Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has overall responsibility for health and social care support policy in Scotland and has published clear social care standards setting out what people should expect when using health, social care or social work services in Scotland. Whereas it is local authorities and Health and Social Care Partnerships (HSCPs) who have the statutory responsibility to ensure that these standards are upheld and that social care support services are commissioned and available to provide people with the appropriate social care support in the right place and at the right time.

As set out in the Programme for Government 2023-24, the Scottish Government has committed £3,03m in 2023-26 to progressing the National Centre for Remote and Rural Health and Care, which launched in October 2023.

The Centre will focus initially on Primary Care and community services priorities in Phase 1 as an initial proof of concept, with scoping work being carried out during the first 2 years of the Centre to lay the ground for expansion to include the wider rural healthcare workforce and Social Care in due course.

The Scottish Government continues to work closely with partners to support older people on a range of issues related to age equality. This includes delivering actions set out in the Strategic Action Framework, A Fairer Scotland for Older People. We also launched a new £3.8m Social Isolation and Loneliness Fund on 8 March 2023 which funds 53 projects supporting people at risk of social isolation and loneliness.

In relation to your question about initiatives to prevent social isolation in Aberdeenshire, I would refer you the written answer to your question S6W-33671 on 31 January 2025 where this response is covered.

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

Please find below information, broken down by financial year, the costs for social media managers within the Communications division for the last five financial years.

Fishing can be a challenging and unpredictable livelihood, and we recognise the importance of supporting our fishing communities.

No specific support has been targeted at fishers' families or partners, however, we have continued to make funding available through our Marine Fund Scotland (MFS) to support young fishers and to secure the long-term viability of the industry and provide resilience for the workforce. Between 2021 -2024 MFS has awarded 37 young fishers over £2.5 million in grants to enable them to purchase their first fishing vessel (or a share in a vessel). We have provided support of £5 million in 2020-21 and 2021-22 to help the farming, fishing, food and drink sector recover from Brexit and COVID-19.

In 2023 we carried out further research into factors affecting fishers’ decision making and the report is available here - What factors influence the strategies and choices of Scottish fishers? A feasibility study.

This research found that family life, wellbeing, and working conditions are important considerations when fishers decide whether to leave or stay in the industry.

This is still a topic of interest where further research and insight in collaboration with industry and the research communities would be welcomed.

As stated in question S6W-32172 more information on women’s health data can be found in the recently published data landscape review. It sets out a range of publicly available data on the health of women in Scotland and highlights where there are gaps which need to be addressed. This is just the start of our work to improve women’s health data. Further work will be undertaken to explore the data sources and gaps in more detail.

The Endometriosis Care Pathway for NHS Scotland supports healthcare professionals to provide a holistic approach and timely care for those with endometriosis and endometriosis-like symptoms.

While there is no specific routine screening for Endometriosis, the pathway is clear and advises healthcare professionals to suspect endometriosis in women who present with one or more symptom (including in young women aged 16 and under).

Clinicians are advised to assess women’s individual information and support needs and take into account their circumstances, symptoms, priorities, priority for fertility, aspects of daily living, work and study, cultural background, and their physical, psychosexual and emotional needs.

All NHS Boards should be taking steps to implement the pathway.

We are committed to ensuring those living with endometriosis are able to access the best possible care and support and that they benefit from healthcare services that are safe, effective and put people at the centre of their care. Endometriosis will continue to be a priority as we develop the next phase of our Women’s Health Plan.

The Chief Scientist Office’s project and fellowship funding schemes continue to welcome applications from across the clinical spectrum, including in Endometriosis.

This funding source is well known across the women’s health research community. Applications looking at the diagnosis, treatment and management of Endometriosis are welcomed and (in common with all other applications) go through CSO’s rigorous independent expert review process to allow funding decisions to be made.

We have recently increased the number of research funding programmes run by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) open to researchers in Scotland from 4 to 9 Scottish Researchers to be able to access further NIHR research funding – Chief Scientist Officeand have worked to ensure researchers across Scotland are aware of these opportunities. Most of these programmes are open to research across the clinical spectrum, including in Endometriosis.

CSO continues to fund the NHS Research Scotland Reproductive Health and Childbirth Network which supports the delivery of a number of Endometriosis-related clinical studies across the NHS hereStudy Portfolio | NHS Research Scotland | NHS Research Scotland.

Through the actions set out in our Women’s Health Plan we have taken steps to support both women and health professionals to learn more about endometriosis, the symptoms and treatment options to support earlier identification and minimise time to diagnosis.

The NHS Inform endometriosis page acknowledges the importance of emotional support and provides links to local peer-to-peer support groups.

There are also national helplines including 111, Breathing Space and The Samaritans.

In addition, we have also funded Endometriosis UK to produce a booklet and two webinars on self-management tips for managing endometriosis pain.

Endometriosis UK also operate a free, confidential helpline run by trained volunteers who have a personal experience of endometriosis. Endometriosis UK have also expanded their helpline provision by launching a new nurse-led helpline on 28 January 2025

Endometriosis is one of the key priorities in the Women’s Health Plan and will continue to be so. We are committed to ensuring those living with endometriosis are able to access the best possible care and support and that they benefit from healthcare services that are safe, effective and put people at the centre of their care.

The Scottish Government continues to support community pharmacies, including rural pharmacies, by delivering the largest ever increase to funding two years in a row. This has delivered a total of £422 million in guaranteed funding for community pharmacies across Scotland in this financial year.

In addition, there is a Guaranteed Minimum Target Income for essential small pharmacies, most of which are rural, and a pharmaceutical needs weighting payment which acknowledges both demographics and deprivation- associated with a patient’s postcode. Both of these measures help support rural pharmacies by ensuring they are not disadvantaged because of their location.

When community pharmacies close or transfer ownership this is a business decision taken by the community pharmacy owner. The Scottish Government has not undertaken an impact assessment on closures. Health Boards are the bodies responsible for ensuring that there is adequate provision of NHS pharmaceutical services within their area.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on the number of NHS health professionals using the NHS Education for Scotland Menstrual Health Symptom Questionnaire in patient consultations.

As part of the implementation of the Women’s Health Plan, an NHS Education for Scotland Menstrual Health module educational resource has been developed and is free to access for anyone working in the NHS in Scotland via Turas Learn. The module includes a link to the questionnaire and guides the learner on how it can be used. We continue to work with NHS Education for Scotland to promote this training module among health professionals.

The questionnaire is also freely available to both patients and healthcare professionals through the NHS Inform menstrual health resource.

Information about the progress to date against each of the priorities in the Women’s Health Plan can be found in the Women’s Health Plan Final Report.

As we move into the next phase of the Women’s Health Plan, we will consider how best to monitor and evaluate progress over time, which includes engagement with women who have lived experience of endometriosis.

As set out in the Women’s Health Plan, we know that there is a lack of data on women’s health – including endometriosis. Improving data has been one of the key priorities of the first phase of the women’s health plan, to understand the data that are available, the gaps and how we might address them.

The recently published data landscape review sets out a range of publicly available data on the health of women in Scotland and highlights where there are gaps which need to be addressed, including endometriosis. This is just the start of our work to improve women’s health data. Further work will be undertaken to explore the data sources and gaps in more detail.