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Today we published the Women’s Health Plan 2021 – 2024 Final Report on the Scottish Government website to mark the progress achieved in the three years since the publication of Scotland’s first Women’s Health Plan.

This final report sets out the progress made against the 66 short, medium and long term actions to improve health information, services and outcomes for women and girls in Scotland.

Key achievements include the appointment and work of the first Women’s Health Champion Professor Anna Glasier, development of a women’s health information platform on NHS Inform and this Parliament passing The Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Act 2024.

Alongside this report, a Women’s Health Plan: Review of the Data Landscape has been published setting out the routinely published data on women’s health currently available and highlighting the key data gaps.

An amendment to the New Build Heat Standard will shortly be laid in Parliament. This will demonstrate we have heard and responded to the concerns raised earlier in the year about the reliance on woodburning stoves and bioenergy, particularly in rural and island areas.

The review involved full consideration of previous and new evidence submitted, and a series of individual and group workshops with key stakeholders, and two Ministerial roundtables. The Standard will be subject to the usual Parliamentary process and remains an important and positive step in our journey to decarbonising buildings.

Information on waiting times for occupational therapy for all conditions is not held centrally but can be provided by NHS Boards.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

HMP Highland will have a design capacity of 200 prisoner places which includes 12 cells designed to accommodate two people.

The Design Team is the group of people with lived or living experience of drug harm that has been recruited by Deciding Matters, the small company charged with developing the nature and direction of the Stigma Plan (which was a recommendation of the Drug Death Task Force, rec. 22).

The call for expressions of interest asked for “ 20-24 people broadly representative of Scotland (age, gender, sex, race, disability with lived or living experience of substance use including family or friends of people with lived or living experience) who would like to inform how Scotland tackles stigma related to drugs and alcohol. Participants must be aged 18+” The existing group reflects that and were chosen through a recruitment process run by Deciding Matters.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

SPS have reported or recorded 0 level three incidents since 2016.

Guidance on establishing the responsible commissioner has been issued to NHS Boards to ensure services are always provided in the best interests of the patient (CEL 06 (2013)).

As set out in this guidance and under article 2 of the Functions of Health Boards (Scotland) Order 1991, Health Boards have a responsibility to provide for the health care of patients living within their boundaries, i.e. patients who are “ordinarily resident” in their area. This includes when a Health Board refers a patient for whom they are responsible directly to another Health Board within Scotland or cross-border within the UK.

Two exceptions are designated national specialist services in both NHS Scotland and NHS England; and the commissioning of highly specialised services in NHS England. In such cases and through referral from the patient’s home Board, NHS National Services Scotland National Services Division (NSD) manages cross-border care through a financial risk share arrangement on behalf of all NHS Boards or, through an overarching Service Level Agreement in place with NHS England which allows Scottish patients to access highly specialist care.

In situations where the responsible commissioner is unclear, all facets of the NHS are expected to work together to reach agreement on a case by case basis.

In regards to reimbursement for travel specifically, a patient’s home Board is responsible for developing and applying local policy. This includes assessment of eligibility and the discretion to reimburse travel expenses where they are viewed to be an extension of treatment costs and are clinically necessary.

CoSLA and Scottish Government are undertaking a joint programme of engagement with local authorities to understand what they would find helpful to address hate crime and strengthen community cohesion at a local level. A toolkit is expected to publish in early 2025.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of early diagnosis of cancer and would expect any child or young adult presenting with potential cancer symptoms to be assessed as quickly as possible.

To support earlier diagnosis, a clinical refresh of the Scottish Referral Guidelines for Suspected Cancer is currently underway to help ensure the right person is on the right pathway at the right time and will be published in 2025.

This will include updated guidelines for suspected cancer in children and young people. These guidelines, developed with input from clinicians in primary and secondary care and third sector, will support primary care clinicians to identify those children and young people with symptoms suspicious of cancer who require urgent assessment by a specialist.

A new primary care cancer education platform – Gateway C – was launched on 30 April 2024 across NHS Scotland. Gateway C provides innovative and tailored information to support earlier cancer diagnosis efforts and enable effective decision-making. This free online platform is accessible to all primary care clinicians and includes specific education on cancers affecting children and young people.