Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is in the process of commissioning NHS Health Boards to develop and submit monthly trajectories to support improvement against the 62-day cancer treatment standard.

Boards are expected to consider existing backlogs and implement identified improvement actions to ensure the development and maintenance of a sustainable service.

The Centre for Sustainable Delivery will continue to monitor individual Board performance and support improvement activities including fully implementing the Framework for Effective Cancer Management.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-00845 on 16 June 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.

It is important that there is an open and transparent national evaluation of this pilot programme and I am committed to regularly publishing operational data from open sites.

The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) has received a full submission from the marketing authorisation holder, AbbVie Ltd., for mirvetuximab soravtansine (elahere®) for the treatment of adult patients with ovarian cancer who have received one to three prior systemic treatment regimens and advice is expected to issue later this year.

The medicine product page on the SMC’s website: mirvetuximab soravtansine (Elahere) will be updated once advice is published.

Decisions on equipment within the Police Scotland fleet, including defibrillators, are an operational matter for the Chief Constable.

The Chief Constable is responsible for the policing of Scotland and is accountable to the Scottish Police Authority, rather than to Scottish Ministers directly. Therefore, the information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. Police Scotland may be able to provide this information.

We are investing over £2.3 billion in social care and integration in 2026-27. This investment includes an uplift to adult social care pay as well as providing support to deliver improvements to wider terms and conditions for workers, such as maternity and paternity pay and also to help with payment of PVG checks for workers.

We have commissioned Healthcare Improvement Scotland to work on the evaluation, in conjunction with Public Health Scotland. Further details of the national evaluation will be shared when available.

The Scottish Government’s Infrastructure Delivery Pipeline published on 13 January 2026, sets out the projects and programmes it expects to fund over the next four financial years.

We are currently working with all health boards to develop an NHS whole system infrastructure plan for Scotland. This supports continued safe and effective use of existing facilities, through ongoing business continuity planning, as well as informing future investment priorities based on assessment of need across the whole of Scotland.

The first phase, Business Continuity Planning, is focussed on priority investment in the existing estate to support service continuity. Boards have completed risk-based assessments and received confirmation of items which can be progressed with additional funding from the Scottish Government. Future Business Continuity Plan submissions will be on a two-yearly full submission cycle, with interim years only requiring by-exception reporting of new essential maintenance or equipment replacement items not previously reported.

The second phase is focussed on the longer-term development of the estate to meet national, regional and local needs.

All Health Boards have been asked to undertake strategic needs assessments for three local investment priorities. In determining local investment priorities, Boards should also consider aspects of infrastructure resilience, capacity constraints and population-based service changes. Returns will be considered on a whole of Scotland basis. This approach aligns with the Scottish Government’s Health and Social Care Service Renewal Framework and Population Health Framework.

Further detail on NHS Whole System Infrastructure Planning is set out in Director of Health Finance.dot.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of empowering people to manage their mental health and wellbeing, and that access to trustworthy digital advice, resources and psychological therapies is critical to this.

Our wellbeing website, Mind to Mind, offers mental health and wellbeing advice, as well as signposting information to wider mental health support, using short videos from people with mental health conditions. NHS Inform also holds self-help guides on mental health conditions to help people recognise what they may be struggling with and providing guidance on when to seek appropriate support for their needs.

Over 2025-26 we invested £3.7 million in Breathing Space- a free, confidential phone and webchat service for anyone over 16 who is struggling with their mental health and wellbeing. We also invested £11 million to the NHS 24 Mental Health Hub which provides compassionate advice and support to people seeking urgent help with their mental health (with around 10,000 calls per month).

An expansion of the Hub launched in December 2025, to provide a national pathway to brief psychological interventions for those would benefit from early treatment but would not meet the criteria to access local specialist secondary care mental health services. This is providing treatment from professionals appropriately trained in psychological practice. It is helping to improve early identification of the need for support and timely access to early intervention support to prevent mental health issues escalating, support for life events, and to help people cope with physical health conditions.

We also continue to expand the range of self-referral digital therapies for people with anxiety, depression or insomnia, and have increased access to internet enabled cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) so people can speak to a mental health professional online. There were over 77,000 referrals to digital therapies last year.

Alongside digital support, it is positive to see new models of accessible mental health support in communities and we are committed to expanding access to community-based mental health hubs over this Parliamentary term.

Finally, as we work with partners to design and implement the service renewal framework across mental health, we will reflect on our current self-referral offers and consider where else we can provide safe and effective self-referral support.

The Scottish Government is working to assess how the extension of the £2 bus fare cap pilot to the west of Scotland can best be taken forward as quickly as is practicable. It is crucial that we work with the industry to understand the practical, operational and technical requirements for delivery.