 Framework. The Reference Group includes NHS Board representation, LGBTIQ organisations, clinicians, academics and people with lived experience of using gender identity healthcare.

This reference group is not a clinical oversight forum. It brings together a wide range of stakeholders for the collective aim of improving provision of gender identity healthcare in Scotland.

The specific clinical recommendations of the Cass Review are being considered by a multidisciplinary team of senior clinicians within the office of the Chief Medical Officer.

Work to improve gender identity healthcare services remains a priority of this Government. That includes the establishment of a multidisciplinary team of senior clinical advisers to Scottish Government who are considering the recommendations of the Cass Review in the contest of NHS services in Scotland. The Chief Medical Officer will provide a written update to Parliament on the outcome of that clinical consideration process before the summer recess. The outcome of that process will also feed into work on national commissioning of young person’s services.

The following table shows the resource funding allocated by SG to ILF Scotland annually over the last five years. Resource budget for ILF in 2024-25 is £62,241k. Funding for 2025-26 will be agreed through the annual budget process.

The Scottish Government is reviewing options in relation to collecting data on secondary breast cancer in Scotland. This includes consideration of the NHS England audit, data available in Scotland, clinical time required, other cancer data priorities and how it can be used to improve services.

The Scottish Government is working with Public Health Scotland to identify what data is already collected in Scotland on metastatic breast cancer and what data we would like to expand our datasets to include going forward.

The Scottish Government has followed the publication of the National Audit of Metastatic Breast Cancer for England and Wales with interest. We are working with Public Health Scotland to determine our options for future data collection on metastatic breast cancer and its publication.

Up to 1,000 new applicants will be offered awards in 2024-25. The actual number of applications received will be monitored by ILF Scotland and Scottish Government.

As of March 2024, 1,897 people in Scotland, and 344 people in Northern Ireland were in receipt of an Independent Living Fund award. These figures do not include Transition Fund awards.

The Scottish Government, along with Health Boards and the Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD), is actively considering opportunities to allocate funding to deliver activity utilising the £30 million investment announced by the First Minister on 1 April. This funding is being targeted at a series of national and local plans to reduce backlogs in orthopaedics, ophthalmology, diagnostics and cancer backlog by maximising the use of local and national resources across Scotland.

Once we have concluded this process we will provide a breakdown of how the funding has been allocated by Health Board.

The initial £30 million of targeted investment is the first instalment of a £300 million plan over the next three years to help reduce waiting lists, subject to the Scottish Budget process.

Decisions on the Government’s spending plans for future years are subject to the outcome of the annual Scottish Budget setting process and associated approval by the Scottish Parliament. In-year revisions to the 2024-25 Scottish Budget are subject to parliamentary approval in the same way.