Chamber and committees

Excessively long waiting lists are not acceptable and the Scottish Government apologises to all patients waiting too long.

We know that endometriosis can have a significant impact on people’s lives, that the symptoms can be debilitating and impact relationships, work, education, and mental health.

Women’s Health is a key priority for this government, which is why we published an ambitious Women’s Health Plan in August 2021 aiming to reduce health inequalities and improve health outcomes for girls and women. Enhancing care and support for those with endometriosis is one of the early priorities set out in the plan. It includes actions to improve access to appropriate support, speedy diagnosis and best treatment for endometriosis.

We are considering how best to ensure that all women receive a timely diagnosis and access the care and support they need as we develop the next phase of the Women’s Health Plan.

We are determined to do more and our Budget will provide a record £21.7 billion for health and social care, with more than £110 million allocated to health boards to help tackle long waits. Funding has been assigned to specialty areas where it can have the greatest impact– this includes over £8 million for gynaecology.

The upcoming Infrastructure Strategy and associated delivery plan pipeline will be published as part of our fiscal event this winter. Publishing the strategy, planned pipeline, the spending review and budget plans together ensures a long-term, strategically aligned investment prospectus that is fully costed. The exact date of the fiscal event is being agreed with Parliament just now.

Police Scotland have advised that they are currently exploring how this information could be extracted and collated from their systems. My officials will advise on progress with this project, as and when it moves forward.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

The purchase of forest estates by Gresham House FF VI LLP was conducted via normal market mechanisms. The Scottish Government does not monitor land or forest sales in Scotland and does not carry out assessments around the impacts of individual land transactions. All forest land should, however, be managed according to the principles of sustainable forest management as laid out in the UK Forestry Standard regardless of the ownership. The UK Forestry Standard contains requirements and guidelines on environmental quality, managing and improving biodiversity and community engagement.

Further to my response to S6W-37508, the Species Licensing Review was sent for external review in July but the completion of this review has been delayed. NatureScot anticipate that the external review will be completed shortly and returned to NatureScot before being presented to Ministers for consideration prior to being published.

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.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-40549 on 24 September 2025. 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.

We are investing £200 million across the health and social care system to increase capacity and reduce backlogs. For chronic pain services, this investment will support Health Boards to create additional appointments and strengthen the flow of patients through the system, helping more people to be seen more quickly.

We want to deliver better and more sustainable care for people with chronic pain and we have outlined the action we will take to achieve this vision in our Framework for Pain Management Service Delivery Implementation Plan.

Through our Implementation Plan we are continuing to work with partners to improve how pain services are planned and delivered. We are also working to deliver a more sustainable and knowledgeable workforce by developing specialist training routes and new resources to enhance pain education and skills amongst NHS staff.

The Scottish Government have regular meetings with animal welfare organisations to discuss a range of welfare issues, including electronic shock collars. Furthermore Scottish Government officials recently met with the Scottish Canine Trainers Alliance to discuss this topic and will continue to engage with all stakeholders in this area going forward.

The Welfare of Dogs (Scotland) Act 2025 received Royal Assent on 19 March 2025 and introduced provisions to help ensure more informed and responsible dog ownership. Scottish Government officials have been working with key stakeholders over a period of months to develop a code of practice that should be followed by any person who is considering acquiring a dog to keep as a pet. There is already a wealth of information available to the public from welfare organisations including the Dogs Trust and the Scottish SPCA covering the safe purchase and ownership of a dog and we urge people considering getting a dog to follow the advice provided.