Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has not identified evidence of a sustained increase in the use of community-based treatment arrangements for restricted patients discharged from secure psychiatric facilities and has therefore made no assessment of the impact of such an increase on public safety. Data shows that, as at July each year, 78 restricted patients were on conditional discharge in 2024, 88 in 2025 and 83 in 2026.

Public safety considerations relating to community-based treatment arrangements for restricted patients are assessed and managed on an individual and ongoing basis throughout each patient’s care and treatment. Proposals for conditional discharge are informed by multidisciplinary assessment of the patient’s needs and the risk of harm to others.

Risk assessment and management take account of changes in the patient’s mental health, behaviour, circumstances and response to treatment. Restricted patients can only be conditionally discharged if the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland finds that detention in hospital is no longer necessary, with conditions imposed to support the patient’s safe management and supervision in the community.

The Scottish Government recognises that a highly skilled early learning and childcare (ELC) workforce is central to delivering high-quality outcomes for children and families.

Graduate Apprenticeships (GAs) are employer-led and designed to align with current and future skills needs. They provide one route into the sector, alongside other pathways such as college qualifications, Modern Apprenticeships and university-based study.

We continue to monitor demand for GAs through engagement with employers, labour market intelligence and consultation with organisations such as the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC). This helps to ensure that provision remains responsive to the needs of the sector and supports the development of a skilled ELC workforce.

The NRAC formula is an objective measure of the need for health care services in Scotland, providing a target share for Territorial Boards. The formula is refreshed by Public Health Scotland on an annual basis to ensure it reflects the most up-to-date data available.

The Scottish Government has committed to review the NRAC formula through the Technical Advisory Group for Resource Allocation (TAGRA). The review is ongoing and is being considered alongside the Programme for Government commitment to simplify NHS Board structures, which may affect its scope and timing.

The Scottish Government continues to ensure that all Boards remain within 0.6% of NRAC parity. Since 2012-13, over £4 billion of additional funding has been committed to those NHS Boards below their NRAC parity levels, including additional funding for NHS Grampian.

I wrote to the convener of the Rural Affairs Committee on 4 September setting out the Government's position on historic rights to ferry. The letter can be read at the following link: https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/committees/current-and-previous-committees/session-7/rural-affairs-committee/correspondence/2026/glenelg-and-kylerhea-ferry-service

The Scottish Government is determined to reduce avoidable cardiovascular deaths by a fifth over 20 years by ensuring people receive timely and high-quality care. Obesity medicines, such as semaglutide (Wegovy ®,) offer an effective treatment for obesity and cardiovascular disease, as part of a range of interventions for eligible patients, used alongside a reduced calorie diet and increased physical activity.

The Scottish Government published a national consensus statement in September 2024, to support Health Boards to consider how best to implement these obesity medicines. It is a matter for individual Health Boards to consider the implementation of any new medicine within their services in order to meet the needs of their local population in a safe and clinically appropriate way. This includes determining which criteria they apply in prescribing obesity medicines to individuals, and for taking appropriate phased steps to make them available across their services.

The Scottish Government regularly engages with obesity experts and stakeholders from NHS health boards through a range of forums to share learning and support access to these medicines for people living with obesity in Scotland. We are delivering additional programmes to support these people, including the digital Type 2 Diabetes remission programme, which will support up to 3000 patients to achieve remission by 2029 across Scotland.

Decisions on the provision of out-of-hours and community-based alcohol and drug support services are made locally by Health Boards and Integration Authorities on the advice of Alcohol and Drug Partnerships in response to local need. Local services are working to reduce barriers to support through a range of approaches, including self-referral pathways, outreach and community-based provision, digital services such as NHS 24 and Near Me, as well as practical support with transport where appropriate. The Scottish Government continues to support implementation of the Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) Standards, including MAT Standard 1, which promotes rapid access to treatment.

An important commitment within the new Alcohol and Drugs Strategic Plan is to ensure that the wider health system is accessible and responsive to people who use substances, by continuing to address their specific needs through healthcare improvement work across primary care, acute and specialist services.

Scottish Ministers are not minded to call in planning application 24/01934/FUL or listed building consent application 24/01935/LBA relating to the former Hillhead Baptist Church in Glasgow. As the applications remain live, it is for Glasgow City Council to determine them and it would not be appropriate to comment further.

As hybrid closed-loop (HCL) systems become embedded within routine diabetes care, funding for their ongoing provision, including £14.4 million for consumable costs, has been incorporated into NHS Board baseline allocations for 2026-27 as part of the wider £17.6 billion allocated to NHS Territorial Boards.

NHS Territorial Boards are responsible for planning and delivering services in line with national clinical guidance and local need. On 29 May, Ms Constance wrote to Boards making clear the expectation that funding transferred into baseline allocations should continue to support people with type 1 diabetes using closed-loop systems and seeking assurance that it is being used as intended.

To inform future decisions on access, the Scottish Government commissioned the Centre for Sustainable Delivery at NHS Golden Jubilee to examine options for further expansion of HCL systems. This work has been completed and is being considered as part of planning for the 2027-28 Budget.

There are currently no plans to establish national targets or timelines for further rollout.

Fish farm escapes pose a risk to wild salmon populations through interbreeding (genetic introgression) and competition. Scotland’s regulatory framework is designed to minimise the risk of escapes and ensure that any potential environmental impacts are fully assessed through the consenting process.

While the Scottish Government has no current plans to take specific action in response to this paper, it builds on our first national assessment of introgression, published in 2023, by applying a new spatial analysis to quantify levels of introgression at both national and regional scales for the first time.

Research and monitoring of this kind are important for improving our understanding of the extent, distribution and trends of introgression in wild salmon populations over time, helping to inform the development of future policy and regulation. This includes the delivery of a new Technical Standard for Scottish Finfish Aquaculture in 2027-28.

Escapes of farmed fish are not in the interests of the sector, the environment or wider stakeholders, and we expect continued progress in reducing escape incidents.

To ensure people can easily identify products that are suitable for them, added vitamins and minerals, including folic acid, must be labelled in the flour’s ingredients list in accordance with food information and labelling requirements. This must also be declared when fortified flour is used as an ingredient in other food products, enabling consumers to make informed choices about the food they purchase. A 24-month transition period has been provided ahead of the regulations coming into force to give businesses sufficient time to amend their product specifications and labelling.

To maintain consumer choice and access to unfortified options, only non-wholemeal wheat flour will be required to be fortified with folic acid. This means individuals can avoid flour fortified with folic acid if they need to or choose to. These individuals will continue to be able to access products made from unfortified flour, which includes wholemeal flour, and other non-wheat products, including gluten-free products and other flour types such as soya and spelt.

A range of work is underway to ensure that people have access to healthy, affordable food. We have launched a consultation to gather views and evidence on whether capping the price of essential food items could help to improve affordability. We are also supporting local convenience stores to provide healthy, affordable options through the Scottish Grocers Federation Healthy Living Programme.