Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is considering proposals for amendments to the Ethical Standards in Public Life etc. (Scotland) Act 2000 proposed by a joint review by the Ethical Standards Commissioner and Standards Commission. As the same Act would need to be amended via primary legislation to expand statutory suspension provisions for councillors, it may be possible for this to be considered as part of any future amendments to the 2000 Act.

We want people who need continence support to receive the care that is right for them and their medical circumstances, including those with palliative care needs.

Patient assessment and the subsequent prescription of continence products are typically the responsibility of local continence teams given their specialist knowledge. GPs would not be expected to play a role in the prescription of continence products after a patient has been referred to, and assessed by, the Board’s continence team. Given this, we would expect any changes to a patient’s prescription to be agreed by the continence team to ensure that the new product is appropriate for the patient and will fully meet their needs.

It is also important to reflect that community Practitioner Nurse Prescribers (who are mainly district nurses, specialist community public health nurses (formerly health visitors), and school nurses) with prescribing qualifications known as v100 or v150 qualifications, can prescribe any appliance or reagent in the relevant Drug Tariff from the Nurse Prescribers Formulary (NPF) for Community Practitioners, including incontinence appliances to help ensure that patients are supported appropriately and their dignity is respected. As such we currently have no plans to review prescribing powers.

Financial monitoring requirements, as set out in legislation and statutory guidance, apply to Integration Joint Boards (IJBs) for functions that are delegated to IJBs.

IJBs commission palliative care services, including independent hospices, to meet the needs of their local communities. This commissioned work is set out through service level agreements, which include monitoring and reporting requirements as set by the IJB.

The Ethical Standards Framework sets out the high standards of conduct expected of councillors while acting in that capacity, helping to underpin public confidence in local democratic decision making.

It is for Health Boards and their planning partners to design, resource and provide services that meet the needs of local people in line with national policies, frameworks and best practice. This includes ensuring that patients have access to the continence products that they require when they need them.

Details of brokerage received by individual NHS Boards in 2024-25 are contained within each Board’s published 2024-25 Annual Report and Accounts, and publicly available Board papers.

Key to improving survival rates for less survivable cancers is ensuring timely diagnosis. The updated Scottish Referral Guidelines for Suspected Cancer, published on 6th August 2025, now include a nationally agreed non-specific symptoms referral criteria for the first time, which is a common feature of less survivable cancers.

Further, The Scottish Government committed to implementing a lung screening pilot in the Population Health Framework published in June 2025. It is anticipated this pilot will begin operation in early 2027.

Considerable work is being undertaken to standardise care pathways for those with less survivable cancers. The Scottish Government has commissioned the Scottish Hepato Pancreato Biliary (HPB) Network to develop recommended national pathways for (HPB) Cancers, working with the SCN and the Centre for Sustainable Delivery.

In addition, The Scottish Cancer Network has developed a number of Clinically Managed Pathways (CMPs), including for lung cancer and adult brain tumours, to be implemented on a national basis. The purpose of CMPs is to outline the patient with cancer journey from diagnosis onwards.

Further, Scotland’s first optimal cancer diagnostic pathway for lung was published in December 2022. The redesigned pathway for lung cancer services sets an optimal timeframe for each step to enable diagnosis by day 21 and treatment for most to start by day 42.

In terms of research funding, since 2024, the Scottish Government’s Chief Scientist Office (CSO) funded 5 projects or fellowships for Glioblastoma, Osophageal Adenocarcinoma and Pancreatic cancer. Applications with regards to less survivable cancers are welcomed by CSO. Any such applications would go through CSO’s standard independent expert review process to enable funding decisions to be made.

I met with the Less Survivable Cancer Taskforce a number of times in 2025 and am committed to continuing to engage with them on our shared aims.

During Stage 3 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill Scottish Ministers committed to explore how non-domestic rates reliefs, particularly Small Business Bonus Scheme relief, can be better targeted.

Following consideration and engagement through the budget process, the draft Budget for 2026-27 set out that shootings and deer forests will be excluded from eligibility for Small Business Bonus Scheme relief and Fresh Start relief, with prescribed exclusions. For example, where shooting rights in shootings or deer forests are exercised solely for the purposes of environmental management, eligibility for Small Business Bonus Scheme will be maintained.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission, which is responsible for forecasting non-domestic rates income, has judged that the removal of some shootings and deer forests from eligibility for the Small Business Bonus Scheme falls below their materiality threshold.

To support deer management we have provided funding via pilot projects over the last few years intended to trial methods of supporting deer management and will continue to consider how we best provide support to deer managers directly.

We are aware of the concerns raised by the rural sector and will ensure these concerns are considered before the regulations are laid, to come into force, on 1 April.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-43079 on 29 January 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.

In line with the conclusions of the Independent Care Review, The Promise Scotland have published various reports and route-maps outlining the case for a consolidation of the legislative landscape of Scotland’s children’s services.